Old computers still in use

**c_hegge** · 12-25-2009, 04:44 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

I usually say that if a computer isn't new enough to use DDR RAM, its not worth keeping. So I don't use anything too old to use DDR. The oldest PC I use is as follows:

CPU: Athlon XP 2500+
Motherboard: ASUS A7V600-X (Re-capped)
RAM: 2GB DDR-400
HDD1: 80GB WD SATA
HDD2: 40GB WD SATA
Optical drive: Sony DVD RW
Case: Generic Black/Silver
PSU: 400W Antec SP-400 (Re-capped)

**tj2** · 12-25-2009, 04:55 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

My home machine is a PII overdrive 333 MHz on a Supermicro P6SNE socket 8 board. It has 256 MB FPM RAM. It is fast enough since the main OS is from 1994 and meant for a 486 (NEXTSTEP Intel). It also runs Linux, and W2K, which I pretty much only use for emergencies such as running tax software.

One office machine is running Slackware Linux and is a dual PII overdrive 512 MB RAM. The other is a PIII 850 MHz machine with 512 MB RAM. All machines are SCSI.

**cheese007** · 12-25-2009, 05:04 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

Gateway G6-400 with 384 MB of RAM and a geForce 4 MX 440 video card.

**ddscentral** · 12-25-2009, 06:13 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

My secondary PC:
CPU: Athlon XP 2600+
Motherboard: Epox (Don't remember model, OST and G-Luxon caps everywhere)
RAM: PQI 1GB DDR
VGA: Radeon 9550 128MB
HDD: ExcelStor 80GB
HDD2: Quantum Fireball 13GB
Optical: Two Optiarc DVD-RW drives (1 IDE & 1 SATA)
Case: Generic
PSU: FSP ATX-350PNF (350W)
OS: Windows 7.

**ratdude747** · 12-25-2009, 06:15 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

oldes right now is a gateway solo 2150:

433mhz celeron
160mb RAM
60gb hd (major upgrade part i got for free)
1 usb port

i have a pIII box that will someday be in use again.

**kc8adu** · 12-25-2009, 06:27 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

oldest here is a wyse pc+ with dos 6.22 to run an old sunshine programmer.

**pfrcom** · 12-25-2009, 08:01 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

My oldest is still in regular use, as a repository for BIOSes, drivers, etc.

It uses AT power, not ATX, consists of the following built into a fliptop desktop case, originally a 286

Asus P/I-P55T2P4 motherboard, final 3.1 revision with K6/233 OK sticker
AMD K6-III/450 processor, underclocked to 400, running 66mhz FSB with 6 multiplier
192mb of 72 pin DIMMs
Asus PCI-SC875 SCSI controller
Quantum Atlas 4.5gb UW SCSI disk, boots Windows 2000 Professional
IBM 9gb UW SCSI disk, from an AS/400, boots Windows 98se to DOS command prompt
Yamaha CRW6416S SCSI CD-RW
USB2 card using NEC chipset
S3 graphics

**370forlife** · 12-25-2009, 08:28 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

Our school still uses a old 286 ibm. It has a 286 and something like 4 megs of ram. Struggles with win 3.1, but it gets by. We use it to control a mini-cnc lathe (which is stupid because we never use it) as we are too busy with our new mazak 5 axis cnc machine.

**kc8adu** · 12-25-2009, 09:08 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

Originally posted by 370forlife

Our school still uses a old 286 ibm. It has a 286 and something like 4 megs of ram. Struggles with win 3.1, but it gets by. We use it to control a mini-cnc lathe (which is stupid because we never use it) as we are too busy with our new mazak 5 axis cnc machine.

and i am laughing at a swi m2 pendant on my bench .
it has a 386sx and 1m ram.
was on 2m talking to friends and found few know morse.
the thing sends 7 in morse on power up.well it does now that i totally rebuilt it!

**weirdlookinguy** · 12-25-2009, 09:38 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

Oldest machine in the house is a 2002 HP P4 machine. Gets used daily. I may be popping a new low end C2D motherboard and CPU in there along with a new PSU though, so if/when that happens it won't count as old anymore.

Oldest machine at work is a 2002 Dell Poweredge server that pretty much runs the whole store (it sucks BALLS when that thing goes down... slow-ass credit card auth., the RF gun is useless, registers go into "resilient mode" and sales items don't ring at sale price, etc. etc.). It runs 24/7 and just won't stop (except for that time the hard drive died).

**NxB** · 12-25-2009, 10:34 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

I have a PII 233 toughbook with 384 mb of ram mounted in the car for musics and maps.

**momaka** · 12-25-2009, 10:48 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

For personal use, I wouldn't really use anything older than 400MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, and 10 GB of HD space (in other words, it has to be able to run Windows 2000 or XP smoothly).
Up to about 4 years ago, I used to have an old PII PC (and I still do, but it's now replaced with another computer) with 400MHz CPU, 128MB of RAM and 17GB HD, as well as a 32MB S3 Savage 4 video card. It could run Microsoft Office 2003 pretty well along with Photoshop 7 and even a few older games. It wasn't connected to the internet, though, so that's why 128 MB of RAM was actually just enough for XP.
Right now, the oldest (and slowest) computer I have and still use quite frequently is a HP Pavilion 8756c with 384MB of RAM and Windows XP. Works fine for office tasks and light internet surfing, but it somewhat struggles with YouTube. If it had an AGP slot or a good PCI video card, I could even play a few older games on it.

**shadow** · 12-25-2009, 11:30 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

Originally posted by 370forlife

Our school still uses a old 286 ibm. It has a 286 and something like 4 megs of ram. Struggles with win 3.1, but it gets by. We use it to control a mini-cnc lathe (which is stupid because we never use it) as we are too busy with our new mazak 5 axis cnc machine.

Sure it was a 286 and not a 386? I got a 286 at home, Windows 3.11 won't even install on it (it will complain that it needs at least a 386 processor to run).

I am guessing that the requirements for Windows 3.1 and 3.11 are pretty much identical to just run.

**washu** · 12-25-2009, 11:58 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

Oldest machine I have in use at home is a Sun Ultra 5 running a tape drive.

At work some of the PBX support boxes date from the mid 90s. They are P1s of some variant.

shadow: What most people call "Windows 3.11" is properly called Windows for Workgroups 3.11. It has a few major changes from Windows 3.1 which required a 386 to run. Plain Windows 3.1 could run on a 286 in standard mode.

There is also a Windows 3.11 (without the Workgroups) and a Windows for Workgroups 3.1. Both are relatively uncommon.

**gdement** · 12-26-2009, 01:40 AM

Re: Old computers still in use

Oldest working computer I have is the Apple IIc I had as a kid. I don't use it anymore though.
Old computers are more reliable than newer ones really, so saying "oldest that works" is almost redundant.

Oldest I use daily is a 440GX dual slot-1 server (1998), which runs CentOS.

Oldest I use rarely is a Gateway 2000 Pentium board, underclocked and fanless, that runs DOS from a compactflash card. I use it for DOS games and to run an EPROM programmer.

**Topcat** · 12-26-2009, 01:20 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

The oldest one I still have in service is a Netfinity 7000 server, quad P3 xeon's @ 550, 2GB EDO SDRAM, SCSI SCA backplane with IBM Serveraid. Its running win2k A/S, makes a great file server, print server, active directory, and domain controller.

**370forlife** · 12-26-2009, 01:34 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

Speaking of our CNC machines, our shop teacher asked a few students to come in today to help getting it set up and running (we are still on Christmas break)

I went in with a couple of my friends. Thing has a pentium 60 with 8mb of ram and a 64mb CF card for storage built into it. Pretty well cooled with 2 sunon 126cfm 140mm fans. PSU is a senstron (which I have only seen in a 386 bank teller machine,) will all rubycon caps. All caps are sanyo OScon's. Stryker basically donated it to us for $15,000. It was about $250,000 new, and they left some pretty interesting programs on it...

Our 3 axis clausing cnc mill has a 16mhz "MIPS" processor, 12mb ram, and a 8mb CF card. This thing is only 5 years old, goes to show you how little you really need in industrial applications like this. Also how overpriced it is, a new one is about $1,200 for the computer part alone. Whole machine was about $15,000.

**kaniki** · 12-26-2009, 03:27 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

Originally posted by 370forlife

Our 3 axis clausing cnc mill has a 16mhz "MIPS" processor, 12mb ram, and a 8mb CF card. This thing is only 5 years old, goes to show you how little you really need in industrial applications like this. Also how overpriced it is, a new one is about $1,200 for the computer part alone. Whole machine was about $15,000.

well look at things like game systems and cell phones.. most do not have much processing power.. heck, the Wii just came out not too long ago and it only has a 729 Mhz processor.. when the XBOX 360 has a tricore 3.2 GHz processor, kinda makes it look overkill looking at the Wii..

I am all for getting nicer or faster stuff, but i am still running a 2.2Ghz processor in my main system.. cant see going out and spending hundreds of dollars to upgrade my system just so media player or firefox will open a little faster.. and at over 2GHz most things will still run on it with no problems.. when you actually think about it, most netbooks and a lot of laptops dont even have that kind of speed or power and they run fine..

I used to have a 486 but got rid of it years ago.. dont have the storage or may have kept it.. but i still have PCs in the house that are under 1 gig that still get used..

Truthfully, i knew that there were still older and slower computers out there still being used, but did not expect so many.. especially the 386 and 486 computers..

**i4004** · 12-26-2009, 03:37 PM

Re: Old computers still in use

>Also how overpriced it is

that goes for most industrial gear.
why?
they can pull it off...as those buying have the money...

Old computers still in use

Old computers still in use

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