Why Two Computers???

One of the things I want to do is build a PC. Two years ago the computer I had was getting old and in a couple months I had planned to build one. As luck would have it, the old PC died and I had to have one quick so I had a PC built. In about two years when 64 bit is more popular, I plan to build one. I am sure some of you reading this have built your own. I don't see any need for two PC's. My question is, when you build a new one, what do you do with the old one?

One option is to sell it. Then you get some of your money back. Or you can use it for testing purposes (tweaks that could potential screw things up) and unmentionable stuff you don't want to do on your main computer. If you just want to get rid of it you could donate it to a good cause (usually you can get a receipt so you can claim it on your taxes).

My main machine has been upgraded about 4 times in the past 7 years.
I still have the same case, just swapped out motherboards, cpu's, ram, video cards, and power supplies.

the earlier upgrades were hand me downs from when I upgrade friends' machines. I'd get their old parts and use them.
the last 2 upgrades were purchased new by me so I could play newer games.

I was keeping my old parts and building secondary computers to use but ended up just selling those to finance the upgrades to the main machine.
I do have a second PC that I use primarily for watching movies on my Plasma TV.

My XP PC is in the closet, if this one is ever out of commision for an extended period, I can get online. A Guy

profdlp said:

Having a second computer is invaluable.

1) Great place to stash data backups. If your main system has a dramatic PSU (or whatever) failure and takes your hard drive(s) out your stuff is safe - and nearby.

2) Dedicated print/scan/file server. I have two printers attached to my secondary machine. Let anyone in the house print, I don't care. It's not sucking down my RAM for print spooling and not using up my CPU cycles in the middle of a game.

3) You can do fun stuff with the screensaver, like add a few news tickers and pretend you're Gomez Addams checking your stocks. Or even check the latest ball scores and get an up to date weather report - all at once. I once had a computer in my kitchen with sixteen different news feeds scrolling across the screen stacked top-to-bottom. In the two minutes it took to fill the coffeemaker I knew everything that was going on in the world.

4) Stick the spare in another room and you've got an instant jukebox/video terminal.

5) Experience the joys and sorrows of home networking. You'll even have a good excuse to buy more neat stuff!

6) If your main computer won't boot you can get on the spare and come to https://www.sevenforums.com/ for help.

Agree with all of the above.
When I completed my new build I had a high spec quad core pc going spare.
I tried to sell it but I don't know enough geeks so people couldn't understand why I wanted a lot of money for a box without a keyboard and monitor and no free printer thrown in!
I just couldn't get anyone interested enough to pay anything like it's value.
So, I bought a monitor and a wireless mini keyboard and use it for watching movies/music etc in my bedroom. Also got a TV dongle.
I network it with my main machine which is quite interesting and it's quite nice watching movies in bed.

Faladu said:

Somewhere someone on a 386 is surfing the web and smiling!
Keep it in prospective, we are all spoiled now, I remember my mouseless computing!
I have a Vic-20 and C-64 that still work in my closet, 10 ft to my left is a Vectrex.

WOW!....you have a 10 ft closet??!!

A Guy