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Old IBM PS2 pcs value

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mathm07008

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Aug 14, 2022
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Hello friends,

This is my first post here.
I am wondering if there is any vintage value for some old IBM pcs I own.
These are the models:

IBM 80 (server)
IBM 57
IBM 35
IBM 30

Thanks
 
I'm assuming you mean "Model 80" (8580) and so on. They are all still "somewhat plentiful" for their age, so unless you have pristine examples in perfect condition, I wouldn't get my hopes too high.
 
If you look at ebay sold listings that will give you an idea of the upper end of what people are willing to pay.
 
You aren't sitting on a goldmine but they tend to get good prices on eBay for what they are. You have to be an idiot to get into PS/2s - I have 10.
 
I've studiously avoided PS/2s since they came out. IBM scared the bejeezus out of me when they announced the line as a closed-architecture with IBM-secret ASICs. IBM 30 and 35 are just bottom-of-the-line ISA bus machines, so other than for their visual appeal, I don't see much of a market.
 
The Model 30 came in either 8086 or 286 version while both the 35 and 57 had a choice of 386SX or 486SLC CPUs. The faster model in each case is a bit more appealing.

Check the cards in the 57 and 80. There are a number of MCA cards that are quite desirable and will bring great returns. Sound cards provide one example; the Model 57 Ultimedia shipped with a sound card.
 
krebizfan said:
The Model 30 came in either 8086 or 286 version while both the 35 and 57 had a choice of 386SX or 486SLC CPUs. The faster model in each case is a bit more appealing.

Check the cards in the 57 and 80. There are a number of MCA cards that are quite desirable and will bring great returns. Sound cards provide one example; the Model 57 Ultimedia shipped with a sound card.
Click to expand...
Agreed. In fact you may find the machines are worth more in pieces than whole.
 
Stock nonfunctional machines are not that expensive but upgraded ones that work can go for a few bucks.

The Model 30 -286 makes a decent DOS gaming machine since it takes ISA sound cards and is compact.

The model 57 with a sound card and SCSI CDROM are nice to have (missing in my collection).

The model 80 towers are cool, but the floppy drives tend to be dead from leaking capacitors making the units a pain to work on.

If you include pictures of the units, it would help.
 
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I extract all MCA cards to see if there is any interesting.
I noticed that the IBM 57 model does not have a sound card but it is 486 and has a SCSI NEC cdrw.

I plan to sell by piece if there is any interest, because the whole pc is too heavy as I live in Greece.

Also I own a portable IBM 5155. Can you recommend a price for this? Unknown condition.
Thank you
 
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mathm07008 said:
I extract all MCA cards to see if there is any interesting.
I noticed that the IBM 57 model does not have a sound card but it is 486 and has a SCSI NEC cdrw.

I plan to sell by piece if there is any interest, because the whole pc is too heavy as I live in Greece.

Also I own a portable IBM 5155. Can you recommend a price for this? Unknown condition.
Thank you
Click to expand...
A photo of each individual card/drive would be better. Also dust the cards off with a brush or compressed air. If you have any info on the cards, that would be much more helpful should you post them on eBay (or wherever)

The 5155 is a rare beast indeed. Worth far more working than not. It would benefit you to try and get it up and running.
 
That Kingston CPU upgrade card with the AMD 486DX-40 should be worth a few bucks.

The Adaptec SCSI cards are also nice to have.
 
Just my .02

The 5155 I would think would have some pretty good value on it for the age, at least $50 non-working and over $100 working since they are pretty rare. That's at least what I would pay for one, if I was looking for one. Can't say what other's would say.

IBM PS/2s

There are people who are fanatical about these, but the grand lot of us are weary because some models have ISA expansion slots and other's have MCA expansion slots, which are harder to find boards for. I also am a bit weary of over-pricing them because these were at one time rather plentiful. I've owned about nine or ten in the last 20 years, and passed up quite a few as well.

I know the first four - Model 25, Model 25 286, Model 30, and Model 30 286 all had ISA Slots. That said, you're still not out of the water because the BIOS likes to have some kind of "ADF" file for the device installed, or your cards may cause strange errors at boot. I had a IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 with a Diamond Telecommander 2300 SoundCard/Modem in it back in the 00's I'd use the surf the web in Net Tamer and that thing always whined at boot because there was no ADF diskette I know of for that particular piece of hardware (the card I think was from circa 96'-97' or so). If you can live with the error's you're fine.

But I remember selling my Model 70 386 because it was MCA and I could never find cards for it - anywhere. Crazy since the entire Opelika school system was an IBM Shop from 1985?-2001? and we use to have those things popping up everywhere for a time when I lived there. And I knew some of those Model 70s DID have sound cards in them (the earliest web connected and Multimedia capable machines at school were upgraded model 70's IIRC). I believe local government was as well, but I doubt they were putting MCA sound cards in those.

The other big issue with PS/2 - at least prior to about 1991 or so, was hard drives. They all used these wacky hard disks that had card-edge connectors on the back - just one big single one - that used some kind of non-standard interface. For people who want to use something that uses the original controller - which might be required in some cases as XT-IDE is only for ISA and kind of a speed penalty on something that could make use of a faster controller - they might be SOL, or have to pay over $100 for a known working hard disk.

That's why I've kind of avoided PS/2s for the last 10 years. I have enough "unobtainium" projects, don't need another one.
 
Thank you all for your info.
The 5155 model boots fine showing an IBM Basic screen.
I will take clear photos and post to marketplace and ebay.
 
I have not seen a competent price for a PS/2 in at least 10 years. It's either too much for a stripped system, a fully loaded "ultimate retro gaming system" with every imaginable upgrade they could find on ebay (then flip), or pieced together to the point a model 70/386 with a working fixed and floppy drive, 16mb ram, networking and your choice of SCSI or some other random card will set you back several hundred dollars before you add in the dovebar, model M and a monitor.
There's a model 60 downstairs that's essentially a basketcase right now because going three possible directions for mass storage a hard disk controller, cabling, drive and the internal bracket are worth more than the machine itself.
 
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Having an SCSI card makes thing much easier in an MCA PS/2 system. Prices have gone up quite a bit on working units.
 
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