Old Pc, Rebuild - Recycle or Replace, Suggestions?

netwhizkid

Hi,
As some of you might have noticed on other thread here yesterday, I have two pc’s and now that the old one has packed up, I wonder what to do, (I rescued all my important files which I couldn’t have done without boards). My old PC is a Packard Bell Squarius P11350,
I dug up the old Compustore flyer and these are its specs,

350mhz Pentium 2 Processor
64MB RAM,
512K Cache Memory,
6.4GB HD,
32 speed CD-ROM Drive,
16 Bit Sound Card,
8MBvVideo memory,
56K Fax Data Modem,
It is a micro tower unit.

It is turning on, without pressing the button (which isn’t normal) the Monitor is showing blank, and the Monitor is working as I tried it with my Dell Dimension 8400 and I tried the Packard Bell on my Dell TFT monitor but to no avail. Now I wonder should I recycle it, or should I rebuild?
Would rebuilding it be even possible or more importantly would it be feasible? I was talking to Dell today and for a Dimension 5100 with no peripherals (Just the CPU) they want €843 I thought this to be a rip when it is only a 2.8ghz and has only one DVD-RW/CD-RW burner no floppy disc drive, Although it has 3yr guarantee for parts, labour, covering hardware and software plus accidental damage. Floppy drives are a waste really as they won’t hold a modern digital photo even, and for retrieving any floppy data I have got a floppy drive on my Dell Dimension 8400. A USB memory key is a much more feasible potable storage solution going from 128Mbs to 1GB and from €30 to €130 they won’t break the bank.

I wonder would it possible to give it a Pentium 4 Processor upgrade the memory to about 80 to 100Gb and operate it on WIN XP rather than Win 98. If this is possible, would such “surgery” cost a lot I wonder? I wouldn’t give a damn, about it only my sister returned to college today and really needs a PC in her student accommodation, the plan was to take the Packard Bell with her and use it for all long essay’s etc as it has Ms Word and Works etc. When she is home every weekend, she spends age’s using my Pc, like I don’t mind that but it is taking from the quality time she spends with the family and myself. Plus it would allow her to use the unlimited 5Mb Broadband that is costing €150 a year along with the other utilities. I plan to use freeware on it like Firefox, Avg, Picasa and a few more. I am trying to keep costs low as it will only serve as a second spare backup when my sis return’s from college.

Any suggestions, ideas, info and similar stories would be very much appreciated.

mp3guy

netwhizkid wrote:

Hi,

I wonder would it possible to give it a Pentium 4 Processor upgrade the memory to about 80 to 100Gb and operate it on WIN XP rather than Win 98. If this is possible, would such “surgery” cost a lot I wonder? I wouldn’t give a damn, about it only my sister returned to college today and really needs a PC in her student accommodation, the plan was to take the Packard Bell with her and use it for all long essay’s etc as it has Ms Word and Works etc. When she is home every weekend, she spends age’s using my Pc, like I don’t mind that but it is taking from the quality time she spends with the family and myself. Plus it would allow her to use the unlimited 5Mb Broadband that is costing €150 a year along with the other utilities. I plan to use freeware on it like Firefox, Avg, Picasa and a few more. I am trying to keep costs low as it will only serve as a second spare backup when my sis return’s from college.

Any suggestions, ideas, info and similar stories would be very much appreciated.

new mobo, ram, and hard drive. probably need a new case too. and unless you get igp, new gfx card aswell

po0k

If you have broadband, go to www.smoothwall.org and turn it into a router/DNS-Web-cacheing proxy/VPN Gateway/Firewall/ornamental furniture.

TerrorFirmer

Get a new cheap one.

I picked up a 400mhz 64 ram machine for 25 quid on boards a few months back. For about 50 euro, or total of about 75, I made it into the following:

450mhz PII
328mb Ram
32mb Rage Xpert AGP card
40GB Hard Drive
8x CD-RW
Optical Mouse
Ethernet adaptor

Absolutely perfect for internet browsing, light gaming of old games such as Quake III, Unreal Tournament, Half Life etc, as well as writing essays, doing spreadsheets, whatever.

You should go the same way. Get a dirt cheap base unit and you can add bits and pieces yourself.

mp3guy

MobileInfantry wrote:

328mb Ram

TerrorFirmer

mp3guy wrote:

Its actually 310mb ram....for somer reason, 328 is stuck in my head.....I'm forever mis-quoting pc specs

Gurgle

netwhizkid wrote:

350mhz Pentium 2 Processor
64MB RAM,
512K Cache Memory,
6.4GB HD,
32 speed CD-ROM Drive,
16 Bit Sound Card,
8MBvVideo memory,
56K Fax Data Modem,
It is a micro tower unit.

tbh, theres not much in there worth re-using.

If you could get it to work you might sell it for €100, but Its probably not worth spending money on.

Also, Packard Bell are feckers for using as many non-standard parts as possible, making it impossible to fit any other motherboards/PSUs in their cases.

[DF]Lenny

I just threw a 450mhz with a geforce 3 in the skip up in ballymount,thanks to the new wee regulations or whatever they are...scrap it

TerrorFirmer

[DF]Lenny wrote:

I just threw a 450mhz with a geforce 3 in the skip up in ballymount,thanks to the new wee regulations or whatever they are...scrap it

You do know a Geforce 3 alone is worth at least 20 quid? Old Cpus arent worth much, but a Geforce 3, whatever ram you had, and some other misc parts woulda easily gotten you a fifty note.

And I meant to say goddamn 320 ram above. I'm bad with figures today.

mp3guy

MobileInfantry wrote:

You do know a Geforce 3 alone is worth at least 20 quid? Old Cpus arent worth much, but a Geforce 3, whatever ram you had, and some other misc parts woulda easily gotten you a fifty note.

Yeah, a geforce 3 ti can handle half life 2....

masteroftherealm

[DF]Lenny wrote:

I just threw a 450mhz with a geforce 3 in the skip up in ballymount,thanks to the new wee regulations or whatever they are...scrap it

Wheres the skip!!!
*Runs to grab car keys*