Someone threw these vintage computers in the garbage! Let's see if we can get them working!

If you'd like to support the channel and help me to produce more videos like this, you can find me on Patreon: / miketech
You have my eternal gratitude!
3 vintage x86-based computers rescued from the trash... Let's see if they're any good!

[@MrSCOTTtheSCOT]

You can hear the salesman telling them " it has a WD Caviar , 2GB, more storage than you'll ever need, its future proof"

[@miketech1024]

Nana definitely found a way to fill it up!

[@Bruces-Eclectic-World]

I use to sell and work om computers back then. Yes that was the good old catch phrase "All you will ever need!" Hahahaha LLAP 🖖

[@mm-hl7gh]

640k ! ;D

[@arthurmann578]

@@mm-hl7gh Yup! I believe it was Bill Gates himself that actually stated that 640k was all you will ever need! 😂

[@Thujaplicata1]

Western digital drives of that area were the among the worst. They all failed. To this day I still hate them.

[@xaero5150]

It was not a spider, it was a web developer!

[@dezraj340]

😂

[@philbertchow5425]

And it bit Peter Parker

[@bcostin]

I used to do the same sort of PC archeology so it was fun to tag along. And I appreciate that you saved the giant spider. Our local recycling center used to set out systems of this era for free. Now they throw entire PCs into dumpsters and chase off "scavengers" who might try to save them from being shredded. Frustrating.

[@miketech1024]

The scrappers definitely hurt my soul… I don’t get it - these parts have to be more valuable for what they are vs their scrap value… I have an HP Vectra powered by a Pentium Pro, which allegedly has the highest amount of gold of any CPU. They’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands! Then they’ll need to fight me as a zombie!

[@UNSCPILOT]

@@miketech1024 They'd likely spend more on the equipment to *scavenge all the gold* than they'd get for selling the results, ignorant, sell the PC or the parts you'd get way more bang for the buck, and help save a bit of history

[@j.lietka9406]

PC archaeology! I like that term!

[@DjResR]

I also used to do a lot of PC archeology in 2000's when I was a teenager (got some machines to work also), nowadays it's quite hard to find anything because mostly are taken to recycling centers here in Estonia too._

[@simduino]

@@miketech1024 I've got the Vectra with a 286, one of the first vectra's from hp. I also have three or four HP-150, one first series with two flops and two with hd's. Those were the first ever touch screen pc's. Have them complete with original software and manuals as I used the be the head of the IT department in my office. Also got some original IBM and novell equipment. Not to mention a truck load of old cards, drives and whatnot. All stored in my attic. Could actually start a museum. Fond memories.

[@TheLionAndTheLamb777]

No stupid loud intro, no clickbait, and no annoying music. You got my like.

[@WayneBarroncffcs]

When that Windows 98 desktop showed the diving theme and the starfish cursor, it reminded me of how my late father had his computer(s) set up. He LOVED the themes, used them constantly, and would call me up frequently, asking what was bogging down his system. :) RIP Dad.

[@enginerd80]

The second computer taking time during the first boot could be because Windows detected changes in hardware and was working with switching drivers and changing settings. At the second boot everything had stayed the same, so it was just a normal boot.

[@miketech1024]

I’d be cranky too if someone woke me up from a 2-decade slumber! 😂

[@tonnyodekerken9013]

Windows 98 booting in a totally different hardware environment without a blue screen. That is amazing. The plug & play system came out winning after 15 minutes.

[@davidg3044]

Windows 98 seemed particularly bad about that! I mean, if it didn't power down absolutely perfectly, if the weather changed, or if you re-seated some RAM it seemed like it had to go rethink it's whole existence lol!

[@miketech1024]

@@davidg3044 And if you re-located a PCI or ISA card, you best pray to the PnP gods! 🤣

[@davidg3044]

@@miketech1024 😂 exactly! I

[@Richiecandylover]

Damn the tech is easy on the eye and so is Mike

[@arthurmann578]

The "ringing" sound that you hear from the cover when you open up those old PCs always brings back fond memories! I've been trying to get back to rebuilding my old PC collection to boost my spirits up due to ill health and watching videos from fellow collectors like yourself is also a very important part of it as well. Thank you Mike for your videos! They definitely do help! 👍👍

[@lettuce388]

I found this extremely relaxing, and also extremely nostalgic. Me and my dad used to work on old pcs together and seeing that celeron really brought back some memories!

[@mrpetit2]

Looks like some kind of wolf spider. Pretty harmless but very useful in nature 😊 All that hardware looks very familiar. My 1st pc also had VLB (1 VLB slot), it was a 486dx2-66. I wish I had 16mb ram back then 😁 Those AOpen cases were simple but pretty good. They had pretty reliable power supplies.

[@andrewinnj]

I very much appreciate your gentle handling of the spider.

[@rickh8380]

Man that brings back fond memories. I still remember my computer running an AMD K6-233 processor. Good times. I miss those days. Thanks for the memories of better days. Cheers

[@miketech1024]

My dad built an AMD K6-2 system back when it was bleeding-edge technology. 500 MHz! I thought it was a supercomputer! 🤣

[@Soruk42]

I had a home-built K6-233 box back in my student days. When the motherboard failed I replaced it with a Super7 board that would take my existing CPU and RAM, yet give me more upgrade headroom as I couldn't afford to buy a whole new machine. Later, I upgraded it to a K6-2/450. The board had 1MB cache on board. Nice machine for it's time, ran Linux really well.

[@jonrutherford6852]

So happy to see you release the spider outdoors. I've never understood the widespread fear and even hatred of spiders; most are completely harmless, all are beneficial environmentally; and none will bite a human without provocation. There are many good spider-related videos on KZbin, by bona fide trained wildlife personnel, aiming to clear up the unfair myths surrounding these creatures.

[@GendoPrime]

That third system is an AOpen barebones probably sold around 98 or 99, the slotket adapter alone was worth picking it up. with a little time, some cleaning, and a re-cap, it would make a really good turn of the century gaming machine.

[@miketech1024]

That motherboard will definitely be making a re-appearance on this channel. I’m determined to get it working!

[@TommyViper]

@@miketech1024 I wonder if a simple cleaning up with some rubbing alcohol would bring it around. Maybe some of the traces are messed up from being so dirty. It's amazing just what a simple cleaning can do to a machine.

[@wjmascitello]

Good job with the spider! I used to work on these types of machines in an antiquated computer lab. But the spider got you a like and subscribe!

[@livefreeprintguns]

5:42 DX4-100, LFG!!! Man, watching you slide the heatsink on and off... I completely forgot what it used to be like back in the day lol.

[@miketech1024]

I nearly did a dance when I saw that CPU! 🤣

[@dabbelspeed_]

29:50 nice to see how you do with the spider. he seems to have fear, not knowing whats going on and looking for a hide behind the cables. poor little spider. great you free him.

[@barryinglaterra]

12:00 that case is basically identical to one sold for the Amiga 1200 back in the late 90's called the "Power Tower 1200".

[@Todd_Manus]

I have built over 300 of the first machine you opened... it brought back some memories. I used to work in a computer store in the mid 90s.

[@christopherjames9843]

Back in the old days you never knew what cards you would find in old machines.

[@wolfblaide]

Great to see these old 90s/00s PCs so well dissected. You do a great job of describing what all the parts are. It brings back so many memories of this era of PCs. That spider was pretty relaxed... he was beautiful. A wolf spider I think. I'm glad you're the kind of guy to treat him nicely and put him outside.

[@miketech1024]

Thanks!! Yup, it was a wolf spider. They’re very common in this area. Perfectly harmless but also a horror show for the arachnophobes. They have to be incredibly agitated before they’ll bite.

[@Eremon1]

I've heard of 'bugs' in a system...but a spider big enough to almost be called a small tarantula was not expected. 🤣 In all seriousness this was a cool trip down memory lane. Cheers.

[@laurettamartin-quignon596]

glad i found your channel.....this is my wife's KZbin acct that i use * i dont have one*...but I used to love OCing old school tech, and still love seeing it!! just now getting back into OCing after stopping back in 2007.

[@corvus1970]

First off, seeing the innards of these old machines brought back memories of my old Intel Celeron desktop (I don't recall the model, we got it back in 1996 or so), and my old eMachines eMonster, after which I'd start building my own PCs. Nice finds! Secondly, thank you so much for gently scooping up and releasing that spider. I'm sure he's happier, and I know I am!

[@jonathandavis3312]

It would have been 98 or after. The Celeron first released in 1998 as a more affordable version of the Pentium II.

[@MikeAalmers]

Love your videos and your witty commentary! Please make more 🙂

[@ThePurpleSkyz]

"Boring modern computers not worth a second glance" *could* be retro gems in 30 years, just saying.

[@CyrusHusky04]

i’ll be 100% honest with ya, clicked for the guy but i stayed for the content, great video!

[@melterofsnowflakes]

Wish I had known of your channel years ago. Ran out of room, finally had to send all my ISA cards and a lot of my PCI and AGP cards off to a recycler. I -wish- (and no, I'm not going to try running a business) there had been a store that sold old parts I could have just handed the parts over to.

[@0flyswatter0]

Nice finds, especially that 486DX.

[@fenriswf]

VLB IO cards were SUPER common back in the later 486 days. Especially with the AMD 586's, etc.

[@TiBosRetroComputers]

Hi Mike. Came across your new channel and just wanted to respond with: you have a new follower 🌈 It’s always exciting finding old computers and see what’s inside them. Keep up the good work and I shall be looking for more content 👍

[@heres2ya]

this brings back the memories for sure. i fiddled and repaired a lot of them over the years. i enjoyed them so much i used the chassis/towers of the non functional ones as gaming rigs and daily drivers. i replaced all the old internals with all modern internals. i sure wish i could find more of them old towers.

[@livefreeprintguns]

EZ subscribe, you had me at dumpster diving. I built most of my computers from dumpsters and even had a pretty nice NEC flat view CRT monitor I used for years from an electronics surplus store dumpster that was damaged on the side... but nothing a Free Kevin bumper sticker couldn't fix!

[@toast_ee]

Great video, also appreciate the gentle touch with the spider!

[@Arick_Lee]

@ about 14:00ish about the "failed rubber band". Those exact semi-clear rubber bands would often appear on new cables that were yet fresh in the bag. Some PC assemblers would just leave them on because it was easier and it also made it look neater with no effort.They Rarely were used to support or route cables far as I've ever seen in the day.

[@obiwankenobi661]

i'm so jealous. this old tech has some special kind of charm. i could dig all day in these old things - and im not even from that time.

[@TheUntamed101]

Thank you for not harming the spider and letting it loose. It seemed gentle but in similar situations so many others would just kill it. But you didn't

[@42TY.Gaming]

You beat me to it . Most spiders seem to be chill . I've picked up many bare hands and never taken a bite . I love spiders and can't even imagine how there is such fear over them for some people. We are many times bigger than a spider and if we really wanted to we could end one with zero effort and I wonder if the spiders know this and think if they bite then they will get smooshed or something plus even if you did get bit you likely wouldn't die or have a bad reaction unless you have an allergy. Hell I've even picked a widow up once or twice before and all they did was calmly walk around like they didn't even care lol . I'm really hooked on watching spiders up close, I find them so fascinating.

[@grabtharshammer]

Sadly though, putting a "house" spider into a garden is a death sentence

[@42TY.Gaming]

@@grabtharshammer I agree . I usually just allow them to continue living inside.

[@philbertchow5425]

@@42TY.Gamingso scary, so many legs 😣

[@tonywise198]

Certainly brought back some memories!

[@MajorTomgames]

i used to sell pcs back when these were new, and the one on the left at the start of the video, the case came with two sets of buttons, one blue / purple set and a pink set, so you could choose which you preferred :D

[@tallpaul9475]

It is like going back in time... but feels like it wasn't that long ago, if you were me. I started getting into PC computers towards the end of 1994. Montgomery Wards, CompUSA, Fry's Electronics, Hard Drive Depot, Weird Stuff Electronics, to name a few.

[@lurkerrekrul]

In this area we have "bulk trash pickup" twice a year, where the city will haul away pretty much anything you put on the curb for free. People clean out their attics, basements, closets, etc, and just pile the stuff on the curb. I occasionally see old systems like these, although the majority are usually Pentium systems from the likes of Dell. I used to bring them all home, but I have a hoarding problem and I realized that I was never going to do anything with them. I still have some older systems hanging around but nothing of this vintage anymore. I've actually been hoping to find something much newer. My main system is quite old now and I don't have any money to buy something new. So I keep hoping to find something I can build into a newer, faster system for not much money. I found two Lenovo i5 systems, but only one of them posts. It has no hard drive, a weak power supply and it's a small form factor system, meaning there's not much expansion room. I wanted to put it in a larger case, but I have no idea what to get (what would fit the motherboard mounting holes). Each system had 16GB of memory (2x8GB, 4x4GB), and with four slots, I could have a max of 24GB. I also have a very large graphics card that I found, which I'd like to pair with it. The card is physically too big to fit in any of the cases I have (unless I cut out part of the hard drive bays), and recommends a minimum 500w power supply. Care to guess how many of those I have? I don't even know if the card works, although it looks in pristine condition, other than the dust. I figured that at some point down the road I could upgrade the processor to an i7. It wouldn't be state of the art, but it would be more powerful than my current Core-2-Duo system.

[@miketech1024]

We still have lots of houses that are damaged from hurricane Michael in 2018 that are still being cleaned out. These were on the curb of one such house. That’s also how I found the four TRS-80s. Your system is probably either a micro-ATX or mini-ITX form factor. What is the model number?

[@lurkerrekrul]

@@miketech1024 Thanks for the reply. The computer is a Lenovo ThinkCentre M900. The motherboard power connector is only 10 pin, but I see that there are 24 pin to 10 pin ATX adapter cables. Note: Please don't let this fool you into thinking that I really know what I'm talking about, I'm just repeating the description. If you put a pile of parts in front of me, I can assemble them into a working system, but as far as just knowing what parts you need, and which ones will work together properly, not so much. The graphics card that I hoped to use (assuming it works), is a Sapphire HD7870 XT 2G DDR5 PCI-E.

[@miketech1024]

@@lurkerrekrul If it has PCI-E slots, then it is indeed a micro-ATX motherboard. They use the same screw hole pattern so they should mount up in a standard ATX case. You probably won't have much luck finding an I/O shield, but that doesn't matter much. You might be able to adapt the I/O shield from the micro-ATX case. Standard to 10-pin ATX power adapters can be had for under $10, though I've never used one. You might have to trace out the front panel pins that lead to the power switch/LED and HD activity light if they're not clearly marked. As for the graphics card, it *should* work as it shouldn't draw much power from PCI-E itself, just as long as the power supply is up to the task.

[@lurkerrekrul]

@@miketech1024 Of course none of the pins on the motherboard headers are marked. However I found a diagram of a Lenovo front panel connector that seems to match., The same pins are used and the wires seem to be going to the pins indicated in the diagram. Unfortunately I forgot the golden rule that noting is ever simple. Lenovo used a proprietary connector for the front USB ports and audio connections (mic and headphones). It's like a mini expansion slot on the board and the end of the cable has a small card-edge connector. People make adapters for this to give you a "standard" USB connector, although I'm not sure what kind of USB standard includes audio as well. Just search for Lenovo 28-pin adapter. The real problem is that Lenovo placed it directly in line with the PCI-E slots. For most cards this wouldn't be an issue, but the graphics card is so long that the end of it goes past that socket. If plugged into the upper slot, the heatsink and plastic casing hit the connector. If plugged into the bottom slot, the board itself will hit the connector. It will clear it if nothing is plugged into that connector, but then I lose the two USB 3.0 ports and the audio connectors. To use it, I would need a very low-profile right-angle connector with the right pin spacing. They probably make such a thing as a generic connector, but probably not one specifically for Lenovo motherboards. And even if I managed to come up with a way to connect to that socket, I don't know what any of the pins do. I haven't been able to find a pinout for it. I know they make extender cables that plug into a PCI-e slot and let you mount a card somewhere else, but I've also read that they might not work correctly. And of course, the slot end is always mounted straight in the end of the cable, ensuring that you can't just put the card in an empty expansion slot/bay below the edge of the motherboard. Someone with more skill would probably de-solder the proprietary connector from the motherboard and mount kind of low-profile standard connector, but I'd be afraid of ruining the board. Someone with skill could probably buy the adapter, cut off the pins and reconnect them on a right-angle. I'm fully confident that if I tried this, no matter how carefully I connected everything, it wouldn't work.

[@mike306dt]

The Aopen case is one I previously owned - have looked for months to find one but no luck! Nice haul :)

[@Universal.G]

Respect for not killing the spider!

[@SonicBoone56]

That's a good ole wolf spider you had in there. Very docile buddies. It's good you let it out, didn't look particularly healthy. Either that or it was hibernating.

[@jhareng]

Got an SX25 here bought in 1994, last used and still has my CV on. First pc i made up was a Pentium 800 in 2000, had to use jumpers.

[@TheWarrrenator]

Yo…. I am WAY more afraid of a dead cockroach than a live wolf spider. Kudos for being gentle with it. You just leveled up your karma!

[@windowsuser321]

We had the exact case in the middle! Cool to see :)

[@StevenThompson87]

me too!

[@wilsard]

i used to actually work on that stuff. i had so many s3 virge video cards. they were on special somewhere, so i put them in many computers i sold. the way the heat sink clips and ram clips worked are bringing back memories.

[@ryanfowlow8034]

I stayed for the pc stuff, but I subbed for saving the spider.

[@SymbolicSplenetic]

Respect for not killing the spider-buddy.

[@stevencamp6824]

That last one looks like an Aopen case..love those

[@rectify2003]

You know they are old, when they are yellow with a turbo button 😀 Subscribed

[@RetroTinkerer]

LOL I got you, I would also loose my shit if I saw 3 old computers at the side of the road! At systems don't come by cheap less so free. Congratulations they seem to be in excellent shape

[@Rod-bp8ow]

The overall detail inspection of the hardware and the manner they are individually installed, speaks for the tidious ways the hardware items are installed. Some designs of the brand for desktop only entails you to slide the motherboard and install the specs and you're good to go..its different when your'e the one doing the details, or trying to pull the programs and install the softwares as well for the hardwares to run smooth. The soundcard and video card there is also catchy, you have to configure it first manually, then that's the time it can ran, depending on the O.S as well as the numerous version of Software that needs to be installed, different types of RAM, DDR2, DDR3, DDR4 and different types and sets of CORES depending on the owners need for speed or assertiveness of the Gadget and ports for them to communicate the way they should be. That Sound that comes out is a sign that the computer is near its repair state, so many wires and ports that has to be placed, including the dongle cables. The BIOS set up is also there to make everything as smooth and up/and running from any lost sector if there is a bad sector. Very good, the motherboard is up and running smooth the way it should. Thank you PCWorld for the complete reference. PLDT SME Nation../././/Generalists/Manage Care/././/,G.M Industries..DON'T DELETE, this is IMPORTANT. Thank you

[@ForTheBirbs]

Greetings from Sydney, Australia. Found you via a YT recommendation. Cheers!

[@GothGuy885]

I remember working on these old AT computers, and when the hard drive would get too full it would slow waay down, because there wasn't enough room for the paging file in secondary memory.

[@T3hBeowulf]

That sound blaster in the first computer represents somewhat of a sweet spot for SB16 cards and pure DOS: * Old enough to not have a Type I "hanging note bug" for MIDI * Old enough to use jumpers for configuration (no "plug and pray" issues in DOS) * New enough to have a decently quiet audio signal path (especially compared to other sound blaster cards) * Old enough to still have a genuine Yamaha OPL3 FM Synth chip (not Creative's harsh emulation for OPL3) Nice find and teardown!

[@miketech1024]

Thanks!

[@01302]

New to your channel, really enjoyed the video. You've got yourself a new subscriber.

[@AndyKPOV]

In 2006 when I was 12 a school shit down at the end of my street and threw away at least 200 computers. They took the ram out and cut the power cords. So I took a bunch home. I found a bunch of ram at the bottom of the garbage. I was lucky and they were 4 channel. So I added a whopping 1.5gb ram or so and a old atx card and made my first actual gaming PC. Coming from one of them ad emachines in the early 2000's I actually have a picture of it too. But my recycled school dell last like 5 years lmao

[@waffleMccoy]

This happened to me once basicly and it felt like getting into some kind of old console, I found tons of stuff, like, home made programs with stuff like, book inventories, to-do lists from like the 80's with stuff like " record macgyver" and stuff like that,

[@miketech1024]

It is oddly fascinating. They’re like time capsules for data.

[@dakotart1984]

Oh man have I been looking for that Aopen Case for a while..

[@jake_dev1046]

The first one when you plugged in the monitor “Keyboard error” and Press F1 to Resume lol

[@memorex398]

This is the first time I've seen you on KZbin, But I instantly subscribed

[@miketech1024]

Thanks!

[@WillOnSomething]

If, for some holy reason that BBS number is still active, it would be using the 781 area code, since Lexington as well as other suburbs directly outside of Boston were split into 781 in 1998.

[@miketech1024]

I haven’t missed having a landline in decades, until now! I would have definitely tried to dial into it! If wikipedia is to be believed, true dial-up BBS systems are sadly almost completely extinct. Fewer than 30 are estimated to still be in-service. There was one called ONIX in Philadelphia that I used to dial into in the early 1990s. I very vaguely remember it as I was around 5 years old, but distinctly remember it would go offline at a certain time of night and kill my game downloads… It still exists today in Telnet form!

[@kittyhawk9707]

Well done in defeating the "Guardian" on the third system .. quite the boss fight .. I used to love finding out what bits and bobs old systems i found actually had .. I used to work for a computer dept and often got to keep old /retired PC's

[@Genokiller1989]

Fun Fact the Turbo button actually slowed down the CPU instead of actually Speeding it up

[@fanguy247b9]

Great memories of my middle school/ high school days of working on the older systems for our libraries, computer labs and teacher’s computers. A group of friends and our computer teacher and IT staff were able to save our school district thousands of dollars by re using older tech. We were able to get many years of service from old 486 to early pentium systems by upgrading them to windows 98se from MS DOS 6.22 / Windows 3.11. It was common for us to take the most beat up cases to use as part systems so we could upgrade ram, replace bad power supplies, add in an extra hard drive for storage. When i graduated in 2004 we still used pentium overdrives and pentium 100 mhz or higher machine’s in many classrooms. The school system was finally able to get a lease program with Dell and Hp for the computer labs and libraries with pentium 3 and 4 machines running Windows xp professional however the classroom’s had our hand me down clabbered together systems running Windows 98se and I also remember Novell net ware running on them what a pain that was.

[@RamyFal]

That 2Gb HDD went into Geiger Counter Mode

[@MrAsBBB]

Found your channel tonight and it brought back so many fond memories. Keeep up the good work. I have the same watch face as you.. All the best. In the late 80s my friend asked me to fix his xt. I got the hard disk out , slammed it on the table and it wound up. Problem solved for a while

[@miketech1024]

Thanks! Lol good old percussive maintenance! I once had a little Macintosh SE that wouldn’t boot unless you slapped the side of it.

[@captainwasel8377]

This encourages me to finish working on the computers I have to clear some space and bring other ones. I don't think I've ever encountered any computers that old on my trips to the flea market. I mostly see ones with Pentium 4 socket 775 motherboards.

[@miketech1024]

It’s very rare these days. I find that visiting flea markets and thrift stores in smaller towns tends to increase the likelihood of finding older systems and components.

[@Stache987]

I want my "Travel" theme back

[@WarPhotographer1974]

I used to build those computers when I worked in a mom and pop computer shop in the 90s. I can’t believe they are vintage now.

[@miketech1024]

Neither can I 😂

[@natestarot]

I appreciate that you point out things and mention what they are. I'm slowly learning all this stuff to eventually take my first A+ test. Seeing you troubleshoot and open all these is very interesting to me:)

[@dzsanni94]

I love you Mike ❤

[@ik04]

I have a closet full of these old systems. Two of those LVB boards that work!

[@ItIsNot1984]

That is a nice find! I am now fixing up a packard bell a950 with a 233 mhz pentium. It even had the monitor, speakers, mouse and the keyboard looks unused in the box. It was a $15 yard sale find from last year.

[@miketech1024]

Those are the kinds of yard sale finds I live for!

[@Eduardo99922]

I love old Computers.

[@Ptero4]

That second PC had NT installed on it at some point. I can tell because of the "Documents and Settings" folder at the root of the Windows partition ("Documents and Settings" is the folder that Win NT 3.x, NT 4.x, 2k and XP used as /home folder. Win9x and WinME use a "Profiles" folder inside the Windows folder as /home).

[@thelazyfishkeeper2730]

hello, that was a wolf spider you encountered. these old units are neat to see. stay well

[@Miakel]

I wish I kept my original 486, there is such charm. But storing a computer for decades is a bit of a hassle.

[@5argetech56]

I still have an A-open HQ08 full tower case. It has the pull out feet on the bottom. The power supply was in the middle rear, just below the rear hard-drive bay. The bay could hold 4 3.5 in hard drives, with two 60mm cooling fans in the rear behind them. It also had a slide out motherboard tray that could hold full-ATX motherboards. I modded it with a 120mm intake fan on the bottom of the slide out door. The Floppy disk drive was at the top of the case in the front.

[@miketech1024]

Sounds like a beast of a system!

[@Richard-pe4cx]

someone had a lot of fun setting up the first 2 systems i noticed thermal paste does not seem to be a thing ; takes me back to when i first stated tinkering and learned that a pci and agp graphics cards are not the same

[@montmn]

Man I wasted so much time on Yahoo Messenger. Making booters to crash peoples machines in chat. I loved it.

[@andrewmurray1550]

the buzzing noise was just the floppy drive(s) R/W heads activating

[@domramsey]

Great find and nice bit of PC archaeology!

[@BurritoVampire]

I see the previous owner was a person of culture as well with their Underwater theme.

[@Foxbat_a]

The second system is not a simple Socket 7, it is actually Super Socket 7, which difference is AGP and 100MHz FSB speed support, it was mostly used with AMD K6-x CPUs

[@Jerkwad152]

2nd computer's motherboard was manufactured by PC Chips. They were rather infamous in the day for their substandard quality. They even had some 486 boards with fake L2 cache chips. Pretty cool that it worked.

[@Soruk42]

I've got a 486 VLB machine in my loft - and it has that same GUI BIOS. I might just dig it out - or at least rescue the 1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive that's in it.

[@miketech1024]

These boards seem to be getting quite valuable. Definitely save it! If it has the barrel-style battery, you’ll want to remove it immediately as they leak corrosive electrolyte which destroys the board.

[@darknessblades]

The first one is my favorite, but only for that it has a KEY-switch build in, meaning you can hardware lock someone out of your system, if its powered off. the CPU adapter board is definitely a keeper they are quite popular with retro-gamers/collectors

[@miketech1024]

It’s definitely my favorite case of the three! Gonna have to retro-bright it. The key switch is in the locked position, but fortunately it’s disconnected. I have to find a key for it.

[@tejay9416]

You get a like for saving the spider. lol

[@BorosTheGamer5021]

finding computers in the trash every now and than is what got me into pc gaming

[@miketech1024]

It was the exclusive source of parts and systems for me back then. My family was broke! 🤣

[@BorosTheGamer5021]

@@miketech1024 same lol we never had a lot of money either when i was little so finding working electronics or pc's in the trash was a big trat for me xD

[@youtubasoarus]

Awesome finds! Just subbed 👍 I just recently sold my first machine which was a Pentium 75mhz. Same top case that comes off in one piece. Built like a tank.

[@Andorianin]

Respect for spider!!

[@donsurlylyte]

if you want to get these kind of things, make yourself known in your area as someone who will take old electronics, you will get all kinds of interesting things. always just take everything offered, and sort it out at home.

[@miketech1024]

I’ve toyed with the idea of starting an e-waste recycling center just to get access to more hardware like this. 🤣 But yeah I’m about to start posting some ads. Yard sale hunting is a lot of work!

[@Bruces-Eclectic-World]

Great video, brings back to good old days.... :-) I was working at a Mom & Pop computer shop back then. Lady brings in her computer and tells the owner that she thinks it has bugs. He thought she meant a Virus, so he said sure we can fix it. He put i on the repair shelf. I grabbed it after lunch and set it on the bench, hooked it up and it powered up but sounded funny. ( Can you guess where this is going?) So I opened it up, and as I slid the cover back, hundreds of cock roaches rolled out on to my bench! Yep, I screamed like a little girl, almost peed myself, I grabbed the frame and as I was next to the back door it tossed it out the door! (True story!). The owner came running to the back wanting to know what what was going on. "I said bugs my Ass, It's Roaches..." There was 6 of us and we were smashing roaches all over the place. We had to close for 2 days while he had the place bug sprayed to get rid of the roaches... This is a true story, it did happen! The owner's wife did not come into work for a week... Lol Great video, thanks a bunch! LLAP 🖖

[@miketech1024]

LOL! My eight-legged friend from the ATX system would have been happy to help with that! 🤣

[@Bruces-Eclectic-World]

@@miketech1024 Telling ya, he would have need serious back-up from the whole clan... Lol LLAP 🖖 Btw, I subbed just because f the 8 legged Horror Show... 🤣🤪

[@Jalahr77]

I just threw away about 5 of those 90's- early 2000's systems last summer. All were working, too. Never would have thought there would have been a demand for them. Still have a bunch of CD-Rom drives if you need one...lol.

[@miketech1024]

Can never have enough IDE CD drives! 🤣 Yeah a lot of people just don’t know how special these machines are in the eyes of enthusiasts such as myself. They’re getting tougher to find due to the scrappers who just want to harvest their precious metals. That’s why the value of these systems keeps getting higher and higher: Increasing demand and a dwindling supply.

[@redleader6442]

Don't expect much more life out of that Caviar 12100 drive. WD was plagued with massive quality control issues as of '97. I'd make an image of it while you still can, if you intend to save its contents.

[@abadenoughdude300]

I knew the 2nd system has to be a minimum Pentium 90 when the sound card turned out to be an AWE64. I tried to get one of those for my system back in the day but it turned out my PC was below this cards minimum requirements (it was a P75) so I went for a SB32 and more RAM instead. With hindsight it was probably not that good of a deal but it was quite enough for my young self's needs and I had tons of fun with it, getting my toes wet with music production, so it turned out fine in the end.

[@John-McAfee]

Thanks for the quality content buddy, definitely brings back memories.