Announcing the Cheap PC Challenge 2024 Tech Ambrosia 2024-03-17 | Join the #CheapPCChallenge2024 !Do you have what it takes to build a cheap, useful computer and daily-drive it?Want to test your mettle against other PC builders the world over?Want to see how bad that laptop you've been keeping in the attic really is?The Cheap PC Challenge is for you!From now until October 30th, build your best $50 or $100 PC and run benchmarks on it to rank your build amongst other builders!Tools and links:- Cinebench R10: guru3d.com/download/cinebench-10- 3DMark03: guru3d.com/download/3dmark03-build-3-6- Unlock 3DMark03: benchmarks.ul.com/legacy-benchmarks- Browservice: github.com/ttalvitie/browservice/releases
An $82 Gaming PC - Cheap PC Challenge 2024 Tech Ambrosia 2024-10-11 | #CheapPCChallenge2024 #BudgetGamingPC #BudgetGamingPCBuild #LowSpecPC The Cheap PC Challenge closes at the end of October! Get your builds in ASAP!This year, I built around an incredible GPU deal, and decided to try and push an office PC to its absolute limit. Let's see what I made!Chapters:00:00 - Intro00:25 - The Parts01:09 - The Twist01:49 - Getting To Know Your Optiplex 7050 MT03:19 - Expansion Slots04:53 - Initial Tests and Benchmarks (Intel UHD 630 integrated graphics)06:19 - Fitting the new GPU07:47 - Success08:58 - Failure11:40 - Success13:00 - Failure14:36 - Success15:03 - Benchmarks with new GPU20:51 - Results21:07 - Gaming Footage25:12 - Failure25:28 - Success26:42 - Outro & Thanks
LIVE - Examining Trinas Box Tech Ambrosia 2024-10-06 | #RetroGaming #Crossfire #TerascaleTrina of @trinastechnobabble sent me a GPU.Let's see if it works!
LIVE - Sega Saturn and Matrox DigiDesktop Testing! Tech Ambrosia 2024-10-05 | #SegaSaturn #RetroGaming #Matrox Let's see if any of the Sega Saturns I was gifted last December are functional! Also, can we capture some gameplay using a vintage Matrox capture card?
LIVE - Lets do this! Haiku R1 Beta 5 on a Bulldozer APU! Tech Ambrosia 2024-09-22 | #AMD #retro #HaikuOS This is it! Join me as I build my Haiku daily-driver live on-stream!
LIVE - Just how IS Bulldozer doing these days? Tech Ambrosia 2024-09-15 | #AMD #retro Taking another periodic look back at AMD's desktop platform launched in 2010: Bulldozer! aka "Construction Cores" or "AMD FX"This architecture was infamous for being slower than the K10-derived CPUs it replaced, and for getting AMD sued over calling the CPU modules "cores"So how is it holding up in 2024?
LIVE - Lets Upgrade this Quadra 700 to the Limit! Tech Ambrosia 2024-09-08 | #VintageMac #Quadra #RetroComputingThe iconic Quadra 700 was one of the longest-running mid-90s Mac models, and because of that, it garnered a large number of customizations.Let's take a look at a few, including a PC-compatibility card, a handful of video cards, and a 64MB RAM kit.
LIVE - Viewer Request - Windows 95 Tech Ambrosia 2024-09-01 | #RetroComputingA viewer asked if I could check out Windows 95. I'm more than happy to -- in fact, Win95 was the start of my PC computing odyssey, and was the operating system I experienced the early Internet on.Let's dive in to my old stomping grounds!
LIVE - Gigabit Ethernet in MY vintage Mac? Its more likely than you think! Tech Ambrosia 2024-08-18 | #VintageMac #PowerMacintosh #RetroComputingSupposedly, this RTL8169S-based PCI gigabit ethernet card works in MacOS 9 with a generic driver. Let's find out!
LIVE - HaikuOS on Carrizo! Tech Ambrosia 2024-08-11 | #HaikuOSLet's try getting Carrizo working on my FM2+ motherboard(s) and then try installing Haiku on it!
LIVE - Upgrading the Power Mac 8500 to the Brink! Tech Ambrosia 2024-08-04 | #RetroComputing #VintageMac #PowerMacintoshInstalling and testing a 3D accelerator, maxxing out the RAM, and even throwing a G3 upgrade card in the Power Mac 8500 workhorse!
LIVE - Messing with a Quadra 700 until we blow a RIFA cap! Tech Ambrosia 2024-07-28 | #RetroComputing #VintageMac #Quadra Turning back the clock to 1991 with Apple's premier mid-tower workstation offering, the classic and beloved Quadra 700!
LIVE - BeOS on the PowerMac 8500! Tech Ambrosia 2024-07-21 | #RetroComputing #VintageMac #BeOS With the Ender 3 stuck here until after Sunday, let's chat and try to install BeOS on my PowerMac 8500/120 with a 604e/233 upgrade card!
Channel Update! (NOT bad news) Tech Ambrosia 2024-07-12 | Help Tech Ambrosia keep the lights on -- contribute to the channel's Patreon at: patreon.com/TechAmbrosiaAmber! What's going on??? Where have you been??????
LIVE - Attempt 2 - Rebuilding the Ender 3 Tech Ambrosia 2024-07-09 | #3DPrinting #3DPrinter #RepairRebuilding my heavily-modded Ender 3 V1 (including a Creality Spider hotend upgrade) so I can gift it to my friend's kiddo. Come along for the ride!Extra-long stream since I get the feeling this will take a while...The cooling ducts featured in this rebuild:- Satsana V2 REMIX for Dual 5015 Blowers: thingiverse.com/thing:4639882- whistleblower REMIX for Spider V2 hotend: thingiverse.com/thing:6537484
STREAM KILLED BY COMCAST - Rebuilding the Ender 3 Tech Ambrosia 2024-07-07 | #3DPrinting #3DPrinter #RepairRebuilding my heavily-modded Ender 3 V1 (including a Creality Spider hotend upgrade) so I can gift it to my friend's kiddo. Come along for the ride!Extra-long stream since I get the feeling this will take a while...Unfortunately, Comcast conked out about an hour into the stream and estimated 2.5 hours to repair the outage. So we chatted in text chat for a bit and then I stopped the stream early.
Live - The Centris Returns! Tech Ambrosia 2024-06-23 | #retrocomputing The Centris 610 returns from its harrowing repair journey at @BigBadBench ! Let's put it through its paces, and see why the Motorola 68040 is considered so magical...
Live - K62+ vs. Voodoo 5 Tech Ambrosia 2024-06-16 | #retrogaming Testing the Voodoo5 on my Super Socket 7 board with the fastest CPU available for the platform!
Live - Slow DX8 vs. Fast DX7 Tech Ambrosia 2024-06-02 | #retrocomputing Testing the GeForce 4 MX 440 vs the Matrox G550 in a slow race!!
Live - Budget 1998 Graphics Cards Tech Ambrosia 2024-05-26 | #retrocomputing Testing three former budget kings: Matrox G200, S3 Savage3D, and 3dfx Voodoo Banshee!
Live - Making Music Like Its 1995! Tech Ambrosia 2024-05-19 | #retrocomputing #retromusic #trackermusic Making some bangin' oldschool tunes in Fast Tracker II on mostly period-appropriate hardware!Pentium 133 non-MMX CPUPicoGUS sound card - Gravis Ultrasound emulationMatrox Millenium video cardSnag a PicoGUS of your own: picog.usDownloads!Fast Tracker II: archive.org/details/demoscene_Fasttracker2-TritonFT2-clone (FastTracker for modern computers: 16-bits.org/ft2.phpSound Tracker Sample Packs: archive.org/details/AmigaSoundtrackerSamplePacksst-xx
Live - Testing More Graphics Cards! Tech Ambrosia 2024-05-12 | #retrocomputing These are cards I paid actual money for! Time to see if I'm going to regret buying them!Cards in the lineup:- S3 Savage4 Pro- Matrox G550- Riva 128 (Diamond Viper V330)- Rendition Verite V2100- Cirrus Logic Laguna3D- Matrox Mystique 220- 3DLabs Permedia 2 (Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro AGP)- SiS 305
Live - Round 2 - Graphics Card Grabbag! Tech Ambrosia 2024-05-05 | #retrocomputing I picked up a $20 bulk box of graphics cards for scrap. We got through half of them last week. Let's finish this box off!
Live - Graphics Card Grabbag! Tech Ambrosia 2024-04-28 | #retrocomputing I picked up a $20 bulk box of graphics cards for scrap. Let's test them out!
Clever Hacks and Cutting-Edge Tech - 3dfx Voodoo Graphics Tech Ambrosia 2024-04-26 | #retrocomputingPC 3D gaming starts here! The first wildly-successful 3D accelerator was a multi-chip monster from a completely unknown company, and it took the world by storm.Just how important WAS the Voodoo, and how did it completely upset the PC gaming landscape when it launched at the end of 1996?Let's dive in! @ComputerHistory 's Oral History of 3dfx panel: youtube.com/watch?v=3MghYhf-GhU
Live - Lets take my Voodoo Banshee to its Absolute Limit! Tech Ambrosia 2024-04-21 | #retrocomputing #retrogaming #3dfx The Voodoo Banshee was much maligned when it was first introduced in 1998 as a cost-reduced option for 3dfx-powered 3D gaming on the PC...The Banshee was 3dfx's first product to use the AGP bus, their first single-chip integrated 2D/3D solution, and the rumored video chipset for the canceled Sega Blackbelt project.Let's see what it can do when strapped to my overpowered AGP Testbench!Kool Smoky's Banshee Control on Internet Archive: archive.org/details/ks-banshee-controlKool Smoky's 2002 website stub on 3dfxzone.it: https://www.3dfxzone.it/koolsmoky/
Live - Lets install and test Joes Clipper Plus! Tech Ambrosia 2024-04-14 | #retrocomputing The "Clipper Plus" is a new add-on PCB design available from JCM-1.com that allows adding internal SCSI to a Mac Plus by simply clipping onto the existing SCSI controller chip on the main logic board!This is a clever bit of engineering on Joe's part, and I ordered one as soon as I heard about it.Also included is a high-quality 3D printed bracket for holding a BlueSCSI V2 where an internal hard drive should've gone!Let's dig into my old Mac Plus and try it out!
Live - CIPWDAVABIBAYANTPSV Episode 1: The Quadro GP100 Tech Ambrosia 2024-04-07 | Welcome to the inaugural stream in a series I'm calling: "Cards I Probably Won't Do A Video About Because I'm Bad At YouTube And Need To Produce Simpler Videos"This episode is about the Quadro GP100, a workstation #videocard which I was going to tease as a GTX 1090, but its lack of overclockability and artificially limited power draw means it's never going to eclipse the Titan Xp or 1080 Ti in gaming performance. But that's not what the GP100 was made for, and that's not why I bought it in the first place, so let's explore this workstation heavyweight!
Live - A dusty (but not rusty) Centris 610 Tech Ambrosia 2024-03-31 | I got a 68040 powered #retro Mac! A Centris 610, affectionately dubbed "the pizzabox." The listing said it powers on... let's see what we can make it do!
Live - Getting my Frankenstein PowerMac onto #Globaltalk Tech Ambrosia 2024-03-24 | So far, I've only seen 680x0-based Macs on the #Globaltalk worldwide Appletalk network. Let's see if we can change that, with the help of my horrifying de-cased Power Macintosh 7200/75 !
Live - Exploring a slightly grungy Compaq motherboard! Tech Ambrosia 2024-03-17 | This not-quite-standard-size motherboard holds its own as a retro PC, but what is it capable of?
Live - Lets Talk #CheapPCChallenge2024 Tech Ambrosia 2024-03-10 | #CheapPC #CheapPCChallenge I have some ideas for this year's challenge. Let's talk about it! Don't know what the Cheap PC Challenge is? This is the stream for you!
Live - Lets Talk VCF SoCal! Tech Ambrosia 2024-02-25 | #RetroComputing #VCF Let's chat about my experience at the inaugural VCF SoCal!
The Radeon HD 3650 AGP Tech Ambrosia 2024-02-12 | Looking for a fast AGP graphics card, but don't want to spend 7950 GT or Radeon 3850 money? Maybe an RV630-based card is just the cure you're looking for. Let's take a closer look!Test System Specs:Motherboard: Asus P5PE-VM (Intel 865G chipset)CPU: Intel Core2 Extreme X6800 @ 2.93GHzRAM: 2GB Kingston DDR-400 CL3OS: Windows XP SP3Chapters:00:00 - Introduction / Cold Open01:20 - The Terascale Story03:19 - A Tale of Two Performance Levels05:22 - Game Showcase09:14 - BENCHMARKS11:43 - Conclusion
Live - The PicoGUS 2.0 Tech Ambrosia 2024-02-11 | #RetroComputing Checking out Ian "polpo" Scott's PicoGUS 2.0 project LIVE! A recreated Gravis Ultrasound for your modern vintage computer!
Live - Pentium 75 MHz Dallas RTC Replacement Tech Ambrosia 2024-01-28 | #RetroComputing Time to yeet the old Dallas DS12887 Realtime Clock Module from my old Pentium board and replace it with a modern equivalent!Sonic kicking sprite by TaymenTheHedgehog on DeviantArt: deviantart.com/taymenthehedgehog/art/Custom-Sonic-Sprite-Sheet-272825137
Live - BlueSCSI v2 Build and Test! Tech Ambrosia 2024-01-21 | #RetroComputing I'm assembling a BlueSCSI v2 and testing it in my Power Macintosh 7200/75Let's play some MacQuake, baybeeee!
The End of an Era - GeForce 6800 GS AGP Tech Ambrosia 2024-01-17 | The last nVidia fixed-function GPU: CurieThe GeForce 6 and 7 series were a return to form for nVidia in the early 2000s, after the disastrous launch of the GeForce FX series in 2003.Competing with the Radeon X800 series and X1000 series, Curie was nVidia's last GPU architecture to used separate, dedicated fixed-function hardware for vertex and pixel shading functions.Let's have a look at my favorite example of this architecture, the GeForce 6800 GS AGP in this inaugural episode of The Department Of Rendering.Test System Specs:Motherboard: Asus P5PE-VM (Intel 865G chipset)CPU: Intel Core2 Extreme X6800 @ 2.93GHzRAM: 2GB Kingston DDR-400 CL3OS: Windows XP SP300:00 - Introduction01:20 - Curie in relation to its peers03:14 - Game showcase06:21 - Benchmarks: Test System Specs07:52 - The Benchmark Results10:48 - Conclusion
Live - 440BX Retro Gaming PC Build! Tech Ambrosia 2024-01-14 | #RetroGaming I'm revising my "permanent retro PC" build, this time swapping 440LX for 440BX.Let's see how much faster it is now!
The #CheapPCChallenge2023 Roundup! Tech Ambrosia 2024-01-10 | Cheap PC Builds are the name of the game with this competition.10 builders. 13 builds. 3 podium finishers. And one Exploding Wrenchie award.What cursed budget computing hardware did the challenge unleash this year? Let's find out!YouTubers in the challenge this year:- David Starbuck - youtube.com/watch?v=1cP87z9rQ8U- Eric's Edge - youtube.com/watch?v=wpH3QpqKBEY- BigBadBiologist - youtube.com/watch?v=xKy2NJgZOFw & youtube.com/watch?v=2ersTPlyCeM- PC Sound Legacy - youtube.com/watch?v=IjQ6QQ6gTck- Justin D Morgan - youtube.com/watch?v=zYQRMmq3AZw- Dave's Vintage Apple Tech - youtube.com/watch?v=TmsK1L5kqFY- Everything is Broken Garage - youtube.com/watch?v=YITLcn8Quhk- Retro Mac UK - youtube.com/watch?v=fbeDKeVoqq8Huge thanks to @cincomma and Yoshark for help with the intro music and animation! 💜Sound effects used:"Horror Ambient W Chorus & Verb.wav" sound effect by co3 freesound.org"Evil Laugh Demon.wav"by: PaladinVIILicense: Attribution 4.0creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0Source: freesound.org
Live - Lets overclock Sandy Bridge! Tech Ambrosia 2024-01-07 | #overclocking In preparation for an upcoming video, let's see how far we can push an Intel Core i5-2500k donated to the channel by @RonsCompVids !
Ambrosia WRAPPED 2023 Tech Ambrosia 2023-12-25 | That's all folks! 2023 is a wrap. How'd the channel do? How'd I do? How did we all do? This was a weird year, wasn't it? It just felt.. off, right? I'm not the only one who feels this way?I've got stats on what worked and what didn't for the channel this year, and some insights into why I'm going to need to make some substantial channel format changes for 2024.Grab some eggnog, pull up a chair, and let's talk 2023.00:00 - Start of the video!13:48 - The Stats!15:21 - Not a real chapter marker, just here so that YouTube parses these!
Live - A BigBadBox from the BigBadBiologist! Tech Ambrosia 2023-12-24 | Opening an xmas present from The BigBadBiologist's BigBadBench, John! Let's see what's inside!
Three Cores in 2023?? You bet! Cheap PC Challenge 2023 Tech Ambrosia 2023-12-19 | #CheapPCChallenge2023This is my official entry into my Cheap PC Challenge for 2023.This system is built around an AMD Athlon II X3 420e CPU and an nVidia GeForce GT 420 2GB GPU. My original plans for this machine fell through, so I decided to see how many versions of Windows I could get this machine to boot and run with full driver support. Turns out, a lot!My 3D-printable testbench cases: printables.com/model/439834-versatile-pc-testbench-caseWindows Vienna: youtube.com/watch?v=_eGmt8-EI7g
Live - Fast AGP Tech Ambrosia 2023-12-17 | Testing my fastest AGP motherboard (Asus P5PE-VM) with my fastest AGP graphics cards (Radeon HD 4650, Radeon HD 2600 XT, GeForce 6800 GS) to try and break some bottlenecks!
Live - Slot 1 Fun! Tech Ambrosia 2023-12-10 | An impromptu #DOScember video... Taking a look at the current state of my Permanent DOS Gaming PC build, which is based around the Intel 440LX chipset and the legendary Pentium II!It's time for Slot 1 fun!
#CheapPCChallenge2023 - The Clock Is Ticking! Tech Ambrosia 2023-12-01 | The #CheapPCChallenge2023 is nearly complete! Now's the time to get your build completed and submitted for scoring and the January roundup video!Links to the benchmarks mentioned in the "requirements" section:- Passmark version 9 (halfway down the page): passmark.com/products/performancetest/download.php- Frozen Planet demo: guru3d.com/download/lost-planet-directx-10-game-demo- Google Octane 2.0: chromium.github.io/octane
Live - A TNT2 in my Northbridge?? PCChips GfxPro motherboard! Tech Ambrosia 2023-11-26 | Another weird motherboard for stream this week: the PCChips M754LMRThis is an ALi Aladdin chipset for Socket 370 with an integrated nVidia Riva TNT2 core in the northbridge, using system RAM as VRAM.
A strange SiS 530 board from Compaq Tech Ambrosia 2023-11-21 | An unassuming motherboard from Compaq (the Mustang-S) hides some interesting secrets for the retro PC builder on a budget.Let's clean it up and give it a look!Board voltage settings: pastebin.com/WbgKyXq5CPU multiplier settings: pchardwarelinks.com/cpuspeed.htm
Live - My 1st VSA-100 Experience - Voodoo 5 5500 Tech Ambrosia 2023-11-19 | A viewer kindly donated a minty Voodoo 5 5500 to the channel.Let's drop it into my AGP Testbench and play some games like it's June 2000!
