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Pentium 4

89k man thats rough. Yeah sounds like modern practices. Honestly healthcare is more or less the same as your encounter.. you go in.. tell them what ails you. If its not something surface and obvious they move on and dont have the time to really diagnose you....
 
3lectr1c said:
On the supposed PC stuff - I still don't get it. All that guy said is that this hobby is about having fun with old hardware we like. Is it because he used the word "tolerant"? I don't get the connection...
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There's certain things outspoken members of those community appear to heavily dislike. The Pentium 4 and firewire being among them. Me? I love all hardware. Bit that's me.
 
People dislike firewire?

I mean if we are dishing out dislikes lets just get it all on the table.

High-wasted jeans
Skinny pants on men
Reality TV
Bottled water
Flagrantly colorful sneakers
Adults who only wear sneakers
I can keep going.. but I wont

.......but I do love me some fruit pies..
 
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I just have zero experience.with it. I know i have a pci firewire card.. but thats it. Never really used it. I guess it was great with DV cams
 
3lectr1c said:
On a different note, I've thought about building a socket 423 Willamette system for a while now. I've never built a computer from scratch, just never had to, and I think it would be a fun build to start with. Something about pushing a completely impractical platform to the limit would just be a lot of fun in my mind. I'd need period case, a 423 board (and probably some new caps to go with it), a CPU, a load of RDRAM, whatever the best GPU to pair with one would be, dual optical drives, floppy, zip, one of those card reader thingies, audigy 2, fw400 card, a WPA-2 capable PCI wifi card, dual 7200RPM hard drives in RAID 0...
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Explore, have fun! Don't let people here overly influence your idea of fun! Explore YOUR retro passion, there will always be some of us who will cheer you on and respond positively to your exploration to build without the limits and burdens of others mindsets. This is a relatively cheap pursuit, just enjoy! System specific biggots, trolls and haters dispise the freedom of mind such exploits exude!
 
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VERAULT said:
I just have zero experience.with it. I know i have a pci firewire card.. but thats it. Never really used it. I guess it was great with DV cams
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It has VERY long legs. As in firewire still has enough applications today that brand new pci-e firewire cards and cables are being manufactured. Not bad for a 29-year-old standard.
 
hunterjwizzard said:
There are two good reasons to push forward with this project:

1. Building a maxed out system, any maxed out system from any generation, is a fun and rewarding experience.

and

2. If you've followed the general loathing for the P4 visible on this thread, you'll notice it will be dirt-cheap since nobody wants the parts.
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Relatively maybe to building a Tualatin or something? I looked and the motherboard I’d want is gonna already be close to $100… and that’s before other parts. I might start a thread on this soon, it’s a very long term idea I’m sure. Would probably just be to plan a parts list that I can work on assembling for the next couple years. Hardest part will be finding a good case I’d imagine. I’d want one that’s not ugly yellow beige, has around 4 5.25” bays, and 3 3.5” bays. I can’t imagine the ideal GPU would be cheap either…
 
3lectr1c said:
Relatively maybe to building a Tualatin or something? I looked and the motherboard I’d want is gonna already be close to $100… and that’s before other parts. I might start a thread on this soon, it’s a very long term idea I’m sure. Would probably just be to plan a parts list that I can work on assembling for the next couple years. Hardest part will be finding a good case I’d imagine. I’d want one that’s not ugly yellow beige, has around 4 5.25” bays, and 3 3.5” bays. I can’t imagine the ideal GPU would be cheap either…
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"Good" P4 motherboards can be had for a lot less than $100, or was that a price including CPU & RAM? I would spend some time shopping and just be ready to pull the proverbial trigger.

Case is always a challenge. I do however encourage you to consider the case as a long-term investment. I've been using several of the same ATX towers for over 20 years now(and regret trashing several I used to own). If you want 4x5.25 drive bays, etc, take some time and invest in a nice one. Maybe you use it for a P4 build today; maybe next year its a dual PIII, maybe the year after a socket 775 XP build. A good case is a good case.

The GPU is... going to be interesting. If you want a good one cheap, there are some really nice AGP nVidia Quadro cards on eBay right now for like $30 shipped. Those will definitely run games nicely, and you can always upgrade it later. Otherwise, yeah, high-end AGP cards are getting pricey. But that's also a part you can think of as a long-term investment. Maybe it goes in a P4 build today, maybe a PIII or AMD next year.

My core point is if you like playing with hardware don't get into the mindset that any given build is "final". I've got parts. You can put something together, play with it for a bit, get board, take it apart, and build something else. Build your collection around versatility. That Audigy 2 for example? You will use that in 20 different builds no doubt.
 
You used to see cases being sold for peanuts on craigslist before the pandemic and that never recovered. So many people needed home computers while shipments of cases from China pretty much stopped so people kept the old ones and repurposed them.
 
Oh yeah for sure, a lot of parts are a long term investment. A good metal case will last forever. I’m not as much worried about money with the case - more just finding the right one. I want one that’s period or looks close enough to period. I’ll definitely look around local places.

The cheapest 423 motherboard I can find with more than 3 PCI slots is around $70. Would be a lot cheaper if I could finagle a proprietary Dell Dimension 8100 board into a standard case. In any case I want a board with 5. The one I’m eyeing is an Intel board but they’re all in the $70-100 range. I’d expect 478 and 775 boards are a lot cheaper.

GPU I’ll figure out. I could always use a mid range card that’s a few years newer for a while. I have some Dell OEM card lying around that would work in a pinch, although last I tested the fan was loud.

I already have an Audigy 2 although it may actually be dead….
 
Unknown_K said:
You used to see cases being sold for peanuts on craigslist before the pandemic and that never recovered. So many people needed home computers while shipments of cases from China pretty much stopped so people kept the old ones and repurposed them.
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The big problem is the changes in case design language. These days most cases come with 0x5.25 bays, some high-end ones might have 1 or 2. Getting a case NEW with 4x5.25 bays + any number of 3.5 is $$$$.
 
I definitely don’t plan on getting a new case - more likely I’ll buy or find some junky build that happens to be in a decent case and just gut it.
 
3lectr1c said:
Oh yeah for sure, a lot of parts are a long term investment. A good metal case will last forever. I’m not as much worried about money with the case - more just finding the right one. I want one that’s period or looks close enough to period. I’ll definitely look around local places.

The cheapest 423 motherboard I can find with more than 3 PCI slots is around $70. Would be a lot cheaper if I could finagle a proprietary Dell Dimension 8100 board into a standard case. In any case I want a board with 5. The one I’m eyeing is an Intel board but they’re all in the $70-100 range. I’d expect 478 and 775 boards are a lot cheaper.

GPU I’ll figure out. I could always use a mid range card that’s a few years newer for a while. I have some Dell OEM card lying around that would work in a pinch, although last I tested the fan was loud.

I already have an Audigy 2 although it may actually be dead….
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Ooooh! Sorry, my bad. You are specifically looking for socket 423, I've been "shopping" for socket 478 boards recently. Like this one with 3ghz CPU & 2gb of RAM for $55:

www.ebay.com

pentium 4 motherboard for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for pentium 4 motherboard at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!
www.ebay.com

But not useful for your purposes. I'll start checking out 423 boards for fun.
 
I just don't see cases around unless they have a whole overpriced system installed in them.

New cases without 5.25" bays are fine for new builds since I have older systems with burners if needed (plus external USB and firewire ones). I never get rid of old cases unless they are broken beyond repair or just suck.
 
3lectr1c said:
I definitely don’t plan on getting a new case - more likely I’ll buy or find some junky build that happens to be in a decent case and just gut it.
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If you do an ebay search for ATX Tower and filter on "Used" you can actually find some pretty good bargains, just pay attention to cost + shipping cost(that's where they get ya). There's a lot of really nice mid-decade Coolermasters and the like up there for decent prices. Take your time.
 
Unknown_K said:
I just don't see cases around unless they have a whole overpriced system installed in them.

New cases without 5.25" bays are fine for new builds since I have older systems with burners if needed (plus external USB and firewire ones). I never get rid of old cases unless they are broken beyond repair or just suck.
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I made the mistake a couple years ago of thinking I was "done" collecting cases and got rid of a lot of really versatile ones I now sincerely miss. Smallish cases that take full ATX are getting especially rare these days. I've recently put a lot of effort into acquiring a better stock of towers for various project.

One unexpectedly fruitful source has been a thirft store in the next town over where I've picked up 2 outdated broken custom PCs for small amounts of money. One cost $30, came with a working GTX8800. The case is all aluminum though was missing a side panel. Not a great buy over-all but its been fun to play with. The other was $10, all the parts actually work just not together, and the case is this fabulous little small form-factor full ATX thing by coolermaster.
 
I found a really sweet antec case local with an older PC in it (haswell I think) but I’m saving for the June swap meet… not gonna do it. There will be another.
 
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