Current Projects
Once again, my shitbox is getting more parts added. I first bought this box back in 2004 or so as a Duron 1.6 GHz with 128 MB of RAM. I added an 80 GB hard drive, a CDRW, and DVDROM.
I then added a new case, PSU, another 160 GB hard drive, and a combo drive to replace the CDRW. An ATI card got stuck in there along the way too at this point.
At some point, the mainboard or something took a shit. I took some parts out of an eMachines box including a new mainboard, Athlon XP 2400+, some more RAM, and another 80GB hard drive. A DVDRW got added at some point too.
Right now, I'm putting it all into it's new case. I got the mainboard, PCI cards, and wires hooked up. I'm still trying to locate about 30 more screws to get all the drives hooked up. I'm also waiting on my SATA card. When finished, here is what the specs should be.
Antec Sonata 2 case/PSU
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ 2.0 GHz
768 MB DDR RAM
2x 80GB 7200 RPM IDE hard drives
1x 160GB 7200 RPM IDE hard drive
2x 400GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drives
Pioneer 16x IDE DVDRW
Lite-On 20x SATA Lightscribe DVDRW
ATI Radeon 7200 32MB PCI
Once I get it put together, I'm putting all my files onto it if they fit. I got a massive collection of CDs, DVDs, etc.
I also came across an older shit box. Not sure what I'm gonna do but I can probably hook it up to my TV as an old ass gaming box. I think it's a K6-II with 192MB of RAM and probably some >4GB drive. I wish I had my PC-XT still since it's an AT style mainboard. It even has a hookup for an AT PSU as well as ATX.
I then added a new case, PSU, another 160 GB hard drive, and a combo drive to replace the CDRW. An ATI card got stuck in there along the way too at this point.
At some point, the mainboard or something took a shit. I took some parts out of an eMachines box including a new mainboard, Athlon XP 2400+, some more RAM, and another 80GB hard drive. A DVDRW got added at some point too.
Right now, I'm putting it all into it's new case. I got the mainboard, PCI cards, and wires hooked up. I'm still trying to locate about 30 more screws to get all the drives hooked up. I'm also waiting on my SATA card. When finished, here is what the specs should be.
Antec Sonata 2 case/PSU
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ 2.0 GHz
768 MB DDR RAM
2x 80GB 7200 RPM IDE hard drives
1x 160GB 7200 RPM IDE hard drive
2x 400GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drives
Pioneer 16x IDE DVDRW
Lite-On 20x SATA Lightscribe DVDRW
ATI Radeon 7200 32MB PCI
Once I get it put together, I'm putting all my files onto it if they fit. I got a massive collection of CDs, DVDs, etc.
I also came across an older shit box. Not sure what I'm gonna do but I can probably hook it up to my TV as an old ass gaming box. I think it's a K6-II with 192MB of RAM and probably some >4GB drive. I wish I had my PC-XT still since it's an AT style mainboard. It even has a hookup for an AT PSU as well as ATX.
Comments
If you don't really need anything else, its really difficult to find something for these old PCs to do. For example, it could be a router if you stuck another network card in, but you probably already have one. It could be a firewall box, but I doubt its really necessary. It could be a web server, but what would it host? If its anything like a Pentium II its too fast to run older games but too slow to do anything useful.
EDIT: Oh also, this project is kind of similar to one I'm doing myself. I have an old Athlon XP box that I'm setting up as a file server. Right now it only has a 120 GB and a 160 GB drive, but it's got two SATA ports on board, so I'd like to be able to add some larger drives.
Depends on what you mean by old games. Many DOS games and a handful of Windows games won't run right on a P2. At least not last time I tried.
I don't need a server either. My athlon box is pretty much as much of a server as I need. I thought about a general purpose http, but meh.
If I can't find a use for it, I'll probably throw it out. I already got the Athlon box with no monitor. So if I find two cheap monitors, I'll find something for it. I only grabbed it for the damn sound card which is ISA so I'm praying that the AC'97 card on the athlon isn't shot. It just doesn't seem to like XP SP2 I guess. Both XP SP2 and Linux live recognize it but I get no output. I'm gonna put 2000 on it and see what the outcome is.
The games I'm running are mostly from the early 90's.
Again, that doesn't say much. I can't see the reason for a dedicated box for that anyway. Virtualization and DOSbox can pretty much run any old game I throw at it. Most recently was Quake 3.
Probably the best idea.
It's a pretty usable thing, I remember that I could run Tiny7 really fast on the same specs...
5 (not RAID) hard drives, 2 optical. having that many physical disks would annoy the shit out of me. I like having a single partition even though it has risks.
I have started making backups to the P3 though.
I'm going to use one of the 80s for the OS. Everything I need
*should* fit onto the 400s and if not, the 160.
I gathered everything in my room up and sat it on the table. There's like 3 binders off to the right but they're mostly DVD video or FLAC files.
Still waiting on the SATA controller since it shipped a fucking week after the cables. Fucking hong kong gooks. Once I stop being lazy I'm going to get an OS on it. I also gotta screw everything in, but I'm waiting on the screws I ordered.