old dell precision 380, what should i do with it?

[Gary Da Cat]

So i found an old dell precision 380 at school. So the 4th grade in my school gets to take apart old computers that "don't work" but this one was pretty cool because it had a ati ws graphics card in it (dual slot so must be ok) and a Pentium 4. So it is missing ram and a hard drive which is probably the reason why its not working... so i was wondering if anyone thinks its worth fixing it up and trying to use it as a spare computer or a gaming comp at my moms house (since my main rig is at my dads)

[Sheldon_King]

So i found an old dell precision 380 at school. So the 4th grade in my school gets to take apart old computers that "don't work" but this one was pretty cool because it had a ati ws graphics card in it (dual slot so must be ok) and a Pentium 4. So it is missing ram and a hard drive which is probably the reason why its not working... so i was wondering if anyone thinks its worth fixing it up and trying to use it as a spare computer or a gaming comp at my moms house (since my main rig is at my dads)

Honesty, anything you do on that other than maybe play around with Linux is going to be hindered by the age of the system. It would not be worth the money to put it back together at all, IMO.

[Gary Da Cat]

Honesty, anything you do on that other than maybe play around with Linux is going to be hindered by the age of the system. It would not be worth the money to put it back together at all, IMO.

i have some spair parts so i will just use what i have lying around to try and piece it back together.

[shiftberry]

it would be fine for spare usage but not gaming, i think it is worth fixing it! go for it! 

[Sheldon_King]

i have some spair parts so i will just use what i have lying around to try and piece it back together.

It is going to need either DDR1 or RAMBUS RAM for that pentium 4. If you have some, then give it a go. If not, RAMBUS is expensive as all balls these days, and DDR1 is not readily available from Trusted sources.

HDD is IDE most likely. Does it have any SATA ports at all? If not, look into a cheap PCI SATA controller card and a cheap drive.  All said, you are looking at probaby $125 to get it up and working. You could also get something like a D620/D630/M65 dell used for not much more than that and have a much better general computer (C2D, DDR2 RAM, SATA HDDs).   I am all for the older systems (I still run a Pentium 3 laptop), but at a certain point, it is no longer worth repairing.

[Gary Da Cat]

It is going to need either DDR1 or RAMBUS RAM for that pentium 4. If you have some, then give it a go. If not, RAMBUS is expensive as all balls these days, and DDR1 is not readily available from Trusted sources.

HDD is IDE most likely. Does it have any SATA ports at all? If not, look into a cheap PCI SATA controller card and a cheap drive.  All said, you are looking at probaby $125 to get it up and working. You could also get something like a D620/D630/M65 dell used for not much more than that and have a much better general computer (C2D, DDR2 RAM, SATA HDDs).   I am all for the older systems (I still run a Pentium 3 laptop), but at a certain point, it is no longer worth repairing.

do you think it would be worth selling anything in it? I am at school so i will put some pictures up later tonight and try to identify the graphics card and other parts

[Sheldon_King]

do you think it would be worth selling anything in it? I am at school so i will put some pictures up later tonight and try to identify the graphics card and other parts

You won't get anything much more than the cost to ship it if you part it out. The machine is just too old. 

 

If you want to find more info about it, find the Service Tag number and get a pic of that. That will tell you everything you would ever need to know about the system (assuming the system has never been rebuild with different parts).  Also be sure to grab a pic of the motherboard part number if you can find it, and and letters or numbers on teh GPU heatsink.  This will be all the info ever needed to fully identify the computers parts, and what would be needed for it to function (motherboard number or service tag will give us RAM type, CPU socket, and storage connection. GPU model will give you an idea of the performance of it. )

[Gary Da Cat]

You won't get anything much more than the cost to ship it if you part it out. The machine is just too old. 

 

If you want to find more info about it, find the Service Tag number and get a pic of that. That will tell you everything you would ever need to know about the system (assuming the system has never been rebuild with different parts).  Also be sure to grab a pic of the motherboard part number if you can find it, and and letters or numbers on teh GPU heatsink.  This will be all the info ever needed to fully identify the computers parts, and what would be needed for it to function (motherboard number or service tag will give us RAM type, CPU socket, and storage connection. GPU model will give you an idea of the performance of it. )

i am about finnished up with my homework so afterwards i will put some pictures up with what you wanted to see, I also noticed that it had sata and ide connectors on the mobo, so maybe its newer than you think?

[Sheldon_King]

i am about finnished up with my homework so afterwards i will put some pictures up with what you wanted to see, I also noticed that it had sata and ide connectors on the mobo, so maybe its newer than you think?

I can tell you from that info that it requires DDR memory.  Still expensive, and still not worth the repair. 

 

however, lets just see what it has and go from there.

[Gary Da Cat]

I can tell you from that info that it requires DDR memory.  Still expensive, and still not worth the repair. 

 

however, lets just see what it has and go from there.

ok the pictures are too large ill take them again in a lower rez

[Gary Da Cat]

I can tell you from that info that it requires DDR memory.  Still expensive, and still not worth the repair. 

 

however, lets just see what it has and go from there.

ok the pictures should be up now

[Sheldon_King]

ok the pictures should be up now

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.

 

From the part numbers on the GPU, it is a Firegl V7200. It is a high end DX9 CAD card, should be about the same as a X1900xt iirc. It is not the reference card to that system.

 

The computer, assuming the GPU is the only change that has been made, has a Pentium 4 650 (prescott core), 2GB DDR RAM, and a Quadro FX3450 when it left the factory.  The P4 is quite old and really slow these days (it will do fine for something simple like freenas, word processing, or just browsing the web. I would not advise browsing flash heavy sites with it). The GPU should handle older games if you so wanted to do that, and assuming that ATI still has drivers for it.

 

You will probably need RAM, a HDD/SSD, and an OS. You can use BSD or Linux for free, or if you can find an iso for the license on top of it (looks to be XP to me), then you can use that too.  It will not be worth the investment to most, but if you see a use for it, then it is your decision.

 

Here is the info for that system: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/servicetag/7MLGP91/configuration

[Recon-UK]

Playstation/nes emulator box, maybe even run some classic PIII games?

[iain]

get somthing like a rocket raid pci card. and 2 3tb hdd and make a redeundednt free nas. or you could use soffware raid but you might need the pci card for sata.

[ShadowCaptain]

I would turn it into an arcade machine, put some old school games on there, hook it up to a CRT and build a basic wood cabinet get a cheap fightstick off the internet and build it into the front for games like metal slug and stuff

[Leonard]

So i found an old dell precision 380 at school. So the 4th grade in my school gets to take apart old computers that "don't work" but this one was pretty cool because it had a ati ws graphics card in it (dual slot so must be ok) and a Pentium 4. So it is missing ram and a hard drive which is probably the reason why its not working... so i was wondering if anyone thinks its worth fixing it up and trying to use it as a spare computer or a gaming comp at my moms house (since my main rig is at my dads)

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So i understand that you "found" this PC and that the "school" was taking apart PCs that didn't work but how exactly did you manage to take it home. The mafia in the seventies and eighties liked to say this item "fell of a truck" when they stole stuff. Is your "found" the same way?

[Gary Da Cat]

So i understand that you "found" this PC and that the "school" was taking apart PCs that didn't work but how exactly did you manage to take it home. The mafia in the seventies and eighties liked to say this item "fell of a truck" when they stole stuff. Is your "found" the same way?

lol, i would never steal from my school. The school is sooo tiny that if i tryed to carry a computer out the whole school would see my doing it. I didn't reply earlier because i was on a weekend field trip(biology stuff)

[Leonard]

lol, i would never steal from my school. The school is sooo tiny that if i tryed to carry a computer out the whole school would see my doing it. I didn't reply earlier because i was on a weekend field trip(biology stuff)

The response time is cool and if this so called field trip had girls then i would understand the "biology stuff" if you know what i mean....heh heh!

 

Oh and about the dell just fling it in the nearest recycle place or if you have the know how and the machinery to do it, i recommend taking out all the precious metals from all the PCBs and then sell it you might get a cool $50 - $100 for the copper and silver and whatnot.

[Gary Da Cat]

The response time is cool and if this so called field trip had girls then i would understand the "biology stuff" if you know what i mean....heh heh!

 

Oh and about the dell just fling it in the nearest recycle place or if you have the know how and the machinery to do it, i recommend taking out all the precious metals from all the PCBs and then sell it you might get a cool $50 - $100 for the copper and silver and whatnot.

cool thx for the help, i was thinking along the lines of uses in my house but i have come to the conclusion that it will be harder than its worth to try and fix it. (and this "field trip" wasn't what i think you were trying to say lol, i'm in 7th grade )

[Guest]

Could use it as a really ghetto mining rig

[the ginger gamer]

use it to practice building and unbuilding computers, that's what i use my bad pc for.

[Leonard]

cool thx for the help, i was thinking along the lines of uses in my house but i have come to the conclusion that it will be harder than its worth to try and fix it. (and this "field trip" wasn't what i think you were trying to say lol, i'm in 7th grade )

7th grade  wow sorry about that son i thought you were older. :unsure:

[Gary Da Cat]

7th grade  wow sorry about that son i thought you were older. :unsure:

lol its fine, I wasn't being told anything i didn't know about already

[Sheldon_King]

cool thx for the help, i was thinking along the lines of uses in my house but i have come to the conclusion that it will be harder than its worth to try and fix it. (and this "field trip" wasn't what i think you were trying to say lol, i'm in 7th grade )

That conclusion is not really necessary or correct.  It is socket 775, which means if Dell supplied the correct BIOS updates you could install a Q9000 series processor in it and still have a decent system. It is DDR2 memory, that while more expensive ($/GB) than DDR3, it still affordable (it should support 4x2GB or 4x4GB if it has 4 DIMM slots.). GPU wise, you could in theory install a 290x into it if you so wanted. In reality, you could toss a 460+ into it for not much $$ and have a reliable and well performing system. (or you could look on ebay for some FX2800 or FX3800 if they are reasonably priced. Should be the same core as 7800 GTX and 8800 GTX iirc). PSU would be a matter of measuring. If it is ATX standard, then any PSU will fit.  All you really need is the $$ to fix it. And god please, if you don't fix it, don't junk it. There are people out there that would be really happy with such a system.  (and sorry for not being on my A game first time round in this thread.)

 

** Update: as per this thread http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19426795.aspx it seems that it only supports up to Pentium D processors and it is a good idea to update BIOS to A09 seen here http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R144760&fileId=2731116922&osCode=WW1&productCode=precision-380&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI

 

** Update: RAM could easily be sourced with something like http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-memory-ct25664aa667 or http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-kvr533d2n41g  Either in 2x or 4x configuration. (can't seem to find an answer from dell support if it has 2 or 4 dim slots.)

 

 

And assuming the 7th graders where you are develop at the same rate they do here, 7th grade is plenty old enough for what I think he was inferring. Not that kids should be doing that in the first place. 

 

Could use it as a really ghetto mining rig

While I like the idea, that would not be a good use for a workstation chassis like this. Use it for what it was designed to do.

[Gary Da Cat]

That conclusion is not really necessary or correct.  It is socket 775, which means if Dell supplied the correct BIOS updates you could install a Q9000 series processor in it and still have a decent system. It is DDR2 memory, that while more expensive ($/GB) than DDR3, it still affordable (it should support 4x2GB or 4x4GB if it has 4 DIMM slots.). GPU wise, you could in theory install a 290x into it if you so wanted. In reality, you could toss a 460+ into it for not much $$ and have a reliable and well performing system. (or you could look on ebay for some FX2800 or FX3800 if they are reasonably priced. Should be the same core as 7800 GTX and 8800 GTX iirc). PSU would be a matter of measuring. If it is ATX standard, then any PSU will fit.  All you really need is the $$ to fix it. And god please, if you don't fix it, don't junk it. There are people out there that would be really happy with such a system.  (and sorry for not being on my A game first time round in this thread.)

 

** Update: as per this thread http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19426795.aspx it seems that it only supports up to Pentium D processors and it is a good idea to update BIOS to A09 seen here http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R144760&fileId=2731116922&osCode=WW1&productCode=precision-380&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI

 

** Update: RAM could easily be sourced with something like http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-memory-ct25664aa667 or http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-kvr533d2n41g  Either in 2x or 4x configuration. (can't seem to find an answer from dell support if it has 2 or 4 dim slots.)

 

 

And assuming the 7th graders where you are develop at the same rate they do here, 7th grade is plenty old enough for what I think he was inferring. Not that kids should be doing that in the first place. 

 

While I like the idea, that would not be a good use for a workstation chassis like this. Use it for what it was designed to do.

wow thx for all the info! I think i will just try and stick the gpu in my other computer and mess around with it then just try and sell the parts here or on ebay.