3 Year old PC

[wbarnhill]

And still able to run every game out there.

Built this machine back in March of 2004, and will be retiring it in March 2007, just realized today when I ordered the only upgrade to it that I've had it for that long and it's still able to run everything out there. I just wanted a slight bit more umph for these last few months before I turn it into a TiVo.

Original Specs:
Shuttle SB75G2 XPC Small Form Factor System
Pentium 4 3.2Ghz Extreme Edition
2GB Corsair XMS TwinX Low Latency DDR400 RAM
2x 120GB WD Caviar 7200RPM SATA/150 drives in RAID0 configuration
MSI Geforce FX5950 Ultra 256MB DDR AGP
NEC 8X DVD+/-RW

The upgrade I ordered was a new XFX 6800XT and a NEC 16X DVD+/-RW.

What's the longest you've had a computer before retiring it?

 

[tonycondon]

bought my computer when i moved to college, fall of 04, still runs.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

What's the longest you've had a computer before retiring it?

Depends what you mean by "retired."

I had a Mac Plus that I actively used for about 5 years. (Apple actually sold them for about 5 years brand new, too - Pretty impressive.) I think that's the best I've gotten out of a "primary" machine. I also came 3 months from getting 5 years out of my PowerBook G3 as well. My last two didn't fare so well, the first being a "TiBook" that I got used in the first place for dirt cheap and had screen issues from the start (I had it for 10 months or so), and the PowerBook G4 which was running really well until the accident.

However, I also had a Power Mac 9500 that was used as an internet server originally (www, mail, dns, ftp, etc) and slowly had its various jobs taken over by other machines but served as a print server until its power supply died after 8 years or so. I've also worked with (IE I didn't own it myself) an SE/30 that was used for various purposes from late 1989 all the way up to 2004.

 

[tdager]

And still able to run every game out there.

Built this machine back in March of 2004, and will be retiring it in March 2007, just realized today when I ordered the only upgrade to it that I've had it for that long and it's still able to run everything out there. I just wanted a slight bit more umph for these last few months before I turn it into a TiVo.

Original Specs:
Shuttle SB75G2 XPC Small Form Factor System
Pentium 4 3.2Ghz Extreme Edition
2GB Corsair XMS TwinX Low Latency DDR400 RAM
2x 120GB WD Caviar 7200RPM SATA/150 drives in RAID0 configuration
MSI Geforce FX5950 Ultra 256MB DDR AGP
NEC 8X DVD+/-RW

The upgrade I ordered was a new XFX 6800XT and a NEC 16X DVD+/-RW.

What's the longest you've had a computer before retiring it?

Run at what level?

Can you crank up F.E.A.R., or Quake 4, or Oblivion, or even FSX to the bleeding edge and run it? If not, it is not capabale of "running" all of todays games AFAIK.

Of course...mine cannot do it either!

 

[JRitt]

Run at what level?

Can you crank up F.E.A.R., or Quake 4, or Oblivion, or even FSX to the bleeding edge and run it? If not, it is not capabale of "running" all of todays games AFAIK.

Of course...mine cannot do it either!

And neither can ANY computer out there. I recently had a chance to load MSFS X on my computer and found out that my X2 3800 OC to 2.7ghz, 2 gig, X800XT could only run it at Med setting smooth. I did this to see what hardware I would need to build my Brother in-law a new MSFS X compatable computer. Look like he will have to open up the wallet for a $400+ video card. (8800 or X1950)

 

[wbarnhill]

Run at what level?

Can you crank up F.E.A.R., or Quake 4, or Oblivion, or even FSX to the bleeding edge and run it? If not, it is not capabale of "running" all of todays games AFAIK.

Of course...mine cannot do it either!

Exactly what JRitt said. I consider capability to be that it can run the game smoothly at 1280x1024, medium settings across the board.

 

[wbarnhill]

And neither can ANY computer out there. I recently had a chance to load MSFS X on my computer and found out that my X2 3800 OC to 2.7ghz, 2 gig, X800XT could only run it at Med setting smooth. I did this to see what hardware I would need to build my Brother in-law a new MSFS X compatable computer. Look like he will have to open up the wallet for a $400+ video card. (8800 or X1950)

Yeah, I'm not touching the 8800 until NVIDIA cranks that sucker down a notch with the 65nm process. 10.5" and two slots is a bit too large for my tastes, regardless of what nifty unified architecture they've got.

 

[fgcason]

Multiple Centuries, Still In Use

What's the longest you've had a computer before retiring it?

Apple IIe circa 1984 -- Still use it today. Totally reliable, no failures.

80286 circa 1987 -- Still use it today. Totally reliable, no failures.

Newer machines keep having problems and/or catastrophic failures so they get cycled out every few years because I have no choice in the matter because they just stop working.

 

[tonycondon]

Apple IIe circa 1984 -- Still use it today. Totally reliable, no failures.

This reminds me that I havent played my Oregon Trail or Number Crunchers ROM's in quite a while....

 

[mikea]

Re: Multiple Centuries, Still In Use

Apple IIe circa 1984 -- Still use it today. Totally reliable, no failures.

80286 circa 1987 -- Still use it today. Totally reliable, no failures.

Newer machines keep having problems and/or catastrophic failures so they get cycled out every few years because I have no choice in the matter because they just stop working.

You wanna see my 1982 Osborne 1 boot? It boots faster than a dual core can even POST. Then you gotta know what to do next.

 

[wsuffa]

I have a Zenith Z100 in the garage. Last time I booted it, it came up just fine. 8" floppies and all.

Currently in use as a FreeBSD machine is an 11+ year old laptop.

 

[JRitt]

What's the longest you've had a computer before retiring it?

I have a 3yr old laptop my son uses and a 4 yr old mobile Athlon 2500 running its entire life OC from 1.8ghz to 2.4ghz @49deg C. @100%. It has been running Folding@Home for the last 2 yrs @100% (I do turn it off every 4 months to clean the dust out).

 

[SCCutler]

A IIe... for what?

 

[cameronbm]

I'm still running an Apple IIgs -- there's nothing like the old Infocom text based adventure games (anybody remember "Leather Goddess"?).

My X86 boxes seem to have a shorter half-life -- I go about 5 years between systems.

My Sinclair Z-80 still works and the tape containing the world's worst flight simulator still loads.

Bruce

 

[fgcason]

A IIe... for what?

It's a TOY. It makes me feel good about computers. It's a very straightforward down to Earth honest computer. It's peaceful to use.

Lode Runner is my recent passtime on it.
Deathmaze 5000 is a close second.
Anyone remember the Phazor Sound card? It's kinda fun to play with.

Then there's a little assembly and machine code hacking/programming going on occasionally too. Did you know you can boot an Apple through the serial port if you know what you're doing?

Here's a surprise in today's high tech reliable quality control perfectionist world: You can buy floppy disks, hard drives and whatever nowadays and half of them have failed before you open the wrapper much less put them in a computer. I have 5.25" disks that haven't been formatted since 1983 (and some of the early 3.5" disks from around 1988) that are STILL readable with NO errors. My 286 runs 40mb MFM drives - zero errors. By comparison, the new stuff out there today is unreliable crap.

 

[jesse]

And still able to run every game out there.
MSI Geforce FX5950 Ultra 256MB DDR AGP

You obviously have not tried to run every game out there. I have a superior system and it has a NVIDIA 6800 Ultra which will run circles around that FX5950. I most definitely cannot run every game out there.

I'd be willing to bet a couple of hours of flying time that you cannot run Flight Sim X at 1280x1024 with everything set at Medium with the G1000 airplane and have enjoyable game play.

I guess it depends on your definition of "run every game out there"

 

[wbarnhill]

You obviously have not tried to run every game out there. I have a superior system and it has a NVIDIA 6800 Ultra which will run circles around that FX5950. I most definitely cannot run every game out there.

I'd be willing to bet a couple of hours of flying time that you cannot run Flight Sim X at 1280x1024 with everything set at Medium with the G1000 airplane and have enjoyable game play.

I guess it depends on your definition of "run every game out there"

I'll gladly take the bet. So I'll assume you'll be shipping me a copy of FSX to test out? (Oh, and my rental rate for the 172 is $91/hr, so feel free to attach a check for 182$ to the FSX box).

 

[mikea]

...
Here's a surprise in today's high tech reliable quality control perfectionist world: You can buy floppy disks, hard drives and whatever nowadays and half of them have failed before you open the wrapper much less put them in a computer. I have 5.25" disks that haven't been formatted since 1983 (and some of the early 3.5" disks from around 1988) that are STILL readable with NO errors. My 286 runs 40mb MFM drives - zero errors. By comparison, the new stuff out there today is unreliable crap.

Yep. You buy a $12000 server and if has a floppy drive, it's one use. You put in a floppy and it's unusable thereafter.

 

[anumerick]

I just ordered a new video card for my machine (ATI x800). I considered building a new machine, however, I just want another year or two longer out of my machine. And I realized my current machine is 4 years old.

Then I looked at the new dual cores, and saw the clock speeds are only 2.2ghz and laughed. My CPU is a 2.2ghz, yes the dual is faster when processed together but until Vista comes out and everyone starts using both processors only A or B is used.

So, I laughed again, and thought... I might actually get another 2 years from this old machine. Either way, 5 years for a gaming computer is impressive. Just need to get rid of that ATI 9200.

Current Machine:
AMD 2600+ Clock Speed 2.2ghz
1.5gig DDR400
2-80gig WD Raid 0
2-250gig WD Raid 0 (lost a drive a month ago too)
ATI 9200 - replacement arrives today ATI X800
Plextor PX-716A DVD+/-RW DL
Samsong DVD-ROM 16x
Ultra Xconnect 500w PowerSupply

 

[jesse]

I'll gladly take the bet. So I'll assume you'll be shipping me a copy of FSX to test out? (Oh, and my rental rate for the 172 is $91/hr, so feel free to attach a check for 182$ to the FSX box).

Sorry-- I don't feel like stealing your money.

 

[jesse]

Then I looked at the new dual cores, and saw the clock speeds are only 2.2ghz and laughed. My CPU is a 2.2ghz, yes the dual is faster when processed together but until Vista comes out and everyone starts using both processors only A or B is used.

Uhh.. Clock speed is not the only factor in determining the overall performance of a processor. That's just a marketing game Intel played over the last few years with the Pentium series to compete with AMD. Eventually Intel ran into some major issues with pushing clock speeds past 3.4 GHz with the Prescott core. They are now trying to solve the problem they created--the public's obsession with clock speed as the gauge of performance.

Look at real benchmarks of a processor. Do not go by the clock speed. Depending on which core you have there are many processors with SLOWER clock speeds that will run circles around what yours.

 

[mgkdrgn]

My Apple ][+ is still running... and I haven't used it in a while, but I'll betcha my Ozborne still runs too.

And still able to run every game out there.

Built this machine back in March of 2004, and will be retiring it in March 2007, just realized today when I ordered the only upgrade to it that I've had it for that long and it's still able to run everything out there. I just wanted a slight bit more umph for these last few months before I turn it into a TiVo.

Original Specs:
Shuttle SB75G2 XPC Small Form Factor System
Pentium 4 3.2Ghz Extreme Edition
2GB Corsair XMS TwinX Low Latency DDR400 RAM
2x 120GB WD Caviar 7200RPM SATA/150 drives in RAID0 configuration
MSI Geforce FX5950 Ultra 256MB DDR AGP
NEC 8X DVD+/-RW

The upgrade I ordered was a new XFX 6800XT and a NEC 16X DVD+/-RW.

What's the longest you've had a computer before retiring it?

 

[mgkdrgn]

Zork! 1, 2, and 3! Long live the great underground empire!

I'm still running an Apple IIgs -- there's nothing like the old Infocom text based adventure games (anybody remember "Leather Goddess"?).

My X86 boxes seem to have a shorter half-life -- I go about 5 years between systems.

My Sinclair Z-80 still works and the tape containing the world's worst flight simulator still loads.

Bruce

 

[EdFred]

I have an Atari 2600 Console system in the garage. Might be time to hook that baby back up.

 

[mikea]

...
Then I looked at the new dual cores, and saw the clock speeds are only 2.2ghz and laughed. My CPU is a 2.2ghz, yes the dual is faster when processed together but until Vista comes out and everyone starts using both processors only A or B is used.

So, I laughed again, and thought... I might actually get another 2 years from this old machine. Either way, 5 years for a gaming computer is impressive. Just need to get rid of that ATI 9200.
...
Current Machine:
AMD 2600+ Clock Speed 2.2ghz
1.5gig DDR400
2-80gig WD Raid 0
2-250gig WD Raid 0 (lost a drive a month ago too)
ATI 9200 - replacement arrives today ATI X800
Plextor PX-716A DVD+/-RW DL
Samsong DVD-ROM 16x
Ultra Xconnect 500w PowerSupply

Windows XP Pro will use up to 2 CPUs...and other OS's like Mac OS X, Linux, and BSD dont even stop at 2.

My Macbook Pro is has a 2.16GHz Dual Core CPU but it thinks it has two of those. It's fast enough to run Windows XP, VPN, and Windows applications at normal speed sharing one of the cores in a PC emulator while the host system does normal work in OS X unimpeded.

 

[wsuffa]

Now here's a REAL game:

http://www.ifiction.org/games/play.phpz?cat=&game=1&mode=html

 

[wbarnhill]

Uhh.. Clock speed is not the only factor in determining the overall performance of a processor. That's just a marketing game Intel played over the last few years with the Pentium series to compete with AMD. Eventually Intel ran into some major issues with pushing clock speeds past 3.4 GHz with the Prescott core. They are now trying to solve the problem they created--the public's obsession with clock speed as the gauge of performance.

Look at real benchmarks of a processor. Do not go by the clock speed. Depending on which core you have there are many processors with SLOWER clock speeds that will run circles around what yours.

Totally dependent on the type of instruction set and what process you're running. But labelling processors "3000+" or whatnot that AMD's been doing is disingenuous. Every company has their own little benchmark to max performance out of a specific chip. Hell, look at the video card companies. Both NVIDIA and ATI have been caught skipping frames and other various tactics to boost supposed frame rate and make their latest and greatest card tops.

In the end, it's not one singular component that determines the power of a computer. It's a combination of the task and components required for that task.

Zork! 1, 2, and 3! Long live the great underground empire!

You are standing on the flight line at an airport. A Cessna 172 and a Robinson R44 are nearby.
>

 

[wbarnhill]

Now here's a REAL game:

http://www.ifiction.org/games/play.phpz?cat=&game=1&mode=html

I loved text adventures. Miss em. Back when you'd get 5 5.25" floppies and a map of the world you were in. Games today rely too much on "ooh, pritty". I don't think I ever had a text adventure (or any DOS game now that I think about it) crash on me.

Anyone remember Guybrush Threepwood?

 

[wsuffa]

I loved text adventures. Miss em. Back when you'd get 5 5.25" floppies and a map of the world you were in. Games today rely too much on "ooh, pritty". I don't think I ever had a text adventure (or any DOS game now that I think about it) crash on me.

Anyone remember Guybrush Threepwood?

The first time I played the original adventure was with an account on VM/CMS on a 370. A friend of mine modified the code so the trolls were little Ayatollahs.... that'll date it for you.

 

[jesse]

Totally dependent on the type of instruction set and what process you're running.

Of course it depends on the task at hand. That is why I said *LOOK AT BENCHMARKS*. I make my living by working with PC hardware ranging from low powered custom engineered fanless embedded computers to multi processor multi core industrial systems.

But labelling processors "3000+" or whatnot that AMD's been doing is disingenuous.

Uhh. What do you think Intel is doing now? The exact same thing as AMD.

 

[bkreager]

I tend to upgrade computers every 4 years. The Dell I got last year has a Pentium D 830 in it that will be getting an upgrade once Vista is out, along with an ATI X600 that needs to go.

 

[wbarnhill]

Of course it depends on the task at hand. That is why I said *LOOK AT BENCHMARKS*. I make my living by working with PC hardware ranging from low powered custom engineered fanless embedded computers to multi processor multi core industrial systems.

That's nice, but you're still not getting the point that benchmarks released by companies are going to be skewed towards that product, and benchmarks in magazines can have wildly different results depending on the configuration of the machine as well as what process they were attempting. Luckily the average user isn't going to notice a difference, because the average user doesn't care as long as it does what they want it to do in a reasonable amount of time.

I tend to upgrade computers every 4 years. The Dell I got last year has a Pentium D 830 in it that will be getting an upgrade once Vista is out, along with an ATI X600 that needs to go.

I've had PCs for longer than 3 years, but with the recent jumps in technology (such as PCIe), I've got to make the change. That's really what it boils down to.

 

[jesse]

That's nice, but you're still not getting the point that benchmarks released by companies are going to be skewed towards that product, and benchmarks in magazines can have wildly different results depending on the configuration of the machine as well as what process they were attempting. Luckily the average user isn't going to notice a difference, because the average user doesn't care as long as it does what they want it to do in a reasonable amount of time.

UH.. I said look at benchmarks. I didn't say call up the manufacturer and say "Hey Give me your benchmarks". Benchmarks related to your application are the most true measurement of performance.

Clock speed is not the only measurement you should use for performance. It's worth than using potentially skewed benchmarks from untrusted magazines.

Most of the time I write my own benchmarks that are testing what I feel is most vital to the application.

 

[SCCutler]

...

You are standing on the flight line at an airport. A Cessna 172 and a Robinson R44 are nearby.
>

XYZZX

 

[flyingcheesehead]

You are standing on the flight line at an airport. A Cessna 172 and a Robinson R44 are nearby.
>

>Get into left seat of 172

You are sitting in a Cessna 172. It has a G1000 glass cockpit. Runway 5-23 is to your left.

>Engage starter

The engine turns over. It does not fire.

>Prime engine

The engine is primed. You smell a faint hint of avgas.

>Engage starter

YOU'RE ON FIRE!!!

>

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Uhh.. Clock speed is not the only factor in determining the overall performance of a processor. That's just a marketing game Intel played over the last few years with the Pentium series to compete with AMD.

They've been doing it way longer than that. That used to be one of the Mac vs. PC arguments. "We got more megga-hurts!"

They started doing it at least as early as the Power Macs first came out. The first time it bit Intel in the butt was when Apple came out with a 350-MHz machine when Intel's best offering was just reaching 200 MHz.

I'm glad that particular argument is now out of the Mac vs. PC game. There's a little more intelligence involved in the conversation now.

 

[fgcason]

XYZZX

XYZZY

 

[p8cleared2land]

I'm still running an Apple IIgs -- there's nothing like the old Infocom text based adventure games (anybody remember "Leather Goddess"?).

GS = "graphics/sound" It was the cream of the crop, said the salesman. Eventually, to try out all that GS capability, I bought "Uninvited," a sorta-moving-graphics-with-delayed-sound mystery game. Still have my IIGS. And Uninvited. And boxes full of 5.25 and 3.5 floppies.

 

[anumerick]

Windows XP Pro will use up to 2 CPUs...and other OS's like Mac OS X, Linux, and BSD dont even stop at 2.

My Macbook Pro is has a 2.16GHz Dual Core CPU but it thinks it has two of those. It's fast enough to run Windows XP, VPN, and Windows applications at normal speed sharing one of the cores in a PC emulator while the host system does normal work in OS X unimpeded.

Yes, XP and other OS's will handle multi processors. However the user must assign each processor to each task. So, from your everyday standard user, it's not going to do any good until Vista arrives and people update their OS. The typical user doesn't know the difference between drive space and ram, so I don't think they'll understand how to assign tasks to different processors.

And besides, the typical user doesn't run Linux or BSD. If your running either of this OS's your not a typical user.

 

[jesse]

Yes, XP and other OS's will handle multi processors. However the user must assign each processor to each task.

Uh.. I think not.