2024 could have been a better year for Hardware Asylum but, we still got to do some amazing things and explore some great new hardware. 2025 marks an attempt to change things up a bit, bring back from old friends and start some new chapters.
Modern computer systems require modern products to extract the very best performance. When it comes to system memory the new CUDIMM modules are designed to deliver on that promise and there is no better example than the Lexar ARES RGB modules clocked in at 9600MT/s making them some of the fastest sticks at CES.
On display during CES, Creative was showing the latest version in the Pebble series the Nova. The Pebble Nova has the same great form factor but with the addition of a woofer directly behind the primary speaker.
This adventure started with a special memory line that you could by from GSKill, the Splave edition. This special memory bin offered Trident Z5 RGB modules with special tuning and are now getting included with custom overclocked gaming PCs tuned by Splave himself.
One of the exciting releases during Computex 2024 was the AI Top product line from Gigabyte. These new motherboards are specially designed for the unique demands of AI development and now range to include most every available chipset from the AMD B850 up to the TRX50 Threadripper and Intel W790.
The motherboard in the Classic Case build had extensive damage that was targeted right around the motherboard mounting hole below the battery. My guess is that when this system was taken out of service it was stored on its side which allowed the battery contents to pool up and attack that one region.
The system featured in this ongoing project is a build from Magitronic. This was a Taiwanese based hardware maker that was able to design and build just about everything that went into their systems. I could not find any specific details about this particular build but, it features a Magitonic 602 motherboard along with some other parts with a Magitronic sticker.
For this Real Retro Gaming adventure, I’m going to play a game from my youth called “Hack”, or PC Hack as its official name. This was a freeware offering that you could download from Bulletin Board Systems or buy out of the back of computer magazines. I'll also be playing this on a 386 40Mhz with dual 5.25" Floppy drives.
During the service life of these computers there were reports of batteries exploding and/or leaking, sometimes they would destroy the motherboard and other times they just stopped keeping time. Either way it was an acceptable risk and usually when the board or battery failed it was time to upgrade anyway.
I have been in the process of collecting some old Retro PC hardware for some YouTube projects and before I started tearing into each of the computers, I wanted to take an image of each hard drive and then document the components in each system.
The drive featured in this video is a Microscience HH-1060 Half Height RLL Compatible hard drive supporting 66MB of storage capacity. It has issues moving the heads and I'm going to show you how I fixed it.
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