What Do Do With Old Desktop Pc?

[GeminiDomino]

Ok guys, I need some suggestions.

As of friday when UPS arrives, I'll have completely built my new PC.

Athlon64 3800+
2GB Ram
300 GB Hard drive (Linux)
80GB Hard Drive (Windows - Oblivion)
Geforce4 7900GT
Audigy2 Platinum
Gigabit Ethernet
DVD-RW

So the question now is what should I do with my old box?
Athlon 2600+
1GB Ram
200GB + 200GB + 40GB IDE Hard drives
10/100 Ethernet
Geforce4 FX5200

I was thinking of using it as a fileserver, but it just strikes me as a waste. That's a bit beefy for a simple samba server... I already have a FreeBSD server in a mATX case doing just fine.

Any suggestions? ("Give it to me" and similar suggestions will be ignored and/or mocked openly)

 

[skysnapper]

So the question now is what should I do with my old box?
Athlon 2600+
1GB Ram
200GB + 200GB + 40GB IDE Hard drives
10/100 Ethernet
Geforce4 FX5200

I was thinking of using it as a fileserver, but it just strikes me as a waste. That's a bit beefy for a simple samba server... I already have a FreeBSD server in a mATX case doing just fine.

Any suggestions? ("Give it to me" and similar suggestions will be ignored and/or mocked openly)

Be adequate for a HTPC, take out all the contents stick in a aesthetically pleasing hifi style box, stick linux and MythPC (HTPC software on it)

 

[Shikaku]

Gut the RAM/Hard drives and keep the remaining parts for silly purposes.

 

[Javacat]

Use it as a foot rest. That's what I've done with one of my old computers and it is suprisingly comfortable.

 

[Wite_Noiz]

Gut the RAM/Hard drives and keep the remaining parts for silly purposes.

I concur. Is your new computer 1x300GB and 1x80GB? If so, those extra drives in the old one will be very useful as backup drives

 

[Josquius]

Your nuts man, replacing a PC that good?

 

[iignotus]

That "old" PC is really quite good. It was rather silly to buy a whole new computer rather than upgrade. But hey, it's guys like you that the PC industry dreams about.

You could use that "old" PC for distributed computing, or for a Home Theater PC like skysnapper said. You could also donate it )), or sell it for a few hundred dollars ().

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

mame cabinet ftw!

 

[iignotus]

mame cabinet ftw!

Hahaha absolutely great idea

 

[Javacat]

a Home Theater PC

mame cabinet ftw!

Screw my idea, these are better. Just stick it next to your TV, get a couple of decent gamepads/joysticks and install media center, mame and a bunch of other emulators.

 

[Hanz™]

So the question now is what should I do with my old box?
Athlon 2600+
1GB Ram
200GB + 200GB + 40GB IDE Hard drives
10/100 Ethernet
Geforce4 FX5200

I was thinking of using it as a fileserver, but it just strikes me as a waste. That's a bit beefy for a simple samba server... I already have a FreeBSD server in a mATX case doing just fine.

Any suggestions? ("Give it to me" and similar suggestions will be ignored and/or mocked openly)

Be adequate for a HTPC, take out all the contents stick in a aesthetically pleasing hifi style box, stick linux and MythPC (HTPC software on it)

That's what I would do. Maybe get some emulators and things on it too. Of course you will have to buy a TV card, but they cost next to nothing.

 

[PSyMastR]

Ship it to psymastr?

 

[GeminiDomino]

That "old" PC is really quite good. It was rather silly to buy a whole new computer rather than upgrade. But hey, it's guys like you that the PC industry dreams about.

You could use that "old" PC for distributed computing, or for a Home Theater PC like skysnapper said. You could also donate it )), or sell it for a few hundred dollars ().

Unfortunately, it's not that simple.The old PC has AGP video. I needed a PCIe card

Which means new motherboard...
Which means new CPU+RAM....
Which means new Power Supply...
Might as well switch to SATA hard drives.
at which point, you might as well just build a new one.

I like the HTPC idea though... any of you guys use linux that can recommend a decent remote that will actually WORK with the effing thing?

 

[lol2232]

Use it for virus testing... to see what they do to your box... then reinstall and make it an armagetron server... nevermind dont do that just use it as a gift for me.

 

[refractor]

I like the HTPC idea though... any of you guys use linux that can recommend a decent remote that will actually WORK with the effing thing?

The iMON remotes are supported by most distros. I use gentoo, but if you're a first time Linux user then Knopmyth or something like it is probably a good bet.

(Edited as this forum doesn't let me do <a href=""></a> manually, apparently).

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

(Edited as this forum doesn't let me do <a href=""></a> manually, apparently).

I think you will find most forums will not allow standard HTML tags, this is to stop people inserting javascript into the posts which can cause all sorts of hell. Instead they use something called BBCode. Which is a much safer way to insert links, images and text formating into posts.

 

[GeminiDomino]

Use it for virus testing... to see what they do to your box...

Nah, that's what VMWare is for.

I like the HTPC idea though... any of you guys use linux that can recommend a decent remote that will actually WORK with the effing thing?

The iMON remotes are supported by most distros. I use gentoo, but if you're a first time Linux user then Knopmyth or something like it is probably a good bet.

(Edited as this forum doesn't let me do <a href=""></a> manually, apparently).

I'm no newb. Been running 99% pure Slackware (Still have Win2K just for playing TIE Fighter and Oblivion) for 4 years. I'll probably start with Knoppmyth anyway since I am
a] going to be busy tweaking the new kit.
b]Going back to school (at 27? what am I smoking???)
c] Lazy

iMon? I'll check them out...

YIKES. Kinda pricy...

 

[refractor]

I think you will find most forums will not allow standard HTML tags, this is to stop people inserting javascript into the posts which can cause all sorts of hell. Instead they use something called BBCode. Which is a much safer way to insert links, images and text formating into posts.

For forums like phpBB it's configurable; the admin must explicitly set up the tags that they allow a forum user to use (tags that map directly to BBCode present no, or at worst equivalent security problems). I looked at the Invision board admin stuff and apparently you can't enable html with that one anyway. Ho hum. I'll get used to just typing BBCode instead one of these days.

GeminiDomino, if you're reasonable with Linux then my current favourite distro is Gentoo. I set up MythTV in a few hours, including all of the compilation, and it works great (though I did/do have a very fast distributed compile box lurking ).

If the iMON stuff is too pricey and you're in need of a TV card then the Hauppauge PVR150MCE works great and includes a linux-capable remote (that's what I use on my other HTPC box).

 

[iignotus]

Gentoo's really not worth the time and hassle for a computer like that. All linux programs are available for all distrobutions. Just get something easy like debian, or even slackware, if you want a MythTV box.

 

[subin]

uhm, how about making a dedicated server? eh? EH?