Packard Bell PB2980 - The Wave Maker

Рет қаралды 1,547

Күн бұрын

The multimedia revolution was in full swing in the mid 90s. Packard Bell was a mainstay provider of PCs around that time and allowed many people to experience the wonders of computing for the first time. Let's dig into one such model, give it a test run and of course play some games.
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Box art images from mobygames.com
#retropc #packardbell #retropcgaming
0:00 Intro
0:43 Packard Bell PB 2980
2:40 About Those Drives
4:30 Taking it Apart
10:16 Putting it Back Together
12:40 Bundled Software
16:23 Game 1 - M.A.X.
17:34 Game 2 - Phantasmagoria A Puzzle of Flesh
18:50 Game 3 - Frontier First Encounter
20:01 Game 4 - Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall
21:12 Game 5 - Star Wars: Yoda Stories
22:11 Final Thoughts

Пікірлер: 56

@YzerWings 3 ай бұрын

We had one almost identical to this. Awesome.

@blass79 2 жыл бұрын

Packard Bell machines bring back so many memories for me, having worked at an OfficeMax in the late 90's.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Hah oh I can imagine. Maybe even some good memories? Maybe?

@brandsonic 2 жыл бұрын

This particular machine was made on August 19th, 1996. The manufacture date is on the small label on the back above the PCI slots, visible at 2:03. It is represented by the five-digit number 08619. In this case, the 08 is the month (August), the 6 is the last digit of the year of manufacture (1996), and the 19 is the day of the month it was manufactured (the 19th).

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Makes sense! Thanks for all the extra info, learn something every day on these retro machines!

@scheeseman486 Жыл бұрын

This is my first PC! Bought second hand around 99. Mine might have been a higher end model as it had an onboard S3 Virge instead of a Trio, though with the same 150mhz Pentium. I upgraded it using spare parts either for cheap or nothing, with it's final form containing a 200mhz Pentium OC'd to 233, 64GB RAM and two Voodoo 2s in SLI taking up those PCI slots. I put Windows 2000 on it and it was useful up until about 2002, where I finally had the money to buy something new.

@jkeelsnc 2 жыл бұрын

Interesting machine. Many homes had one of the many PB machines.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

For sure! It's a nice slice of period machine and even though I didn't have one myself they seem to have sold like hot cakes across the globe in all their variations.

@RETROMachines 2 жыл бұрын

My life is complete. I can die happy now.

@UncleAwesomeRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Oh, MGI Photosuite!! I had forgotten about that! :D Great video!

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

I'll have to do a deep dive onsome of this software or at least an extra bit video. Something about all this bundle software is so fun! Thanks for watching!

@Artemisgoldfish 2 жыл бұрын

My family's first modern computer was very similar to this, maybe a 120 or 133 instead. Enjoyed a lot of X-Wing vs TIE Fighter and Road Rash on there! I was a bit too young to be messing around inside it back then so this is a lovely look inside, thanks :)

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome! I figured something similar to this would have been a first computer for quite a few people. Thanks for watching!

@user-ir2sy9ut1e 2 жыл бұрын

03:43 i first see floppy 3.5 5.2 Zip CD all it is crazy.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

All of the drives!

@zomp 2 жыл бұрын

Cool!

@SUCRA 2 жыл бұрын

I remember seeing Packard Bell PCs in my friends' house, they seemed more premium than my AST 486. Specially the ones that came with the "multimidia" pack, they usually came with bundled software that to my kid brain was pretty cool (I still have a kid brain, just saying). That sound card does sound pretty good, interesting that it carries a daughter board, thought it was a wave table board for a second. I love those huge pentiums! I have bought a couple of mini towers hoping to find one inside, but all I found so far are 486s haha. Interesting design for a mini tower, usually they used that kind of expansion system for horizontal desktop systems. As for the games, I had never seen MAX before, thought the unit sounds were really cool. Frontier is a game that doesn't look like my favorite style, and their version of Flight of the Valkyries... holy crap... why?! Such great audio capabilities haha. Daggerfall looked amazing, I've been meaning to check that out for a while, cool to see it. Never heard of Yoda Stories, looks like a fun little Windows 95 game. Once again a great video, thanks for another one, great work.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching as always! A lot of people have experience with all these Packard Bells but yeah short of what my friend had that's about all I had messed with up to now. Fun to explore!

@remasteredretropcgames3312 2 жыл бұрын

@@RiksRandomRetro Remastering Classic Games with Texture Upscaling | AI and Games -AI and Games, KZfaq Made the transition from raytracing mods to A.I. committing to only the highest standard possible which is insanely time consuming. When I make the video tutorial guide no bullshit straight to the point style, I could use soldiers.

@remasteredretropcgames3312 2 жыл бұрын

@@RiksRandomRetro Topaz Labs Gigapixel A.I. has matured considerably. There is value to taking textures and upscaling them again ive noticed. Its not even an expensive barrier to entry. 100$ isnt really anything, and it goes on sell.

@LeeMc007 2 жыл бұрын

I've been in bed after an accident for the last week orso and really enjoyed watching your builds and streams whilst I rest up. I have p200 PB from the 90's similar to the one I had way back when and also similar to yours, one thing to remember, don't forget the VX chipset can only cache 64mb of memory, be better off without that original 16mb edo. Thanks for the entertainment over the last week or so,, previously I hadn't seen your channel. 👍👍

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! Hopefully your recovery is quick and glad you are enjoying the content. Nice chatting during the stream!

@8KilgoreTrout4 2 жыл бұрын

Very interesting video brother!

@RetroPC 2 жыл бұрын

This was a great video. Thank you! Loving your Livestream too! I think I'm going to need to start scripting videos in the future. Packard Bell will always hold a special place in my heart.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! Always fun when you drop by the stream! This is definitely a neat machine and although I didn't have one myself it's hard to deny the impact they had on the computer landscape of the 90s.

@tasospodcast8832 2 жыл бұрын

Nice selection of games to try, and of course the AMAZING Pit-Fighter theme! Consider making a video "on a personal note": How did you start gaming, memories of the time, systems, magazines etc. etc.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks those are som fun games! And yes... I have an idea still in the planning stages that would sort of go over my personal "retro journey" as it were. Stay tuned there!

@OCROldComputerRebuilds 2 жыл бұрын

I really have a soft spot for the packard bell. My first was a 286 that had major issues but I was still able to use qbasic. nice little system.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Sweet! Seems like a lot of people had varying experiences with all the different generations and models of Packard Bells. Considering how long they were popular that is really no surprise either. A 286 one would be fun to mess with now!

@FOIL_FRESH 2 жыл бұрын

thats a cool slice of mid 90s pc tech pie you got there! i don't understand why more pc case manufacturers didnt use more of that deep grey. it fits with beige really nicely.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Agreed it does go really well together. They went all in on that design scheme and I think it's such a lovely period piece but still somehow holds up. Probably the quite sharp angles besides the wavy accent panels.

@typerightseesight 2 жыл бұрын

my first pc was a packard bell. then I got a dell. and the rest is history. mine came with this strange futuristic 3rd or 1st person exploration sci-fi game but I couldn't ever figure out what the name of it was. The demo was literally about going from like a docking bay to a laundry room and that was it. lol.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Hah that's a very specific piece of software! But anything was possible with multimedia. Or more like they never stopped to ask if they should not if they could...

@typerightseesight 2 жыл бұрын

@@RiksRandomRetro I just remember it was like ok demo over lets install aol cuz it just showed up in the mail on cd. lol.

@mrvellu 2 жыл бұрын

thanks for the video! Nice system!

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks glad you enjoyed it!

@ElectronicRapscallion 2 жыл бұрын

I wonder if you're the first person to put Noctua thermal compound in a Packard Bell? Love your videos!

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Haha aka what I had within arms reach when I was filming that part. Thanks for watching!

@ted-b 2 жыл бұрын

Nice one Rik, I'd leave as is, you're not short of higher spec machines.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Very true yes! Any time the opportunity presents itself I get the upgrade itch...

@GameTechRefuge 2 жыл бұрын

That was great Rik. Really enjoyed it, great system and well put together video. Happy New Year and see you in the chat for one of your streams in the near future.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! Definitely a fun machine to tinker with so expect to see it pop up again...

@xBruceLee88x 2 жыл бұрын

I had one of these back in the day. 2 or 3 variations actually lol. One had a Bigfoot 3.2gb drive or something like that. It had a custom win 95 theme with animated icons and such. I wanna say a 2mb ati rage 2 but that may have been the ibm I had. (aptiva or something) so was probably an S3 chip. One had a p90, another a p166 I think. Mine also had a 16x cd rom that would just shoot right out. There was a flap on the front rather than the door on the tray, so sometimes if you tried to eject while it was having trouble reading a disc, it would shoot out and fly across the room lol.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Oh cool! Seems like Packard Bell sold this machine in who knows how many varietes or at least the case design was used a lot.

@retroianer3835 2 жыл бұрын

The 150 MHz Pentium runs with a 60 MHz Bus (60MHz Bus x 2,5 Multiplier) and should also run with a 66 MHz Bus = 166 MHz. All Pentium 150s are underclocked Pentium 166 CPUs for the OEM market.

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Well that makes sense! Thanks for the extra info.

@wdd6864 2 жыл бұрын

You should reach out to the Nostalgia Mall as he is a Packard Bell collector. His channel has a lot of information

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Good point! I see him as the reigning PB expert when it comes to the KZfaq world for sure.

@RetroTechIIfx 2 жыл бұрын

PB systems are a maze to navigate due to the large number of models - it is easier to categorize them by motherboard, there is only a limited number of PB motherboards, and you can identify it via the FCC ID or BIOS ID string. The A940-TWR is the type of case - that is the standard PB tower case from the late 486 era into the Pentium. It was later replaced/augmented with the "designer tower" which was more visually interesting. Even into the NEC era PB continued to use the Frog Design cases until the supply dried up and they switched to horrible generic cases right around the death of the brand in 1998. One thing to note is most PB Pentium systems lack L2 cache. The positions for L2 are unpopulated on your system. Only the higher end models under the Platinum banner would potentially have L2 populated. Your machine is amazingly un-yellowed - was it retrobrighted?

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Aha well that clears things up a lot. I assumed I was missing something looking at this "model" so that makes a lot of sense! As far as the case I haven't done anything to it no. I was really amazed how white it was when I got it and even the mildly yellowed monitor stands out next to it. Hoping it stays this way!

@thedopplereffect00 2 жыл бұрын

That machine would be great if you could get a Voodoo 1 in there and it would be period correct

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Agreeed a Voodoo 1 would likely be the best pairing but it's hard to get one for a decent price any more. I have 1 Voodoo alreay and that's in my P166 which is very comparable to this machine. I have something else maybe in mind however...

@user-ir2sy9ut1e 2 жыл бұрын

Rik!.i buy Matrox G400MAX now

@RiksRandomRetro 2 жыл бұрын

Oh that'd be a neat option for this machine I'll keep it in mind good suggestion!