The longest you've ever used a single system?

[brethin]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

Still running a Asus P4P800-E Deluxe, 8 gig ram and 3.4 cpu overclocked to 3.8 with Nvidia 7950GT AGP card. Dual raid 0 and 1.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

I feel now that the hard drive is deteriorating .. Not the so expected reflexes from a 16GB memory system , but it's okay as performance

could just be that the hard drive data is getting fragmented after running for awhile. run a defrag on it to see if it speeds things back up.

[jiroy]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

could just be that the hard drive data is getting fragmented after running for awhile. run a defrag on it to see if it speeds things back up.

Defrag is automated and the laptop is always on , same as in previous laptops i mentioned ..Iguess maybe 9 years in total is not a bad result ..and still going ..

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

My vintage gaming PC at my grandparents' which is also my main and only computer at that location. 11+ years with TinyXP Rev3 which is based on XP SP1, 3 motherboard changes, 4 or 5 pairs of CPUs (it's a dualie, and the final rendition which still works got 2x 1.4GHz s370 Tualatins overclocked to 1533MHz a pop), god knows how many RAM, video cards and PCI controller cards changed.

It still runs off the same install. I cut the ethernet cable some years ago but the goddamn thing still boots and in 11 years with XP and no antivirus software I never had to boot to safe mode or reinstall due to virus or malware issues. The secret? I was running ad blockers before they were cool.

[momaka]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

Hi uN1Qu3,
Good to see you back man!

Yeah, I remember back when you posted the details of that rig, many many moons ago. I'm sure the thread is still here on BCN. Pretty cool rig back then, and even cooler rig now, especially with how the vintage / retro PC community has been growing in the last few years. Heck, you could probably make a small fortune if you sold that PC now.

Speaking of main PCs in afar places, I too have a PC like that like you. It's the Pentium 3 PC at my grandmother's house:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...&postcount=603

The case I bought in 2005 and setup my old Pentium II hardware in it after I upgraded the family PC back in 2004 (which pretty much became my PC shortly after. ) The Pentium II hardware served me for about a year while visiting there, so I'd have a PC to store pictures and whatnot. This was also still the late era of game cafes back then. So this PC also saved me (and my cousin) some $$ at the time when we wanted to goof off on a PC, but not burn $$ in a game cafe.
Anyways... the following year (2006) I bought parts and upgraded my cousin's PC. As a partial trade, he gave me the "bones" from his old PC (the Pentium 3 CPU and mobo above.) I removed the Pentium II stuff and upgraded the hardware to the Pentium 3 above. So pretty much since 2006, that's been my main PC over there. Over the years, I've slowly been upgrading the hardware here and there. In fact, I don't know if I ever posted an updated version of it, but the PSU, GPU, and HDD(s) were changed/upgraded several times, just like yours. And I've also added other expansion cards too. I think this is the last time I posted about it here:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...&postcount=443
... and even that ^ post is a bit out of date.

So yeah, that's another old PC of mine. In terms of usage, it's not the one I would say I've used the longest, since I only use it a few months out of every year or two. But my cousin had this thing (the motherboard and CPU) since 2001 or 2002... and they're still going strong. Mobo is a Gigabyte with original OST and Choyo caps. None visually gone bad and it still works fine. But I'll probably need to sit down and recap it some day. It's been a great backup PC so far.

I also forgot to mention, the main OS drive is an 80GB Seagate EE25 Extreme Environment drive. It's basically a ruggedized unit designed for extreme 24/7 environments. 60k hours on it so far, but what's even more surprising is that this drive is even more aggressive (audibly) with the head retracts. I don't know if I trust the SMART attributes, but it's reporting over 4.6M (yes million!) head retract cycles. That can't be right??

Wow, didn't know those were even a thing. Spec sheet says they are rated to work from -30C to +85C, and 1 Million hours MTBF. That's impressive!
If those numbers are true, I would be very curious to see what the head parking ramps look like on the inside. With that many load/unload cycles, even if made of diamond, they'd wear... or so I'd think. You can always check if those numbers are real or not. Just open your favorite HDD SMART monitoring program and wait until you hear the HDD park its heads. Then open a file so the HDD unparks the heads and see if the SMART value has increased by 1. If it has... well... WOW. 4.6M is quite a lot... but I guess if it was made to do that, then it's probably OK, seeing that this is a ruggedized HDD and specifically made to last rather than anything else.

Regarding the EA380, I too was concerned after reading about all the horror stories. I do try to go in there and inspect once in a while, it quite literally looks like new. Zero discoloring of the yellow glue. I measured the system and it draws <60W which is 15% of the full capacity. The fan runs super slow and you can't feel any heat coming from the back. I'm sure if this power supply ran closer to full load all the time, it probably wouldn't have lasted this long.

Yup, that's probably it. Kind of also makes me wonder how much life left the primary bulk cap has, since APFC tends to stress it quite a bit. I guess we shall see.

could just be that the hard drive data is getting fragmented after running for awhile. run a defrag on it to see if it speeds things back up.

I find that to be the case only on PCs that have automatic updates or where some piece of software frequently updates. Since you mentioned it, I looked at the HDD on my Optiplex 170L and ran a Disk Defragment Analysis, as I don't ever recall defragmenting that HDD. Surprisingly, the windows defrag too told me it didn't need any, and most of the used space was not fragmented. For 10 years worth of banging data on there, I was surprised. Then again, it boots and shuts down just as fast as it did 10 years ago when I set it up.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

I've always been around in some form or another, momaka. I've just either been too busy with work or plagued with physical or mental illness, usually both at the same time. That's why I haven't been posting a lot.

Speaking of THAT particular machine, it is due to be gifted to a good and long-time friend and vintage gaming enthusiast in a month or so. It has served me well, it has provided the processing and sound for several parties including one epic new year's in a big hotel room with said friend and several others, he will run it more often than I do, nowadays.

It is a waste to have such a beauty which I worked so much on and took so many years to gather parts for only to run it 5-6x a year for the past 6-7 years. Last time it's ran more than 3 months a year was in 2016. Been a while.

[momaka]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

I've always been around in some form or another, momaka. I've just either been too busy with work or plagued with physical or mental illness, usually both at the same time. That's why I haven't been posting a lot.

I know. You've mentioned it before in a thread or two in the VIP. So I understand.

Just sayin' tho... good to see an "old timer" post back.
Every once in a while when I get a chance to dissect and play around with a crappy half-bridge PSU, I still go back and reference some of your posts.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

Just sayin' tho... good to see an "old timer" post back.

Thank you. That is what I still live for. Otherwise I should have probably gone the way of the dodo bird 3-something years ago. Respects.

And to finish the off-topic, my health is much better nowadays, sadly, as soon as that goes up, new trouble shows up, including from my family, trouble which I have NOT created, am NOT involved in, in any way, shape or form, but somehow it's my fault.

[Per Hansson]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

Nice laptop score there Th3_uN1Qu3!
I just had to check my company / work laptop, a T530 after seeing your post.
The battery has a wear of only 25%
That I find quite amazing because it will soon be 10 years since I started working at my current company and I've had it with me ever since, still on the same Win7 install!
Oh, and I use the battery allot since I work as a service technician
Wholeheartedly agree with momaka below, it gave me a warm feeling seeing you here again

Just sayin' tho... good to see an "old timer" post back.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

I have always been here with my heart.

Sometimes, work, relationships, health, family, or a combination of all four, get in the way of my posting. But no longer.

I have my own company now. At 31, with 12 years of real experience and 8 years of legal, registered and documented work experience under my belt, I refuse to work UNDER anyone else but MYSELF, ever again, until the day I die. I salute you, hat's off, beer has been out for over 2 hours and I'm just lighting up another cigar.

[Per Hansson]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

Glad to hear you have your own company, that is a great start to a healthy life!
Beer is out here too, it is Friday after all!

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

Paperwork not out yet since holidays and lazy state, but both morally and legally speaking, yes, I am my own and only boss now, since 3 weeks ago. And speaking of beer - I have to get off my lazy ass and go out and get more at some point since I'm out of it.

Otherwise, cash, tobacco, vapes, enough dr**gs and medicine to get the whole hood lit for 3 days... no thank you, no (more) sharing, I'd rather take evverything slow for 1+ month, why waste all of this on a bunch of freeloadetrs who won't even mop the floor or carry a single bag for anyone? I paid for it. I risked for it. End of story.

[Topcat]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

I have my own company now. At 31

Welcome to the club! I started when I was 17.....the difference between then and now is experience.... It's been a great ride for 32 years!

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

Thank you boss.

It means a lot, coming from you, and after so many years of me here as a member without paying a dime, and you running the forum basically voluntary, as the shop is its own entity and one can live without the other. You could have split, charged for, or sold off long ago.

The sell off happened on a huge Romanian gaming, OC, enthusiast and general PC forum with a reliable vendor section with feedback (not to mention my 99% rating from over 150 transactions over many years), and the new owner decided to basically just close shop overnight. THAT HURT.

I have longtime clients from that forum which are my friends to this day, who have gone from gamers or game testers on min wage + commission to company owners with wives and children and their own land and houses and cars. And I'm still here, still live round the same area and still make a living off fixing shit, 12y later. Tech moves on, businesses open and close, we as people get old... we move on and align with the times, otherwise we get left behind.

BTW, I did get off my ass and grabbed that beer from the store. More than 30min ago.

One last thing. I've certainly got a temper, I'm controversial, and when I was younger I have argued with some old and respectable members and I'm sorry. But we all gotta start somewhere. And speaking of old and respected, if there is ONE thing pissing me off like nobody's business on this Earth, is "dude, do you know who that guy who you just talked shit back to is?". To which I have to reply... "Dude, do you know who I AM?". Because I AM. 10 years ago round Christmas time I was fixing some modest, slightly chubby family guy's large screen LCD TV with bad caps, who picked my broke ass up in a cheap Romanian family car (Dacia Logan), had a regular wife, a large but unremarkable apartment and a 7yo daughter.

I later found out the modest chubster was the VP of Ubisoft Romania. And I was the one swapping his bad capacitors on his big LCD TV's power supply board, 1 day before Christmas Eve (or was it actually strait Christmas Eve evening? Certainly either the 23rd or the 24th of December, that's why he called a rando off a forum and not taken the TV to a local shop, he wanted it fixed that night), 10y ago. Take that. Cya. Time to get wasted and pass out and forget about the Internet for a while.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

It's the Pentium 3 PC at my grandmother's house

yea nice board! the T on the board model means tualatin support so it can support up to the 1.4 ghz p3 tualatin if u ever wanna upgrade to the fastest p3 cpu available. i also wanted to get the same board on junkbay from an ukrainian seller but i wasnt too impressed by the overclocking options.

gigabyte boards often have a hidden hotkey (ctrl-f1) to unlock the hidden and advanced overclocking options. the hidden and advanced overclocking options often arent shown or explained in the manual. i wonder if u have tried using the hotkey to see what hidden advanced options are available? if so, what else is available? that would make me finally being able to get my bucket list of having a p3 system done and checked off the list.

[momaka]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

I have always been here with my heart.

Sometimes, work, relationships, health, family, or a combination of all four, get in the way of my posting. But no longer.

Totally understandable.
I had a somewhat similar fallout like this for almost a year myself. Still can't say it's cleared, but I'm trying to work it out, if ever so slowly.

I have my own company now. At 31, with 12 years of real experience and 8 years of legal, registered and documented work experience under my belt, I refuse to work UNDER anyone else but MYSELF, ever again, until the day I die. I salute you, hat's off, beer has been out for over 2 hours and I'm just lighting up another cigar.

As we'd usually say here in the US, F--- Yeah!
Glad to hear things are starting to work out for you. I've been noticing the same thing for a lot of my older friends who've went through similar life struggles - at some point it just clears up and things fall into place. Just have to be patient and persistent. So I'm hoping / looking forward for that myself as well... but we'll see, of course.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can ever be my own boss, though - I'm too passive for that.

It means a lot, coming from you, and after so many years of me here as a member without paying a dime, and you running the forum basically voluntary, as the shop is its own entity and one can live without the other. You could have split, charged for, or sold off long ago.

Yeah, I think about this too from time to time and always feel super-grateful to TC for keeping this place as it is. What I've come to realize is that some of the best places / sites on the internet are exactly like this - kept by independent "nobodys" who actually make the world a much better place than so many big "somebodys".

I later found out the modest chubster was the VP of Ubisoft Romania.

Nice!
Goes to show you never know who you'd meet and how.

yea nice board! the T on the board model means tualatin support so it can support up to the 1.4 ghz p3 tualatin if u ever wanna upgrade to the fastest p3 cpu available. i also wanted to get the same board on junkbay from an ukrainian seller but i wasnt too impressed by the overclocking options.

gigabyte boards often have a hidden hotkey (ctrl-f1) to unlock the hidden and advanced overclocking options. the hidden and advanced overclocking options often arent shown or explained in the manual. i wonder if u have tried using the hotkey to see what hidden advanced options are available? if so, what else is available? that would make me finally being able to get my bucket list of having a p3 system done and checked off the list.

Awesome, thanks for the tip!
Will definitely keep it in mind for next time I go there and use that PC.
I think I tried some brief OC, but then the system quickly tanked after that. Turns out the partial recap I did in the Deer PSU was starting to bite me back in the ass. The two silly CS caps on the 3V3 were failing with abnormally-high capacitance (high internal leakage). Swapped one two summers ago, then swapped one this summer too. So 3V3 is solid now. Only the 12V rail remains. The Jun Fu cap on there is also starting to rise in capacitance, but hasn't gone over 20% just yet. I'll probably have it fully recapped and done by this summer. Then I can try the CPU OC maybe. Not sure how far it will go, though, being a 933 MHz CPU on a 133 MHz FSB. I do have an 850 MHz P3 for 100 MHz FSB, though. Should do 1.13 GHz @ 133 FSB. Tualatin is probably out of the question, given the prices these days. The extra 400 MHz might be nice, but not sure if worth burning my wallet for.

[jiroy]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

I've always been around in some form or another, momaka. I've just either been too busy with work or plagued with physical or mental illness, usually both at the same time. That's why I haven't been posting a lot.

I thought I was the only one ..Welcome back Smile

[samtron786]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

MS 6.22
windows 3.11 :-)

[TechGeek]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

MS 6.22
windows 3.11 :-)

What kind of hardware are you running that on?

[samtron786]

Re: The longest you've ever used a single system?

Intel 80386 PC or Intel 486 DX4 :-)
1997 :-)