Hello! I just received an old desktop pc from a local company, it used to be a file server.
I want some help from you people about what components i should buy to upgrade it.
Specs: (not 100% sure about everything)
Intel celeron 1.7 Ghz SL69Z or SL68C (same specs for both), detailed specs here: http://ark.intel.com/products/27172/Intel-Celeron-Processor-1_70-GHz-128K-Cache-400-MHz-FSB
Nvidia Geforce 3 ti 200, 64 mb VRAM and directx 8.1
120 gb IDE 5400 rpm hdd
512 mb of DDR 400 ram (4 128 mb sticks)
Some sort of multi ethernet expansion card (couldn't find name, sorry), probably used because it was a server.
Motherboard, not sure, couldn' find name or anything (weird), but this is some of the connections on the board i could spot: socket 478 cpu socket (the pentium 4 socket), AGP video card slot, IDE hard drive connections, DDR 400 ram socket (4 of them).
I have a hobby, where i (together with some friends) collect old pc parts etc. and upgrade them to their full potential. This is not going to be my daily use pc. Before anyone start commenting "get a new pc, its not worth to upgrade" etc. Its not supposed to be worth it. This is just something i do for fun.
So lets get started with this. The whole point of this project is to change all components in the pc, except from the motherboard. It is sort of a challenge to create the best pc from a motherboard, to push the motherboard to the limits.
I will start with the cpu. That poor celeron is better to just leave alone. With such a low clock speed, and the tiny amount of cache, 128 kb L2 its probably one of the most important components to change, except from the ancient video card.
Since the socket is the 478, my first thought was "Ok, lets find a powerful single core pentium, as there are no dual cores for the 478. I looked at this list of pentium 4s and found out that obviously, the best choice would be the Pentium 4 Extreme SL7CH, 3.4 Ghz with 2 Mb of L3 cache! Detailed specs: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27490
Almost none of the other pentiums even have L3 cache. But i quickly realised after a quick google search that those things are pretty expensive, even these days. I then thought about maybe this cpu:
http://ark.intel.com/products/27469?wapkw=sl8k4
The pentium 4 3.4 Ghz SL8K4. As you can see, the specs are litteraly almost the same as the extreme, except lacking the L3 cache, and instead having a larger L2 cache. My question is, how much difference does the cache make? Is it big? Is it worth going for an extreme, or is the difference too small. Also, suggest other cpus you think that might suit my project.
Okay. Now to the GPU. This is probably the weakest component in the entire computer. Even without directx 9 support, and tiny amount of vram, this card won't cut it. I have more knowledge about cpus, and not so much about gpus, this is the part where i really need help. First i just googled "best agp graphics card" and quickly found out that it was the Ati Radeon HD 3850 AGP, detailed specs: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/312/radeon-hd-3850-agp
But then i saw that this card is pretty expensive, and not only that but also way overkill for a pentium 4, even one of most powerful pentium 4s. Directx 10.1 support, 512 mb vram etc. will probably be bottlenecked by a single core cpu.
This is the part where i need your help. Do you have any suggestions for videocard that supports agp, and are good, but not "too good" to avoid cpu bottleneck.
Ram. Will probably either run 4x 512 sticks, 2 gig total, or 4x 1gb sticks (just depends on how much money i'm willing to spend).
By the way, what about OS? It currently runs XP professional SP3. I will reinstall OS anyway, so i thought maybe to upgrade.
XP is a decent OS, it lost support in 2014, but this really dont matter to me, because this computer wont see daily use.
Vista just recently lost support, won't bother me.. Say what you want about vista but I like it. With the service packs its pretty stable.
Windows 7 is the last option. Probably best OS because it still has support.
The question is, since the computer will be running low end hardware (by todays standards) and XP has lower system requirements, is it the better choice? Or will the system run smoothly on win 7 or vista with a pentium 4? And what about driver support? Does the old hardware have win 7 or vista drivers?? Or is XP better for this.
I have access to all these operating systems, I got product keys for them all.
I thought the hard drive would be fine, because there are probably not any IDE ssd's out there..
Thanks for all help in advance!
Please share your opinions and suggest ideas for computer hardware!
-Minibarex
By the way, I am new to this forum, so if I did something wrong etc. Pleas correct me.
I want some help from you people about what components i should buy to upgrade it.
Specs: (not 100% sure about everything)
Intel celeron 1.7 Ghz SL69Z or SL68C (same specs for both), detailed specs here: http://ark.intel.com/products/27172/Intel-Celeron-Processor-1_70-GHz-128K-Cache-400-MHz-FSB
Nvidia Geforce 3 ti 200, 64 mb VRAM and directx 8.1
120 gb IDE 5400 rpm hdd
512 mb of DDR 400 ram (4 128 mb sticks)
Some sort of multi ethernet expansion card (couldn't find name, sorry), probably used because it was a server.
Motherboard, not sure, couldn' find name or anything (weird), but this is some of the connections on the board i could spot: socket 478 cpu socket (the pentium 4 socket), AGP video card slot, IDE hard drive connections, DDR 400 ram socket (4 of them).
I have a hobby, where i (together with some friends) collect old pc parts etc. and upgrade them to their full potential. This is not going to be my daily use pc. Before anyone start commenting "get a new pc, its not worth to upgrade" etc. Its not supposed to be worth it. This is just something i do for fun.
So lets get started with this. The whole point of this project is to change all components in the pc, except from the motherboard. It is sort of a challenge to create the best pc from a motherboard, to push the motherboard to the limits.
I will start with the cpu. That poor celeron is better to just leave alone. With such a low clock speed, and the tiny amount of cache, 128 kb L2 its probably one of the most important components to change, except from the ancient video card.
Since the socket is the 478, my first thought was "Ok, lets find a powerful single core pentium, as there are no dual cores for the 478. I looked at this list of pentium 4s and found out that obviously, the best choice would be the Pentium 4 Extreme SL7CH, 3.4 Ghz with 2 Mb of L3 cache! Detailed specs: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27490
Almost none of the other pentiums even have L3 cache. But i quickly realised after a quick google search that those things are pretty expensive, even these days. I then thought about maybe this cpu:
http://ark.intel.com/products/27469?wapkw=sl8k4
The pentium 4 3.4 Ghz SL8K4. As you can see, the specs are litteraly almost the same as the extreme, except lacking the L3 cache, and instead having a larger L2 cache. My question is, how much difference does the cache make? Is it big? Is it worth going for an extreme, or is the difference too small. Also, suggest other cpus you think that might suit my project.
Okay. Now to the GPU. This is probably the weakest component in the entire computer. Even without directx 9 support, and tiny amount of vram, this card won't cut it. I have more knowledge about cpus, and not so much about gpus, this is the part where i really need help. First i just googled "best agp graphics card" and quickly found out that it was the Ati Radeon HD 3850 AGP, detailed specs: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/312/radeon-hd-3850-agp
But then i saw that this card is pretty expensive, and not only that but also way overkill for a pentium 4, even one of most powerful pentium 4s. Directx 10.1 support, 512 mb vram etc. will probably be bottlenecked by a single core cpu.
This is the part where i need your help. Do you have any suggestions for videocard that supports agp, and are good, but not "too good" to avoid cpu bottleneck.
Ram. Will probably either run 4x 512 sticks, 2 gig total, or 4x 1gb sticks (just depends on how much money i'm willing to spend).
By the way, what about OS? It currently runs XP professional SP3. I will reinstall OS anyway, so i thought maybe to upgrade.
XP is a decent OS, it lost support in 2014, but this really dont matter to me, because this computer wont see daily use.
Vista just recently lost support, won't bother me.. Say what you want about vista but I like it. With the service packs its pretty stable.
Windows 7 is the last option. Probably best OS because it still has support.
The question is, since the computer will be running low end hardware (by todays standards) and XP has lower system requirements, is it the better choice? Or will the system run smoothly on win 7 or vista with a pentium 4? And what about driver support? Does the old hardware have win 7 or vista drivers?? Or is XP better for this.
I have access to all these operating systems, I got product keys for them all.
I thought the hard drive would be fine, because there are probably not any IDE ssd's out there..
Thanks for all help in advance!
Please share your opinions and suggest ideas for computer hardware!
-Minibarex
By the way, I am new to this forum, so if I did something wrong etc. Pleas correct me.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram