Pc help

Hiroki · 25-06-2010, 00:22

Erm hope this is in the right section but I got given a old pc and a few hdd (6 1tb & 2 1.5tb) and I was wondering what....if anything I could use the pc for.

The specs are here http://bit.ly/c9GmpS

It seems to run xp but not very well and I was thinking maybe putting linux on it but I have no idea which one or seeing if it could possibly be a firewall?

Or is it destined for the bin?

Any help is always appreciated

Enigma776 · 25-06-2010, 00:37

Would be an ideal media pc maybe for the living room but you would need a good amount of ram say 1gb to 2gb for that just to get windows to run. If you were to go down the linux road maybe try ubuntu or mint.

Not a machine I would scrap at all even if I use it as a file server especially with the amount of HDDs you got.

I would seriously consider the media PC route though.

Lord Nikon · 25-06-2010, 01:18

You could also pick up a faster socket 478 CPU from somewhere like CEX - maybe take it up to 3.2GHz and gain more performance out of it.

Enigma776 · 25-06-2010, 02:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Nikon

You could also pick up a faster socket 478 CPU from somewhere like CEX - maybe take it up to 3.2GHz and gain more performance out of it.

Not a bad Idea at all should be able to pick up a cheap P4 no problem.

Dai · 25-06-2010, 07:09

The ram is the key, as enigma says. It'll run XP just fine with a gig of ram in there. That's the major bottleneck as it stands.

Wayfair · 25-06-2010, 07:59

Don't bin it.

Could you with a little ask on here or even freecycle up the ram a bit, reinstall xp, stick on open office, firewalll and antivirus, and then offer it up to someone a little less fortunate than others.

My sister works in a school, and is well aware of who needs a little help,this is something I regularly do with old kit people give me.

Kymmy · 25-06-2010, 08:57

A P4 3ghz is available on ebay 2nd hand for Â£12+ Make sure though that the motherboard can take a HT 800 FSB chip.. Then also replace the ram with 1Gb (2x512Mb hopefully in Dual channel mode)

It'll then do as a nice little web browsing/email/office machine.. Or if you want to experiment as a test bed for linux desktop or server ..

Just remember if you change the CPU you'll probably need a better Heatsink/fan and at very, very least some new thermal paste (should come with the HS/Fan if you replace that)

25-06-2010, 09:05

with all those hard drives get a couple of raid cards and turn it into a NAS running freenas

Kymmy · 25-06-2010, 09:10

Another good idea, you wouldn't even need to update the cpu/mem to do that..

My personal webserver is just a simple P4-2.4 with 1Gb Ram running Centos 5, does all my own websites and still streams a lot of audioand video to my ethernet Kiss player.

25-06-2010, 09:14

BTW do not go out and buy a 3.2 gig PIV the system most likely will not run it as the mobo only supports CPUs upto 533 mhz on the fsb so iirc the max cpu will be 3.06 gig

Kymmy · 25-06-2010, 09:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Make sure though that the motherboard can take a HT 800 FSB chip..

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

BTW do not go out and buy a 3.2 gig PIV the system most likely will not run it as the mobo only supports CPUs upto 533 mhz on the fsb so iirc the max cpu will be 3.06 gig

Here's the motherboard specs and CPU support list for the OP which confirms Zing

Dai · 25-06-2010, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Here's the motherboard specs and CPU support list for the OP which confirms Zing

Damn, knew I needed new glasses..

Hiroki · 27-06-2010, 17:28

Wow didn't realise there was so much I could do with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayfair

Don't bin it.

Could you with a little ask on here or even freecycle up the ram a bit, reinstall xp, stick on open office, firewalll and antivirus, and then offer it up to someone a little less fortunate than others.

My sister works in a school, and is well aware of who needs a little help,this is something I regularly do with old kit people give me.

I would be willing to give it away so if there is anyone from Newcastle/Gateshead on here that wants this pc (just the tower) for free just pm me

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

with all those hard drives get a couple of raid cards and turn it into a NAS running freenas

I love the idea of turning it into a NAS and I have 2 spare raid cards that I took out of other pc's but i'm just wondering if it's hard to set up?

If I was to go down the route of upgrading the processor would someone be willing to supply a link on ebay/cex to what I should be buying as I am useless at this stuff.

Thanks for all the help

27-06-2010, 17:35

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Intel-Pentium-...item3cae5f9f94

this is the 3.06 p4 533 mhz