Building OLD computers

[Beep or Boop]

Sorry if this isn't the best place to put this post but I couldn't find another spot. I'm trying to help a family member build an older computer to use in his business controlling some machinery. Going to attach a photo of what the specs are, but i'm having some struggles getting the whole together since I don't have a spec sheet of a built computer, just the specifications of what they need. Trying to keep the whole build to around $500-$600. Gonna attach some links to what i'm looking at already. Mainly struggling to make sure I can get the 2 ethernet, 2 serial and 1 parallel port on it. I only got into building computers in the last 7ish years and I don't know if I'll be needing PCIe cards for this or what. Any help would be amazing, thank you so much guys.

 

Spec sheet 

 

CPU, I was thinking about getting.

 

[Guest]

About that CPU... why would you buy such old parts brand new? You can go on eBay right now and buy something like this which is the exact same CPU but it's $4.

 

But anyways, your CPU seems to be much newer than a 1.2GHz Pentium. CPU you linked was released in 2011 and utilizes DDR3, machine that was there I believe to be a Pentium III 1200 which is around 20 years old at this point, unless it's a mobile processor, in which case it might be a P4. Unless newer was what you're going for, of course.

 

There are LOTS of old office computers out there that sport a parallel port and a serial port. In fact, if you don't need the Windows XP support, you can likely add in expansion cards to a slightly newer machine to add those ports. And you'd spend a lot less money and time doing that.

[Beep or Boop]

1 minute ago, wavem2 said:

About that CPU... why would you buy such old parts brand new? You can go on eBay right now and buy something like this which is the exact same CPU but it's $4.

 

But anyways, your CPU seems to be much newer than a 1.2GHz Pentium. CPU you linked was released in 2011 and utilizes DDR3, machine that was there I believe to be a Pentium III 1200 which is around 20 years old at this point.

 

There are LOTS of old office computers out there that sport a parallel port and a serial port. In fact, if you don't need the Windows XP support, you can likely add in expansion cards to a slightly newer machine to add those ports. And you'd spend a lot less money and time doing that.

 

2 minutes ago, wavem2 said:

About that CPU... why would you buy such old parts brand new? You can go on eBay right now and buy something like this which is the exact same CPU but it's $4.

 

But anyways, your CPU seems to be much newer than a 1.2GHz Pentium. CPU you linked was released in 2011 and utilizes DDR3, machine that was there I believe to be a Pentium III 1200 which is around 20 years old at this point.

 

There are LOTS of old office computers out there that sport a parallel port and a serial port. In fact, if you don't need the Windows XP support, you can likely add in expansion cards to a slightly newer machine to add those ports. And you'd spend a lot less money and time doing that.

Hmmm, I could do that. Just I have always just had a bad time buying used computer parts. Also it has to be a 32bit operating system. So I could use windows 7.

[da na]

2 minutes ago, Beep or Boop said:

 

Hmmm, I could do that. Just I have always just had a bad time buying used computer parts. Also it has to be a 32bit operating system. So I could use windows 7.

If that CPU is designed for XP then it prolly won't handle 7 well

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Beep or Boop said:

 

Hmmm, I could do that. Just I have always just had a bad time buying used computer parts. Also it has to be a 32bit operating system. So I could use windows 7.

Having to be 32 bit isn't an issue because 64-bit computers are backwards compatible and can run a 32 bit OS!

 

My personal experience with buying used computer components has been great. I have bought:

i3-9100F
i5-9600K
GTX 980 Ti

RX 570X
Logitech G600
MasterBox NR400
Optical Drive

16GB DDR4-2400
 

And tons, tons more... never had an issue. Seek out decent sellers on eBay, and you'll find exactly what you need pretty quickly. Just return it if it doesn't pan out, which is unlikely if you find a good seller.

[Beep or Boop]

Just now, Mel0nMan said:

If that CPU is designed for XP then it prolly won't handle 7 well

Looking up specs for Windows 7, it says minimum would be 1 GHz, and that CPU is 2.4

[Beep or Boop]

Just now, wavem2 said:

Having to be 32 bit isn't an issue because 64-bit computers are backwards compatible and can run a 32 bit OS!

 

My personal experience with buying used computer components has been great. I have bought:

i3-9100F
i5-9600K
GTX 980 Ti

RX 570X
Logitech G600
MasterBox NR400
Optical Drive

16GB DDR4-2400
 

And tons, tons more... never had an issue. Seek out decent sellers on eBay, and you'll find exactly what you need pretty quickly. Just return it if it doesn't pan out, which is unlikely if you find a good seller.

Thank you so much! Just struggling to get the right components. I found dual serial port add in cards. I'm guessing I will have to do that with the 2nd Ethernet and Parallel port right?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Beep or Boop said:

Looking up specs for Windows 7, it says minimum would be 1 GHz, and that CPU is 2.4

Windows 7 actually does run on a single core... well, it tries. If the computer is operating machinery, it doesn't have to be a powerhouse. And we weren't looking at a single core here, either, at least a dual core to replace what was there.

[da na]

1 minute ago, Beep or Boop said:

Looking up specs for Windows 7, it says minimum would be 1 GHz, and that CPU is 2.4

Ah, that will most likely work. Sorry, I was under the impression that 'old' meant 20 years old, not 8-ish. My bad!

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Beep or Boop said:

Thank you so much! Just struggling to get the right components. I found dual serial port add in cards. I'm guessing I will have to do that with the 2nd Ethernet and Parallel port right?

Some of those will have a parallel port baked right into them, don't need to touch it. And yeah, will need to add a network/ethernet card as well. Most of the mini towers and slim towers will be able to fit 4 expansion cards, which should allow you to do things like this.

[Beep or Boop]

Just now, Mel0nMan said:

Ah, that will most likely work. Sorry, I was under the impression that 'old' meant 20 years old, not 8-ish. My bad!

Yeah sorry. I'm just trying to make a PC, under these specs, within the budget. I'm only used to building PC's with current/newer equipment. Helping myself and my buddies build gaming PC's.

[Beep or Boop]

Just now, wavem2 said:

Some of those will have a parallel port baked right into them, don't need to touch it. And yeah, might need to add a network/ethernet card as well. Most of the mini towers and slim towers will be able to fit 4 expansion cards, which should allow you to do things like this.

Awesome. I'll look for mobos that will have a Parallel port on it and then just get a double Serial card and extra ethernet port card. And I should be set! Everything else will be easy for me.

[da na]

Just now, Beep or Boop said:

Yeah sorry. I'm just trying to make a PC, under these specs, within the budget. I'm only used to building PC's with current/newer equipment. Helping myself and my buddies build gaming PC's.

You're good, I can't afford new hardware plus I'm a retro computer enthusiast (Windows 3.0, windows 9x etc) so I usually think a bit older.

[Beep or Boop]

2 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

You're good, I can't afford new hardware plus I'm a retro computer enthusiast (Windows 3.0, windows 9x etc) so I usually think a bit older.

I appreciate the help none the less!!

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Beep or Boop said:

Awesome. I'll look for mobos that will have a Parallel port on it and then just get a double Serial card and extra ethernet port card. And I should be set! Everything else will be easy for me.

What was in my head was something like this. Core 2 Duo, parallel port, serial, VGA, a single ethernet, and some expansion.

 

Slap an extra ethernet and serial on there... you'd be good to go. It's a Dell OptiPlex 330.

[BondiBlue]

10 minutes ago, wavem2 said:

What was in my head was something like this. Core 2 Duo, parallel port, serial, VGA, a single ethernet, and some expansion.

 

Slap an extra ethernet and serial on there... you'd be good to go. It's a Dell OptiPlex 330.

The 330 is good, but if OP goes down that route I'd recommend getting a 755 or 780 instead of the 330. 

[Beep or Boop]

12 minutes ago, wavem2 said:

What was in my head was something like this. Core 2 Duo, parallel port, serial, VGA, a single ethernet, and some expansion.

 

Slap an extra ethernet and serial on there... you'd be good to go. It's a Dell OptiPlex 330.

That's actually so awesome. Thank you so much!

[flibberdipper]

50 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

If that CPU is designed for XP then it prolly won't handle 7 well

You really ought to get Windows 7 set up on a moderately fast hard drive, half a gig of RAM, and some halfway competent GPU that supports WDDM with a Pentium III... It'll handle it juuuuuuuuust fine.

[Beep or Boop]

2 minutes ago, flibberdipper said:

You really ought to get Windows 7 set up on a moderately fast hard drive, half a gig of RAM, and some halfway competent GPU that supports WDDM with a Pentium III... It'll handle it juuuuuuuuust fine.

If they have been using that set up for years and it works for them, and they say that's really all they need. Why would I need to upgrade to W7? If you look at the Dell OptiPlex 330 most of it is an upgrade. Just running on XP.

[flibberdipper]

53 minutes ago, Beep or Boop said:

If they have been using that set up for years and it works for them, and they say that's really all they need. Why would I need to upgrade to W7? If you look at the Dell OptiPlex 330 most of it is an upgrade. Just running on XP.

mmmmmmm if you look at what I said, you'd see the reply wasn't meant for you.

[Beep or Boop]

5 minutes ago, flibberdipper said:

mmmmmmm if you look at what I said, you'd see the reply wasn't meant for you.

Yikes ok.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

1 hour ago, wavem2 said:

What was in my head was something like this. Core 2 Duo, parallel port, serial, VGA, a single ethernet, and some expansion.

Was thinking the same thing, just buy some old optiplex like an optiplex 380 and just add more ports to it via pcie cards.

 

Not sure if a 780 or 960 is needed since those are q45 (aka g43) and can oc cpus pretty well if you use setfsb and abit of volt modding.obviously op doesnt need an ocable machine, but maybe there are features on a 780 or 960 that a 380 doesnt have that op needs or might need.

 

For now my reccomendation is just buy an optiplex 380, add a 2 or 4 gb stick of ddr3 cause single channel cripples performance, add a pentium e5800 or if you wanna bsel oc e5400 (3.6ghz), or not just shove a q6600 and bsel that.

And youll  have a machine thats actually decent for your purposes

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Was thinking the same thing, just buy some old optiplex like an optiplex 380 and just add more ports to it via pcie cards.

 

Not sure if a 780 or 960 is needed since those are q45 (aka g43) and can oc cpus pretty well if you use setfsb and abit of volt modding.obviously op doesnt need an ocable machine, but maybe there are features on a 780 or 960 that a 380 doesnt have that op needs or might need.

 

For now my reccomendation is just buy an optiplex 380, add a 2 or 4 gb stick of ddr3 cause single channel cripples performance, add a pentium e5800 or if you wanna bsel oc e5400 (3.6ghz), or not just shove a q6600 and bsel that.

And youll  have a machine thats actually decent for your purposes

Agree, any OptiPlex C2D should be great for OP's purposes. I think the CPU that's already in the PC will be fine - it's replacing a Pentium III, not exactly going to need to light the world on fire. Adding a little extra DDR2 is also a good idea considering how cheap DDR2 is.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

5 minutes ago, wavem2 said:

Agree, any OptiPlex C2D should be great for OP's purposes. I think the CPU that's already in the PC will be fine - it's replacing a Pentium III, not exactly going to need to light the world on fire. Adding a little extra DDR2 is also a good idea considering how cheap DDR2 is.

Optiplex 380 is ddr3 upto 8gb

Optiplex 780 is ddr2 upto 8gb

 

Yea ddr2 is pretty cheap, 2gb is like 2-3$ in my area

[Beep or Boop]

On 6/27/2021 at 6:45 AM, wavem2 said:

Agree, any OptiPlex C2D should be great for OP's purposes. I think the CPU that's already in the PC will be fine - it's replacing a Pentium III, not exactly going to need to light the world on fire. Adding a little extra DDR2 is also a good idea considering how cheap DDR2 is.

So I just got back to talking with my Uncle and he said that he is wanting something either brand new. Which means either I get a pre built, and add some add in cards for the parallel/serial/Ethernet ports he wants. Or build it from scratch. Wish I could of just went with the Optiplex lol