Retro hardware... is it worth anything?

[ultimatebob]

I'm curious... does anyone out there still collect old hardware to build things like a retro 90's gaming rig?

I have a closet full of functional yet obsolete computer parts, that I can't decide if they're worth keeping. There are some decent parts in there, like a SoundBlaster Live sound card, a 3dfx Voodoo2 card, and an ATI AGP AllInWonder card.

I also have some other cool stuff in there, like a Sidewinder Pro joystick and a Gravis XTerminator gamepad. I remember these parts being worth a lot of money back in the 90's, and I'm curious if anyone still collects this stuff.

 

[mfenn]

Some of that stuff like the XTerminator and original AIW could be worth something. The rest of it is far too common and not worth much at all.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Nope, check eBay and FS/FT here to be disappointed.

Maybe if the voodoo was in a mint, unopened box.

 

[stahlhart]

Been searching for a Turtle Beach Cancun fx for over a decade now.

 

[Zap]

I've already got all the retro hardware I need. I just need time to put it all together.

Got an old Abit BX6, SoundBlaster AWE64 Gold, Voodoo3...

 

[DaveSimmons]

Thanks to GoG.com, DOSbox and VMs, I decided to stop bothering with running a separate Win98SE box, since the only game I have that I can't get to run without it is Blood 2. Fun for its time, but not worth its own PC to me.

(I do have the GoG version of Blood2 but it crashes like crazy )

 

[TheStu]

Thanks to GoG.com, DOSbox and VMs, I decided to stop bothering with running a separate Win98SE box, since the only game I have that I can't get to run without it is Blood 2. Fun for its time, but not worth its own PC to me.

(I do have the GoG version of Blood2 but it crashes like crazy )

One advantage is that for a bunch of older games, they were optimized to run on 3Dfx hardware. I got Wing Commander Prophecy and Need for Speed 3 Hot Pursuit running on my desktop, and ran it side by side with a p3 running a Voodoo 3. The Voodoo 3 was noticeably better. They both ran just as smooth, but the graphics were significantly better on the voodoo. More polygons, better shadows, reflections, smoke and spectral effects as well. The starfield in WCP was also denser and more dynamic.

Old hardware has its place, but only for specific games. Namely any that utilized 3Dfx's technology.

 

[MichaelD]

Nope, check eBay and FS/FT here to be disappointed.

Maybe if the voodoo was in a mint, unopened box.

Well said, Dave, and very true! In fact, just last week I sold a single-slot, EVGA 7800GTX in very good shape for an astounding $20.00. There are about thirty Dell-branded, dual-slot 7800GTXs on EBay and they aren't selling at all, let alone for $20. I paid about $300 in 2004/2005 for that card. D:

I've got a bunch of 15GB, 15K rpm used SCSI drives I've got to try to get rid of now. You don't want to know what those cost back in 2001-ish when I bought them. :'(