What to do with an ancient computer...

[Devux]

Ok, so I have an ancient (by today's standards) computer collecting dust in my room. I want to do something with it. It is an eTower 633, I've kept it around as a "backup" machine, but it really isn't even worth that any more. So the question is what to do with it?
My only idea is to wipe it, install XP, and kill every service I can while still having it "stable" it only has 256MB of RAM so this is almost mandatory. *Laughs* But then I have a bunch of emulators and roms (NES, Genesis, SNES, N64, etc.) and I was thinking of making it a dedicated emulation machine, then hooking it up to my TV via VGA. All well and good, but then I would have to look at a boring beige coloured computer all the time. So now I have to make it look good, I could go crazy and make a plex window for it, throw some LED fans and cathode lights in there. That'd be fun. What are the forums' thoughts?

 

[panais]

Ok, so I have an ancient (by today's standards) computer collecting dust in my room. I want to do something with it. It is an eTower 633, I've kept it around as a "backup" machine, but it really isn't even worth that any more. So the question is what to do with it?
My only idea is to wipe it, install XP, and kill every service I can while still having it "stable" it only has 256MB of RAM so this is almost mandatory. *Laughs* But then I have a bunch of emulators and roms (NES, Genesis, SNES, N64, etc.) and I was thinking of making it a dedicated emulation machine, then hooking it up to my TV via VGA. All well and good, but then I would have to look at a boring beige coloured computer all the time. So now I have to make it look good, I could go crazy and make a plex window for it, throw some LED fans and cathode lights in there. That'd be fun. What are the forums' thoughts?

a)Clean the pc
b)Full format the pc,install only necessaries/useful programs and some small games.
c)DONATE IT to: someone poor,handicapped,or in some foundation for kids.

 

[Miranova23]

I don't think anyone taking a donation computer like this would be able to make it run as usefully as you can, Devux. Sounds like you're into modding, but buying a cheap $20-30 case sounds like it'd do you just fine. Personally I love the idea of a dedicated emulator. I'm going to save that idea for when one of mine outlives any other usefulness.

I've sorta just gone through this myself. My little sister has still been trudging along with my old Dimension 2300 from 2002. I've got XP on it and stripped of all unnecessary services. She has a school-issued tablet, but she isn't allowed to install her iPod on it, (they're given WMP & iTunes, but not allowed to install anything, even an mp3 device) so she uses it for the sole purpose of downloading music and syncing her iPod. It can barely playback music without skipping, unless it's the only program running and it's high priority, let alone play YouTube smoothly. For her birthday I just got a new board & cpu combo from Newegg for $90 & modern-day DDR3 ram for $25. Now it runs AMD Athlon II x2 245 Regor 2.9GHz, 2x1GB SDRAM-DDR3 1066MHz, internal graphics- ATI Radeon HD 4250. That's a whole new computer for about $100, after using a rebate gift card.

 

[Devux]

Nice! Yeah I love breathing new life into an old computer. Sorry donation is out of the question Maybe buying a new case would be easier than modding the case it has.

 

[strollin]

I have a number of older computers that are perfectly usable. I've installed Ubuntu on them and they work great for email, word processing and surfing the web. I can't give them away as nobody wants them. They sit and collect dust because I don't want to scrap a perfectly good machine. I'd like to find a use for them or someone to give them to.

We plan to have a yard sale this summer and I think I will display them at the yard sale with a sign that says "FREE" and see if anyone will take one.

 

[Wallonn7]

a)Clean the pc
b)Full format the pc,install only necessaries/useful programs and some small games.
c)DONATE IT to: someone poor,handicapped,or in some foundation for kids.

 

[Miranova23]

I think these are overpriced, but I'd love this as a retro-futuristic emulator lol!
Newegg.com - APEVIA X-CRUISER2-RD Red SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

 

[Devux]

Think I'm going to stuff it into here.
Raidmax Typhoon / Windmaxx Case at Xoxide!

 

[Miranova23]

PLEASE paint that to be a green sewer pipe from Mario!
Or something... lol ^_^
I've seen that before. Totally awesome.

 

[Prisoner]

I have an old computer whose brand I don't know (it doesn't say it anywhere on the case). It has 128mb RAM and a 300mhz processor. It also has 500 gigs of hard drive space. Guess what it's used for?

 

[Devux]

I have an old computer whose brand I don't know (it doesn't say it anywhere on the case). It has 128mb RAM and a 300ghz processor. It also has 500 gigs of hard drive space. Guess what it's used for?

I'm gonna guess file server That's also an amazingly fast processor. Odd that you have a super computer with only 128mb of RAM though.

 

[zEric7x]

Ok, so I have an ancient (by today's standards) computer collecting dust in my room. I want to do something with it. It is an eTower 633, I've kept it around as a "backup" machine, but it really isn't even worth that any more. So the question is what to do with it?
My only idea is to wipe it, install XP, and kill every service I can while still having it "stable" it only has 256MB of RAM so this is almost mandatory. *Laughs* But then I have a bunch of emulators and roms (NES, Genesis, SNES, N64, etc.) and I was thinking of making it a dedicated emulation machine, then hooking it up to my TV via VGA. All well and good, but then I would have to look at a boring beige coloured computer all the time. So now I have to make it look good, I could go crazy and make a plex window for it, throw some LED fans and cathode lights in there. That'd be fun. What are the forums' thoughts?

im proably sound not so smart by saying this but if it really old and have no use I probably just destroy it by smashing it or something. That sounds fun .

 

[Heyyou]

I have had a Compaq Win98 computer being used for kid games since 2004. I re-installed Win98 to the factory settings with 186MB RAM and 17GB HD. I could not give it away. I just brought it to Staples office supply store, where they will recycle it free.

 

[IDONTKNOW]

blow it up overclock everthing to the max lol.

 

[Prisoner]

I have an old computer whose brand I don't know (it doesn't say it anywhere on the case). It has 128mb RAM and a 300ghz processor. It also has 500 gigs of hard drive space. Guess what it's used for?

I'm gonna guess file server That's also an amazingly fast processor. Odd that you have a super computer with only 128mb of RAM though.

Urgh
Mhz, sorry.