qtukcue2001

What I want to do techies, will also be my first build. Counting on you to guide me. Can I use basic tools to build/upgrade or do I need specialized tools? Also I want to focus on taking an old computer as far as it can go. I already know it can't take the real new stuff of today. With this kind of thinking I can give these computers to first timers who will have ready to plug internet. Don't want to spend any money if possible. Would like to get old free computer parts. Stuff that will work with computer that has windows 95 and a computer that has windows 98. I believe both computer's ages are in the 90's. One is an actual desktop and the other is a tower which can sit on the floor.
Any ideas on how I can get old computers that work that people don't want? Well, that's all folks.


qtukcue2001

emosun

You might be able to find old 9x machine at rummage sales, auctions, the recycling center, or out by curbs.

But those machines cpu's are pretty low nowadays for even regular internet use. With todays internet using so much flash and media players the cpu's dont have enough power to play even youtube videos. Plus windows 9x systems are not supported by any kind of updates anymore so they really wont get any faster. Plus if you look in local papers or ebay you can find pentium 4 machines for about 100$ now with windows xp. I think someone would be alot happier to have a good pent4 machine or higher with at least windows 2000 or higher.

beefers1

well, you can find low-cost or even free parts at recycling depots. the drawback is that they're not warranted, so you'll have to be careful. all you basically need is a phillips screwdriver. the best upgrade would probably be RAM, but you have to be careful about compatibility. another option is the video card. a new geForce 6200 PCI goes for about $50-70, and actually is one of the few PCI cards that can handle Vista Aero (not that you'll want to use it, as the performance is probably not very good).

linderman

win 95 & win 98 forget those dude those dogs dont hunt no more!



emo gave you the best option >>>> you wont find them for free; but if you send some flyers to large corporations which have IT deptartments, many times they will sell you fairly decent stuff cheap


I have seen P4 -2.8's and 3.0 system go out the doors for $60.00 to $80.00

any cheaper than that and you will be wasting your time with old rubbish


the average large corporation turns over large "batches" of office machines every 3 years >>>> their head IT guy will usually be sympathic towards a upcoming / noobie geek

I hope you dont take that as an insult >>>>> we are all computer geeks

beefers1

well, winXP only requires a pentium II with 64MB RAM. i've tried running it with those specs before, and it isn't that slow. but with an old PC like that, prehaps the most limiting factor will be the motherboard. check compatibility with everything you upgrade with.

emosun

I actually have a dell xps d233. Meaning xps with as pentium 2 233mhz, I can can tell you from experience that the cpu is not powerful enough for modern web browsing. It's just a extra machine that I have hooked up for fun and I can say with both windows 98 and windows xp the computer cannot play online videos or play flash smoothly. I maxed it out as much as I could with the extra parts I had lying around and it has 320mb ram and a geforce two 64mb, but the cpu is just two slow. Also the cpu goes up to 20% when I move the mouse around on xp.

I would have to say for a decent web browsing you need a pc with a pentium 3 maybe 500 mhz or more and a good 256mb or more with windows 2000 and up. You can find pc's like that for so cheap now and someone would be alot happier getting a machine that worked well on the internet.

I'm not saying that the 9x machines cant do internet at all but there days really are numbered.

beefers1

that is true. especially with flash, and shockwave, etc. and all the new updates making XP much more of a power-hog than it was 7 years ago.

qtukcue2001

I just want to thank all of you guys for the info. You've provided. You 've given me nice ideas. O.K. so I may have to shell out a few bucks. If I'm gonna learn something quite valuable these days I might as well. I will know what my limits are. I feel like I'm hearing I'll have to experiment in certain areas, processers, rams, video cards. Gotcha. Do I need any special tools to deal with cpu boxes or can I keep it simple?


Thanks guys
qtukcue2001

emosun

Not realley just a phillips screw driver or maybe a needle nose plyers. Sometimes a small flat head maybe. And like I said, I think a pentium 3 500mhz eith 256 mb ram and windows 2000 with maybe a 8 mb video card is as low as you could go for it to have decent internet browseing.

beefers1

i read one Popular Science magazine article on how to build a $70 computer. i forgot what issue it was, but it said that they got a lot of old parts from recycling stores, second-hand stores, etc. i think it had a celeron wiht 256mb and 16MB VIA graphics, and a 512MB bootable flash drive with Linux, or something like that.