AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-11-14, 05:06:

It gets even cooler but weirder, apparently this 7900GS has all the Pipes Unlocked, GPU-Z and Riva Turner show 24/8 instead of 2 […]
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It gets even cooler but weirder, apparently this 7900GS has all the Pipes Unlocked, GPU-Z and Riva Turner show 24/8 instead of 20/7 already.

I went into Riva to try and unlock the extra cores but they were already enabled and running?!?

I think this reference 7900GS is a 7950GT in disguise 🥸!

I think I might have to pull the cooler and look at the core to be certain.

The attachment PXL_20241114_041647761~3.jpg is no longer available

And yet the identifier string is 7900GS.

Is it worth the risk pulling the cooler? I think in terms of risking damaging the GPU die?

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-11-14, 02:07:

Super excited about this one!!

Ta da!! Unopened, brand new, Reference Nvidia 7900GS AGP. Don't see one of these beauties every day.

Nice find!

I'm surprised this is nVidia's reference design, though. My XFX GeForce 6800 XT AGP looks almost identical in layout. But I suppose that could also be using an nVidia reference design... which I find a bit unlikely, as XFX likes to cut corners and implement their own PCB designs (which I must admit are pretty clever sometimes.) Or maybe it's the other way around and these "no-name" 7900GS AGP cards are using an XFX PCB design somehow? There's no subvendor ID in GPU-Z, so I'm inclined to think these could even be new Chinese clones with recycled chips. Actually wait... now that I looked at the image of the card again, I can 100% confirm it's a cheapo Chinese clone with a recycled chip.

WORST OF ALL: BEWARE OF THE SHITTY SACON "FZ" VENT-LESS CAPACITORS!!!
These may look like polymers, but they are in fact electrolytic capacitors, and without the safety vents! (see here.) They are terrible utter garbage at best and guaranteed to blow up on you (or, as it always happens with these, they just blow out through their bungs and pull their leads out from the board, sometimes damaging the via in the process.) Don't wait for that to happen. Get it recapped ASAP! And get rid of that terrible stock cooler. That thing belongs on a low-power 7300/7600 GS at best. I can't see too much through the plastic cover on top, but it looks like an all-aluminum cooler, which is what my XFX GF6800 XT AGP came with. It's an absolutely rock-bottom cooler and not suitable for the TDP of this card.

H3nrik V! wrote on 2024-11-14, 06:47:

Is it worth the risk pulling the cooler? I think in terms of risking damaging the GPU die?

100% yes.
That stock cooler is not adequate to cool these bumpgated cards. Since it's all NOS, it would be even better to replace this hot garbage from day one before it does damage to the core over time. I bet the running temps won't be any lower than 70C, if even that low. Probably mid-70's or touching 80C.

Only big problem with these AGP-bridged cards is that their heatsink is highly proprietary/customized to cover both the GPU core and the AGP-bridge IC... so finding a 3rd party cooler for that, I'm not sure if it even exists. Probably will have to kludge/rig something together... and doing that, depending on one's skill level, does increase the risk of damaging the core. But then the alternative is... dead GPU chip down the road.
Now that I looked more carefully at the card and looking through past/archived bookmarks on my PC, I see I've ran into at least several of these cards on eBay, all dead / for parts. So can confirm the stock cooler is no good.

PcBytes wrote on 2024-11-13, 19:34:

... apart from 4 Panasonics which are CLEARLY not original to the board, the rest of it is full of, and I am not joking, "EH" caps. (eh? 🤣)

EH... as in, better than not having any caps at all, eh? 🤣
Maybe someone should make a counterfeit brand of these, called "Meh"? 😁

Wes1262 wrote on 2024-11-14, 02:30:

Update on the Camera/x800. It might have been an honest mistake from the seller, but he made it worse for himself because he wasnt being honest. He sent me both the camera and the x800, but he was saying that the camera was still with him, which wasn't true. Regardless, he let me keep the camera and the x800 both. Probably not worth the return shipping costs.

Yeah, he probably did this, because if he asks you to return the camera, that would mean either he would have to pay for the return shipping and then pay shipping again to send it to the right person... or he could ask you to pay for the shipping, which if he cares about his reputation, probably won't because that means you would be more likely to leave neutral or negative FB. As for the other buyer, he/she probably left him negative FB already or neutral at best for not getting their item if he refunded them. So seller's thinking it's better to have at least one (maybe) positive feedback than certainly none at all.

feipoa wrote on 2016-12-06, 11:36:

I haven't purchased a motherboard in a long time, but tonight I did a search on eBay from a list I have. I check the list about once a year. I found this Gigabyte GA-5486AL motherboard for $18+$7 USD. I am wanting to gain a good understanding of the less common ALi M1489/1487 PCI 486 chipset. There seem to be only a few brand name boards which used this chipset. Perhaps for a reason? Well, I intend to find out.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/192041545390

How did you find this motherboard? I just got one with 5x86 133. Hopefully the motherboard performs ok and doesn’t have too many issues.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2024-11-14, 06:36:

I have bought two identical GTS 250 and one GTX 280. I plan to SLI the 250s and see how they compare to the 280. My understanding is that the 250s will perform better. At least in games that support SLI. But there may be compatability issues with some games. It will be interesting to see if I experience any microstutter with SLI. It will also be interesting to see how different games scale with SLI.

I am not sure whether I should test them with period correct CPU or something more modern. Obviously removing the CPU bottleneck will show what the cards can do. But it's not realistic to how they were actually used.

The problem with SLI pre GTX690 is the microstutter. despite what the framerate is the microstutter will make the experience much worse than if you just ran the GTX280.

momaka wrote on 2024-11-14, 09:22:

Nice find! […]
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AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-11-14, 02:07:

Super excited about this one!!

Ta da!! Unopened, brand new, Reference Nvidia 7900GS AGP. Don't see one of these beauties every day.

Nice find!

I'm surprised this is nVidia's reference design, though. My XFX GeForce 6800 XT AGP looks almost identical in layout. But I suppose that could also be using an nVidia reference design... which I find a bit unlikely, as XFX likes to cut corners and implement their own PCB designs (which I must admit are pretty clever sometimes.) Or maybe it's the other way around and these "no-name" 7900GS AGP cards are using an XFX PCB design somehow? There's no subvendor ID in GPU-Z, so I'm inclined to think these could even be new Chinese clones with recycled chips. Actually wait... now that I looked at the image of the card again, I can 100% confirm it's a cheapo Chinese clone with a recycled chip.

WORST OF ALL: BEWARE OF THE SHITTY SACON "FZ" VENT-LESS CAPACITORS!!!
These may look like polymers, but they are in fact electrolytic capacitors, and without the safety vents! (see here.) They are terrible utter garbage at best and guaranteed to blow up on you (or, as it always happens with these, they just blow out through their bungs and pull their leads out from the board, sometimes damaging the via in the process.) Don't wait for that to happen. Get it recapped ASAP! And get rid of that terrible stock cooler. That thing belongs on a low-power 7300/7600 GS at best. I can't see too much through the plastic cover on top, but it looks like an all-aluminum cooler, which is what my XFX GF6800 XT AGP came with. It's an absolutely rock-bottom cooler and not suitable for the TDP of this card.

H3nrik V! wrote on 2024-11-14, 06:47:

Is it worth the risk pulling the cooler? I think in terms of risking damaging the GPU die?

100% yes.
That stock cooler is not adequate to cool these bumpgated cards. Since it's all NOS, it would be even better to replace this hot garbage from day one before it does damage to the core over time. I bet the running temps won't be any lower than 70C, if even that low. Probably mid-70's or touching 80C.

Only big problem with these AGP-bridged cards is that their heatsink is highly proprietary/customized to cover both the GPU core and the AGP-bridge IC... so finding a 3rd party cooler for that, I'm not sure if it even exists. Probably will have to kludge/rig something together... and doing that, depending on one's skill level, does increase the risk of damaging the core. But then the alternative is... dead GPU chip down the road.
Now that I looked more carefully at the card and looking through past/archived bookmarks on my PC, I see I've ran into at least several of these cards on eBay, all dead / for parts. So can confirm the stock cooler is no good.

PcBytes wrote on 2024-11-13, 19:34:

... apart from 4 Panasonics which are CLEARLY not original to the board, the rest of it is full of, and I am not joking, "EH" caps. (eh? 🤣)

EH... as in, better than not having any caps at all, eh? 🤣
Maybe someone should make a counterfeit brand of these, called "Meh"? 😁

Wes1262 wrote on 2024-11-14, 02:30:

Update on the Camera/x800. It might have been an honest mistake from the seller, but he made it worse for himself because he wasnt being honest. He sent me both the camera and the x800, but he was saying that the camera was still with him, which wasn't true. Regardless, he let me keep the camera and the x800 both. Probably not worth the return shipping costs.

Yeah, he probably did this, because if he asks you to return the camera, that would mean either he would have to pay for the return shipping and then pay shipping again to send it to the right person... or he could ask you to pay for the shipping, which if he cares about his reputation, probably won't because that means you would be more likely to leave neutral or negative FB. As for the other buyer, he/she probably left him negative FB already or neutral at best for not getting their item if he refunded them. So seller's thinking it's better to have at least one (maybe) positive feedback than certainly none at all.

Wow!! You think so??? the person even had a receipt from 2013, so if it is a Chinese knock off, its pretty old!!

Crazy I'll have to look a little more closely at it! thanks for the heads up I'll do some research!
It does work well on the flip side, ran some 3DMark03 no problem. Temps are mid 40's on idle to 60's on load, but my room is cold.

Now I'm definitely gonna take the cooler off and check the core. Honestly If its a 7950GT Core I'm not even gonna be mad 🤣.

Another interesting thing, is the PCB Layout is completely Identical to the XFX 7950GT 512MB AGP Card. the only difference between the cards is the Caps used.

Cheers!

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-11-14, 15:30:

Wow!! You think so??? the person even had a receipt from 2013, so if it is a Chinese knock off, its pretty old!!

Sounds about right. Those cheap no-name knock-off cards were quite popular back then (and, as in the case of GeForce FX5500 cards, still available/made even today). Actually, not all of them were made with recycled chips. Some probably used NOS / production leftover chips. But who knows which one you got, you'll probably never be able to tell.
Either way, the worst thing about these no-name cards is that they almost always/exclusively use Sacon FZ garbage caps. So a recap job would certainly be needed, even if the card is not used much. I've actually had those FZ caps blow up by themselves while sitting on the shelf without power. Gave me quite the scare one random morning, as they sound like fire crackers going off. 🤣

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-11-14, 15:30:

It does work well on the flip side, ran some 3DMark03 no problem. Temps are mid 40's on idle to 60's on load, but my room is cold.

Yeah, winter is nearing here too and inside my home right now it's about 21C, so I also get lower-than-usual running temperatures.
IME, for hardware that's cooled without actively monitoring the temperatures, I get proportional rise in the running temperatures with the room temperatures - i.e., if I have a GPU hit 50C right now with 21C ambient, I can expect the same GPU to hit 58C when my home reaches 28-29C in the summer.
So yea, you'll probably see temperatures closer to (or above) 70C inside the PC case, and especially in the hotter months of the year.

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-11-14, 15:30:

Another interesting thing, is the PCB Layout is completely Identical to the XFX 7950GT 512MB AGP Card. the only difference between the cards is the Caps used.

Yup, that's why it looked so familiar to me for a second.
As mentioned, XFX are pretty clever at cutting corners. The PCB they designed for the GF6800 XT AGP was also re-used for their 7800GS AGP and 7900GS AGP.

In turn, XFX's cards used the reference design. I briefly had a reference 7800GT AGP and at least three cards from XFX shared its PCB - your 6800, the 7800 and 7900.

It is a Full 7950GT Core, Whoot!! Huge!!

They also used Qimonda 700Mhz GDDR3, so if it is a knock off they used great parts!

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-11-15, 02:29:

It is a Full 7950GT Core, Whoot!! Huge!!

They also used Qimonda 700Mhz GDDR3, so if it is a knock off they used great parts!

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Guess you're even more excited about it now, then? Congrats!

I found Blue Diamond Premium VGA cables, coax cores, ferrites, about 8mm thick, gold plated, new at a thrift store, so I bought a couple as I might be wanting to get 1024x768 or higher thru switchboxes or KVMs at some point in the future, so I wanted to stack the odds in my favor.

H3nrik V! wrote on 2024-11-15, 05:02:

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2024-11-15, 02:29:

It is a Full 7950GT Core, Whoot!! Huge!!

They also used Qimonda 700Mhz GDDR3, so if it is a knock off they used great parts!

The attachment PXL_20241115_022436446.jpg is no longer available

Guess you're even more excited about it now, then? Congrats!

Yea I never thought I'd get a 7950GT, when buying a 7900GS. Pretty stoked, I can just replace a few caps and she's ready to rock!
Even if an off brand company put it together it's still a genuine Nvidia chipset. I don't even see any G71-GT2 cores for sale on ebay.

Bought this Gainward GeForce 4 Ti4400 GS today. With screen artifacts for 20€ including shipping. I'm confident I will be able to repair and it and it's definitely a cool card. Not sure if I'll keep it for a potential red socket A build or just sell it when I'm done with it.

Masterchief79 wrote on 2024-11-15, 08:42:

Bought this Gainward GeForce 4 Ti4400 GS today. With screen artifacts for 20€ including shipping. I'm confident I will be able to repair and it and it's definitely a cool card. Not sure if I'll keep it for a potential red socket A build or just sell it when I'm done with it.

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How do you plan on fixing it?

Masterchief79 wrote on 2024-11-15, 08:42:

Bought this Gainward GeForce 4 Ti4400 GS today. With screen artifacts for 20€ including shipping. I'm confident I will be able to repair and it and it's definitely a cool card. Not sure if I'll keep it for a potential red socket A build or just sell it when I'm done with it.

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Normally the Golden Sample cards have the metallic maroon\burgundy colored cooler and matching RAM heatsinks. I have one of these 4400s, which my brother purchased back when they were new.

Is there a label on the back with a model number or name on it? There aren't a lot of pictures of these floating around the web these days (yeesh... they're almost 23 years old now..), but unless it is marked as a Golden Sample, I believe that would just be their standard Ti 4400 model. Still, an awesome card though! Hope you can get it working.

Grabbed this Gainward Ti4600

Unknown_K wrote on 2024-11-15, 08:50:

How do you plan on fixing it?

With one of these:

Here are more pics. I literally just bought it, so these are from the seller.

Masterchief79 wrote on 2024-11-15, 08:42:

Bought this Gainward GeForce 4 Ti4400 GS today. With screen artifacts for 20€ including shipping. I'm confident I will be able to repair and it and it's definitely a cool card. Not sure if I'll keep it for a potential red socket A build or just sell it when I'm done with it.

The attachment 6be46c90-ed1a-4ad9-a797-68b63b2b3a52.jpeg is no longer available

Sweet, good luck with the fix.

I got a line on a Gainward GF4 Ti4600, in a junk lot, but accidentally pissed off the seller because he didn't put the price he wanted on the ad, how the hell you feel you got the right to be angry about "lowballers" when you put stupid low prices on your stuff I don't know. Anyway, it had been sitting on the listing site for weeks before I contacted him, no doubt it will sit longer now he's put his actual price on it... gonna keep an eye on it, maybe get a buddy to try to get the deal. The problem is not so much that he overvalues this card, when it might not be working, but that he overvalues every other 10-15 year old low end piece of crap that is in the lot with it.

I have absolutely watched some overpriced items on eBay for over a year. I would politely send a message to the seller periodically, telling that I am interested in a lower price. This will work occasionally.

Masterchief79 wrote on 2024-11-15, 12:20:

Here are more pics. I literally just bought it, so these are from the seller.

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The attachment 76f7a722-0bac-47ee-8be3-04c62a255f79.jpeg is no longer available

Hmm... Yeah it is marked as a GS and has the exact same model number as mine. I'm not sure how much of a difference the heatsinks make (at stock or OC)... but I would keep this in mind when refurbishing\repairing the card. There is a slight possibility that a scrapper has had his hands on it and removed them. Also, just going by Google search results, the red cooler with the mask seems to be more commonly found on slightly later cards like the Ti 4200, Ti 4800 SE and FX 5700, but I also see it on the GS 4600 on pages from Europe, so maybe the burgundy Geforce 4 coolers were more of a US market thing. Earlier GS cards also had burgundy colored coolers (I have a Ti 200 currently, and my brother had a Geforce 2 Pro GS that was similar as well). It seems they transitioned to the red with mask everywhere by the FX series.

Anyway, here is mine!

I think it's pretty likely the card had heatsinks on the memory chips from the factory. I buy a lot of old stuff as defective and then repair it, so I'm used to incomplete cards.
I don't have the original red ones, but I'll find some fitting heatsinks and customize the card in a cool way. Maybe some copper/gold.

First I need to repair it though... 🙄
Usually with screen artifacts, the memory solder joints have cracked. In 1 out of 8 cards, a memory chip got actually shorted and destroyed.