We Downgraded all our PCs to Prove You Don’t Need a New One

[Sugam]

I was glad to see this video, as I actually have an Optiplex 7050 (featured in the video) that I got for peanuts at work. It's my file/Valheim/plex server.  Any recommendations for a CPU cooler that would fit in there and tame the surprisingly warm i7 7700?

[tkitch]

check the spreadsheet for coolers (and try to measure)

 

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/sff-master-list.12988/

BUT FIRST::::  Make sure it's standard mounting, and not like screwed to the motherboard or something stupid.

[powertoys]

9 hours ago, tkitch said:

They are, but they're still severely bandwidth limited.  

 

4K is basically not an option on that.

I really don't think that 4K is a concern for someone on such a tight budget. If that is the case, just use the DVI monitor as a secondary monitor...

 

And the chances of the HDMI port being 2.0 on such old systems is so slim that it's basically zero. In almost 100% of the cases it will be HDMI 1.4b or lower, limiting 4K output to 30 Hz.

[tim0901]

On 3/11/2024 at 7:57 PM, manikyath said:

well no.. most large businesses just replace when systems are 'n' years old (usually 4 years), and they end up in the hands of people who flip them for a quick buck after tossing out the disks.

 

this kind of office computer is in fairly constant supply each hardware generation, if you know where to look.

Yes and no.

 

In many businesses you're absolutely right that they'll be replaced every N years, generally aligning with when the manufacturer warranty runs out.

 

Other places though will hold onto PCs for far longer than they have any right to - this is also especially common in schools, due to their general lack of funding. We still have classrooms full of 2nd Gen i5s for example, which were bought 2nd hand 3 years ago to replace a fleet of Core 2s.

 

It comes down to how the management see computing within their organisation. If they are interested in it and want to get the most out of IT, it's likely to fall into the first category. If that's not the case and they simply care that the PC works, they're probably going to fall into the latter and as such will never invest in IT infrastructure unless it's absolutely necessary, much to the distain of their sysadmins.

 

Win 11 is a handy stick they can wave at management though, as if the hardware won't support it, it can't be kept up to date. And as an organisation, if you haven't been keeping your systems up to date, then under laws like GDPR you can be found liable for huge fines if you're the subject of a data breach, as you'll be found as being negligent. And threats like that are the only way you're going to be able to get management to invest in IT if you're in that latter category of organisation - we've just been told "they can wait another year" for those 2nd Gen i5s...

[manikyath]

2 hours ago, tim0901 said:

In many businesses you're absolutely right that they'll be replaced every N years, generally aligning with when the manufacturer warranty runs out.

 

Other places though will hold onto PCs for far longer than they have any right to

the large majority of systems that end up on the second hand market are from places that do the N years thing, the places that dont do 'regular' replacements generally dont have the right contacts to get boxes moving.

[GoStormPlays]

On 3/11/2024 at 6:33 PM, Needfuldoer said:

Honestly, I'm kind of surprised LMG still builds their "regular office desktops" in-house instead of just buying a fleet of prebuilts every few years. 

I'd think the same way if it wasn't for the fact that their most popular livestream ever is them building PCs for staff...

 

19 hours ago, silentdragon95 said:

GTA V is not only pretty good as a game, it is amazing from a technical standpoint as well. It still looks quite good after all these years and it can run on anything from a literal potato to a modern high-end PC, and if you play with the advanced graphics settings it still allows modern high-end GPUs to stretch their legs.

That's something I've also really enjoyed about the Portal games. Those games run on such a wide range of PCs, and there aren't too many games from that time period that still run well on older machines and still have multiplayer servers up.

[linkboy]

This is essentially what I do with ThinkPads.

 

My current computer is a ThinkPad P52 that I bought last year, and it suits my needs perfectly. When I look to replace it, I'll probably look at something like a P15 Gen 1 or Gen 2. My previous computer before this one was a P50 that I bought back in 2020.

 

I don't need the latest and greatest, as I really just use my computer for general computer usage, but I don't want a thin and light computer where everything is soldered in.