should i build an old pc just for fun

[RCT2fan2005]

ok so the specs are

 

Core 2 Duo E4500

some ASUS board

geforce gt 710 (its too new for my taste)

seagate barracuta 500gb

crucial 1gb ddr2-800

400w EVGA psu

[BondiBlue]

I don't know, should you? That's really just a question of whether or not it's worth it to you to put those parts together into a functional system. If you just want to kill some time and build a system for old games or something then go for it. There's not much anyone here can say about whether or not it would be worth it. 

[Middcore]

We can't tell you what to do, we're not your dad. 

[RCT2fan2005]

Just now, Middcore said:

We can't tell you what to do, we're not your dad. 

alright thanks

 

i'll be on it

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Middcore said:

We can't tell you what to do, we're not your dad. 

Internet dad says GTFW! 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

2 minutes ago, punkboy64 said:

ok so the specs are

 

Core 2 Duo E4500

some ASUS board

geforce gt 710 (its too new for my taste)

seagate barracuta 500gb

crucial 1gb ddr2-800

400w EVGA psu

Well you already have the parts so why not?

 

What specific asus board do you have? If you have a non p35/45 x38/x48 then i might be able to make a bios mod for you albeit a really basic one cause i only know swapping modules and not things like making custom modules like custom p6 microcode. If you do have a p35/45 x38/48 then just flash to a higher end board with a bios programmer or afudos (pref bios programmer so bricking is not a worry cause you can just reprogram the bios). With a bios mod/flash to a higher end bios youll most likely see higher ram speed capability, higher fsb capability, heck maybe even other stuff like better volt regulation or more bios settings depending on the bios

 

Flashed my p5q -> p5qd bios and fsb raised from a pitiful 530 to a still pathetic 570fsb, modded ebb with maximus ii formula and still only 570fsb but thats prob just because this board sucks ass

[da na]

Sure! I love messing around with old PCs. Don't pour too much money into it though. 

[Moonzy]

14 minutes ago, punkboy64 said:

Core 2 Duo E4500

not too old, i ran a core 2 quad recently and it still kicks ass

[Vishera]

13 minutes ago, punkboy64 said:

geforce gt 710 (its too new for my taste)

 

Maybe a 9800 GTX?,That card is also better than the GT 710.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

10 minutes ago, Vishera said:

Maybe a 9800 GTX?,That card is also better than the GT 710.

I do have the rebranded version of that card (gts 250) but it doesnt initialise/detect without another gpu inserted for some reason

 

If you are looking for old card like that then they should be dirt cheap, since indo has a terrible used gpu market i bought mine for 12$

[Kaaverik]

1 hour ago, punkboy64 said:

ok so the specs are

 

Core 2 Duo E4500

some ASUS board

geforce gt 710 (its too new for my taste)

seagate barracuta 500gb

crucial 1gb ddr2-800

400w EVGA psu

Why not? It could be quite fun.

 

Those are decent specs for a ~2008 system, that would be capable of games up into 2013, with that core2duo. Quite resilient little chips they are. But if you want to go with a GPU from that era, expect low fps. Standards for gaming performance were quite relaxed then... these were simpler times when 30fps was acceptable...

 

1gb of RAM is not enough for that time period. You are going to want at least 4gb for running games around 2008, and that's at minimum. DDR2 systems cap off at 8gb of RAM max. DDR2 though, still pretty cheap.

 

Of course, the build is up to you. You can pretty much go with any parts because they are (relatively) dirt cheap. I am doing a similar era system with an am2 processer and the once coveted 9800 gx2, aiming for around the time I got into computers. Of course, it will be so much faster than the computer I once had...

 

59 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

Sure! I love messing around with old PCs. Don't pour too much money into it though. 

 

This is incredibly true. If you are going to build an older system, it is best to overbuild it first, instead of upgrading it over time, even if that means going the "nontraditional" route and using modern parts. Your wallet, and the gaming experience will thank you.

[whm1974]

2 hours ago, Vishera said:

Maybe a 9800 GTX?,That card is also better than the GT 710.

Anything is better then the GT 710. Even iGPUs and that is saying a lot right there.

[Bitter]

Yes, you absolutely should because why not if you have nothing better to do.

[Bitter]

2 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Fake news. Onboard graphics for an E4500 aren't better than a 710.

E4500 doesn't even HAVE an iGPU! Any GPU action is in the northbridge of that motherboard and probably like a GMA4500 or worse.

[Jaesop]

Oh man do we have different ideas of what an old PC is.

[Vishera]

I would probably go for a Q6600 + GTX 280 since these were the high end stuff back in the day,

And a lot of people with Q6600 2 years later upgraded the GPU to either a HD 6970 or a GTX 580 so you could go that route as well.

[whm1974]

3 hours ago, Jaesop said:

Oh man do we have different ideas of what an old PC is.

Core 2 Quad based? Well if you had 4GB to 8GB installed then yes. Not sure if you could watch 1080p Video or even 720p at all. 480p you could.

[abit-sean]

I'm planning a similar build with a Intel Q9300, OCZ gold RAM, ABIT IP35 Pro motherboard and a WD rapture hard drive. Not sure what GPU to use yet, I do have a GTX480 but it's not really period correct. I definitely won't be using a period correct case as they all sucked. 

Tbh I have no use for this build and it will just sit in my workshop, I might put spotify on it and hook up my abit idome digital speakers just to finish the look.

 

[RCT2fan2005]

alright guys

 

i've selected a GT 530 because i had one, and Windows XP Professional, which i also already had

 

edit: and 2gb ram

[Bitter]

15 hours ago, abit-sean said:

I'm planning a similar build with a Intel Q9300, OCZ gold RAM, ABIT IP35 Pro motherboard and a WD rapture hard drive. Not sure what GPU to use yet, I do have a GTX480 but it's not really period correct. I definitely won't be using a period correct case as they all sucked. 

Tbh I have no use for this build and it will just sit in my workshop, I might put spotify on it and hook up my abit idome digital speakers just to finish the look.

 

I hope your hard drive doesn't Rapture, that would be most unfortunate. I guess that's the one place I really don't mind not being period correct for a build. Gimme a SSD damn it. I don't have all day to wait for things to happen!

6 hours ago, punkboy64 said:

alright guys

 

i've selected a GT 530 because i had one, and Windows XP Professional, which i also already had

 

edit: and 2gb ram

Sounds like it'll be a decent machine. Speaking of machines, it would run this game well as well as some other period correct games.

https://wiredforwar.org/

https://wz2100.net/

[IRMacGuyver]

When you said old PC I assumed it'd be older than core 2 duo. [face_old]

[abit-sean]

2 hours ago, Bitter said:

I hope your hard drive doesn't Rapture, that would be most unfortunate. I guess that's the one place I really don't mind not being period correct for a build. Gimme a SSD damn it. I don't have all day to wait for things to happen!

Sounds like it'll be a decent machine. Speaking of machines, it would run this game well as well as some other period correct games.

https://wiredforwar.org/

https://wz2100.net/

Not sure why but i've always called them rapture drives instead of Raptor. Mainly due to the high failure rate, might have the only working one left in the UK?

40 minutes ago, IRMacGuyver said:

When you said old PC I assumed it'd be older than core 2 duo. [face_old]

Same here love to do a socket A build or maybe even PII,PIII if I get the time. 

[Jaesop]

On 1/11/2022 at 3:49 AM, whm1974 said:

Core 2 Quad based?

Maybe Pentium 2 based.

[8tg]

What’s the end goal? I speak as someone who’s done old builds like this dozens of times. Depending on what you’re trying to do the end result can be drastically different and cost can go anywhere from borderline free to thousands of dollars.

 

[birdhuman]

On 1/11/2022 at 9:11 AM, punkboy64 said:

ok so the specs are

 

Core 2 Duo E4500

some ASUS board

geforce gt 710 (its too new for my taste)

seagate barracuta 500gb

crucial 1gb ddr2-800

400w EVGA psu

it depends. But this set is not old enough to address any significant difference from nowadays hardware. you can have same experience by virtual machine or even limit CPU cores on specific tasks.

I think only retro builds should be 16bit machine or pre-pentium2 builds. These machines can run native DOS and win3.2 with good compatibilities of old hardware like generic PCI and ISA devices.