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This thing is, if memory serves, vintage 2012 or thereabouts. It has USB 2.0 on the mobo with one PCI-E slot and two PCI slots. The CPU is an AMD Phenom quad-core running at 3.2 GHz. Way back, eh? :-) This is a box I had built back then to use as a virtualization test-bed, and it ended up running as a server for the last 7 years. It had two HDD's in it, both platters. The 1.5TB disk drive, the boot drive, had failed. I was backing up the data partitions to a second 1.0TB disk drive, which is still working fine.
After building a new box to assume this one's former duties, I got to thinking...my neighbors, an older couple in their 70's, were thinking about upgrading from their Windows XP computer. Yes, Windows XP! They're still using dial-up! I know, right? But it's worked for them for all this time. They basically surf the Web, check email, and do the occasional office productivity stuff. That's it. No video streaming, nothing taxing.
So, I got to thinking, hmmm...maybe if I refurbish this older computer, I could give it to them. It's considerably better than what they've got now. The mobo, CPU, and DRAM are still working great. Furthermore, for most people, a quad-core 64-bit Phenom running at 3.2 GHz will be enough CPU oomph for what they do, assuming enough DRAM is present.
So, I took the whole thing apart and got everything good 'n' clean. Replaced one of the case fans that was starting to go out. CPU fan's still just fine.
I had some DDR3 lying around, a couple of 8GB sticks. The mobo, a Biostar model, has two DDR3 slots; it's a mini-ATX form factor. So, I filled both slots to give the computer 16GB of DRAM. This is, I believe, the max DRAM officially supported for this motherboard. For most people doing Web, email, and office productivity, 8GB is enough, and 16GB gives plenty of breathing space.
Also installed an SSD drive. The computer, being from 2012, uses SATA2, which is 3Gbits/sec, or 384 MBytes/sec. Yes, SATA3's faster, but that's still going to be waaaay faster than the platters. Popped a spare 256GB SATA SSD in it. Installed Debian GNU/Linux 10 ("Buster") because it's easy to use and easy to upgrade. Used the Xfce desktop to keep things nice 'n' simple.
For the final touch, I added a PCIe USB 3.0 card. That ought to do it.
Tried it out. Yep, the 256GB SSD is much, much faster than the platters were. This old quad-core Phenom box actually feels snappy! I'm now doing a burn-in test of the CPU and will also run memtest86 on it to make sure everything's in proper working order. If it is, then my neighbors will have a shiny "new" computer!
Total cost for this refurb: about $75.
After building a new box to assume this one's former duties, I got to thinking...my neighbors, an older couple in their 70's, were thinking about upgrading from their Windows XP computer. Yes, Windows XP! They're still using dial-up! I know, right? But it's worked for them for all this time. They basically surf the Web, check email, and do the occasional office productivity stuff. That's it. No video streaming, nothing taxing.
So, I got to thinking, hmmm...maybe if I refurbish this older computer, I could give it to them. It's considerably better than what they've got now. The mobo, CPU, and DRAM are still working great. Furthermore, for most people, a quad-core 64-bit Phenom running at 3.2 GHz will be enough CPU oomph for what they do, assuming enough DRAM is present.
So, I took the whole thing apart and got everything good 'n' clean. Replaced one of the case fans that was starting to go out. CPU fan's still just fine.
I had some DDR3 lying around, a couple of 8GB sticks. The mobo, a Biostar model, has two DDR3 slots; it's a mini-ATX form factor. So, I filled both slots to give the computer 16GB of DRAM. This is, I believe, the max DRAM officially supported for this motherboard. For most people doing Web, email, and office productivity, 8GB is enough, and 16GB gives plenty of breathing space.
Also installed an SSD drive. The computer, being from 2012, uses SATA2, which is 3Gbits/sec, or 384 MBytes/sec. Yes, SATA3's faster, but that's still going to be waaaay faster than the platters. Popped a spare 256GB SATA SSD in it. Installed Debian GNU/Linux 10 ("Buster") because it's easy to use and easy to upgrade. Used the Xfce desktop to keep things nice 'n' simple.
For the final touch, I added a PCIe USB 3.0 card. That ought to do it.
Tried it out. Yep, the 256GB SSD is much, much faster than the platters were. This old quad-core Phenom box actually feels snappy! I'm now doing a burn-in test of the CPU and will also run memtest86 on it to make sure everything's in proper working order. If it is, then my neighbors will have a shiny "new" computer!
Total cost for this refurb: about $75.
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