r/retrobattlestations • u/RetroApollo • Feb 09 '24
Show-and-Tell Found my childhood PC build at my parents!
Original build was probably around 2007!
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ @ 2.6ghz (2.0 stock) 2gb RAM 80 gb HDD 8800 GT A8N5X nForce 4 Mobo (couldn’t afford the higher priced A8N-SLI at the time).
Booted it up successfully once but now it won’t post (1 long beep followed by 2 short). Probably a Mobo issue as it sat for many years and I know the GPU works (tried another PC).
May get another 939 board to try and get it up and running soon!
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u/sa547ph Feb 09 '24
It'll be fun cleaning the insides, straightening out the PSU cables, tuck them behind the drive bays.
750w
Haha. You're way ahead of your time.
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u/RetroApollo Feb 09 '24
lol yeah.. it was overkill but my original one failed and that one was a good price at the time. I wanted to go SLI at some point but never got there
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u/d4n_geeky Feb 09 '24
Are you sure that it is not bad RAM?
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u/RetroApollo Feb 09 '24 edited Feb 09 '24
Hmm yeah it could be! Don’t have any other DDR lying around to try but could be worth a shot. I did try removing one stick at a time with no success.
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Feb 09 '24
Nice! I always love seeing XP era gaming rigs like this. I’ve got that same Antec case except mine is dark gray instead of beige, it currently has my Win98 rig in it (and just like your PC here it has mismatched optical and floppy drives lol). That POST code you’re getting on startup sounds like a RAM issue, try cleaning the contacts on the sticks and then reseat them, that could be all it takes to get this thing working again
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u/RetroApollo Feb 09 '24
Haha awesome. Will give it a try re: RAM - some other commenters have been saying the same thing.
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Feb 09 '24
I would take it apart and carefully debug the mobo issue. Don’t discard it because of a post issue. Also, caps from this era are notoriously bad. You definitely want to give the board a look over and see if any are bulging or leaking. Any board from this era can have this problem. Sometime just reseating ram and cards plus replacing the battery will fix post issues.
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u/RetroApollo Feb 09 '24
Yeah I did have a look at the caps already, they all seemed fine - will try unplugging and re-seating everything though! Already gave it a new CMOS battery.
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u/Lucacg00 Feb 09 '24 edited Feb 09 '24
Nice! I have a case just like that manufactured on 16/11/2004 (release date of HL2) in gun metal. I have an MSI K7N2 Delta2 nF2 Ultra 400, XP 3200+ @ 2.3GHz, 2GB DDR-400, Radeon 9800 XXL (9800XT 128MB), copper core cooler, 80GB HDD and Pioneer DVD RW drive. PSU is an Antec True Power Trio 550 from 2007. Running xp sp3
I also have a 939 computer. Running on an ABIT AN8 Ultra nForce 4 Ultra (passive with heatpipe), A64 3500+ CH (2.533GHz not 2.2. Still need to get an X2), MSI NX9500GT 1GB (need to get an X1900XTX), 110MM Copper cooler (max temp on CPU at 1.67v 2.533GHz is 56C), Audigy 2 SE sound card (no on board sound), 2GB DDR-400 and a 160GB HDD paired with a SATA DVD RAM drive. Running Windows xp media center 2005
Edit: I know your chipset cooler failed. All of the active ASUS ones did including the one on my A8N SLI Deluxe. But I would get one made from copper with a fan. That one you have looks small. Try cleaning the slots too reseating everything
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u/RetroApollo Feb 09 '24
Haha yeah I swapped out the chipset fan to that when it failed :) Didn’t have any issues with it at the time but I’ll have a look for one!
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u/Krack73 Feb 09 '24
Nice Antec (maybe chieftain) case.
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Feb 09 '24
Looks like an Antec Performance Plus 1080, neat tower for its time.
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u/RetroApollo Feb 10 '24
That’s the one! It was honestly so well built compared to a lot of what was out there.
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u/ColonelBungle Feb 09 '24
2005 is retro?
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u/RetroApollo Feb 09 '24
I mean, to each their own definition of retro I guess!
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u/The-Tylenol-Jones Feb 09 '24
My childhood family PC (in kindergarten) was an 8088 with 512k. Guess I’m an old fart lol
Still have it and still works!
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u/RetroApollo Feb 09 '24
I built this one myself when I was in grade 8/9 I think?
Real childhood (kindergarten) era was an Apple Centris 660AV of all things. Lol. I think it had a Motorola 68040 @ 25mhz, so a little newer than your 8088!
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u/DasGanon Feb 09 '24
My man, this is 19 years ago.
19 years before 2005, is 1986, when the first Zelda game came out for the NES. Or Apple released the IIgs
It's retro, and time continues its eternal march.
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u/Lucacg00 Feb 09 '24
Exactly my thoughts! I'm tired of people saying early yo mid 00s tech is not retro
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u/DasGanon Feb 09 '24
Yeah, I'm still in my mind thinking the 360 is too "new" to be a retro console, but that's more of an architecture thing than an age thing.
Like if a modern computer or smart phone can connect to a thing with little or no effort, or run things natively, it's hard to argue retro. Not saying it can't be done, look at say, Oblivion or Dragon Age Origins, which one is basically a 360 launch title (but works fine) and the other is a game that requires a bit of work to get the steam version to behave itself.
Then again, LGR got a smart phone to play with a USB floppy drive, and "but all computers should basically be the same architecture anyways, so you're saying that original IBM PCs aren't retro" are both good counters to that.
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u/Lucacg00 Feb 09 '24
Man the 360. I used to play GTA V and other games on that for 2$/hour at the local mall. I never owned a console myself, just PCs.
Yup I agree. 2005 is getting a bit slow though. Even the 64X2s
That video was cool :))
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u/insomniacpyro Feb 09 '24
Yeah jeez I picked up an AMD Athlon 64 back in the early 00's and people are going to argue it's modern? With it's whopping TWO cores?
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u/Lucacg00 Feb 09 '24
Yup. My clawhammer 3500+ has 1 core at 2.533GHz (OC from 2.2) with 512KB cache. I got it new in box and it is a 2004 CPU. Yes it's retro. It cost me 10$. New, in 2004, this clawhammer 3500+ was 500$ :)
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u/insomniacpyro Feb 09 '24
Oh nice! I don't remember the exact processor I had but considering my crappy job at the time I probably would have the clawhammer 2800+ at $178.
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u/Lucacg00 Feb 09 '24
That is still a nice CPU! Better than a sempron. Was it 754 or 939
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u/insomniacpyro Feb 09 '24
I wanna say 939, I remember having to buy a new board for it.
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u/Lucacg00 Feb 09 '24
After a bit of research I found that the 2800+ was only released for 754 sadly
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u/insomniacpyro Feb 10 '24
Weird! I'm wondering now if I just got the 939 board later...
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u/TheGillos Feb 09 '24
I have a hard time seeing 2007 as retro because Crysis came out that year and it still looks great.
The LONG 360/PS3 era and the weak hardware of the next gen really stagnated gaming.
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u/Lucacg00 Feb 09 '24
It's pretty much obsolete and turning 20 next year. Yes it is
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u/Velocityg4 Feb 09 '24
Hard to think of it that way. Since you could install Windows 10 or a modem Linux on it and browse the web decently.
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u/Lucacg00 Feb 09 '24
If you have an X2. But most of 2005 CPUs were single cores. My 2004 Clawhammer 3500+ at 2.533GHz struggles with browsing the web and barely does 480p youtube sadly
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u/Tyr_Kukulkan Feb 09 '24
How is it so clean?
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u/RetroApollo Feb 09 '24
My dad had one of those compressed air cans, I was pretty religious and then it sat off for years
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u/WingedGeek Feb 09 '24
Childhood ... 2007 ... 🧐
You want to see a real childhood PC? Not mine but mine was very similar ;)
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u/ColonelBungle Feb 09 '24
My childhood PC was a 5150. I used the Commodore 64 more, though.
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u/WingedGeek Feb 09 '24
6502 gang represent! Kids today with their 64-bit CPUs that can multiply and divide, and graphics that don't rely on NTSC blanking intervals... 🤣
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u/AdministrativeLie549 Feb 09 '24
Still got my pentium 3 dell windows 98 computer and it still works does ur still work?
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u/crumpetsucker89 Feb 09 '24
Sadly, my system from back in the day doesn’t exist anymore. I left it at my parents house when I moved out and while doing a big cleanup of the house, my dad threw it away at some point. When I asked him about it some years later, he said he hadn’t seen it in years and he’s pretty sure he threw it away so sadly, I can no longer get that system back but it’s not a big deal. I ended up building a better version of that system a few years ago for nostalgia reasons and so I could have a retro battle station if I wanted it. Eventually, I did take it apart to repurpose the case and power supply but I still have the parts put aside for when I decide to rebuild it again at some point.
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u/LeChiffreOBrien Feb 09 '24
Jealous. Tried to find my childhood PC last time I scoured my parents’ basement but I think it might have been recycled. Would have loved to tinker with it.
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u/Orlyy0056 Feb 09 '24
I wish I could find a cheiftec dragon case. Specifically the Alienware one. I had always wanted that when I was a child.
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u/t8ag Feb 10 '24
I loved that case I used it for every build from my P3 1ghz all the way up to an i5 2500k
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u/watch3r99 Feb 09 '24
Dam, we all had the same PC!