You're So 2000-and-late

OhSnapWord

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So, I got my hands on an old machine. Without any further dated pop culture references, heeeeeeeeeerrrrrreeeeeeeee's jo... ahem, a rundown of the specs.

Case appears to be an old Antec SX1000. Back in the day when front panel inputs were a relatively new thing on cases. This one has two USB 2.0 ports and a lone FireWire port.

The motherboard is an Asus A8N-SLI Premium. A throwback to the time when motherboard manufacturers had a kitchen sink approach to their design. This is still true today, but we see the layout more thought out with the placement of connectors along the edges, promoting cable management. Again, at the time this board was designed, windowed cases were uncommon.

The CPU is the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+. At the time, this was Buffy the Intel Slayer and commanded a $550 price tag when it was introduced in May of 2005.

The CPU cooler is a Zalman ZNPS AlCu cooler. The biggest problem with the radial design was that it was a dust magnet. As the fins got closer together toward the hub, it would be more susceptible to being clogged with dust.

Video card is a GeForce 7900 GT. Also installed is a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card.

The boot drive is a 74GB WD Raptor. Fastest drive on the planet at the time thanks to its 10000 RPM spindle speed. Also, thanks to the absence of SSDs at the time. Rounding out the storage is 4 250GB WD drives. Not sure on the model, but look like Caviars. These are connected to the onboard RAID controller and are in RAID 0.

Powering this is an Antec Neo 550W Semi-modular PSU. This might be the first semi-modular PSU ever, but I'm not sure.

Somewhat surprisingly, Windows 7 is installed on this machine, considering that virtually every component in this machine pre-dates Vista. I might try installing 10 on it to see what happens.

Ultimately, I am torn on what to do with this machine. I might just tinker with it or use it as a spare. Part of me wants to gut it, throw a few mods at the case and build a modern rig inside it. Not sure what I'll do yet.
 

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Sounds like either a killer home server or a usable backup/loaner rig to me.

I used to have a 4200+ in a DFI Lanparty board. I sold it to a friend of mine and it is still going last I heard. I still have a 3200+ s939 in a drawer that was originally in it. Still solid workhorses.
 
There's a flange that is curved that shows on the right edge of the window. Looks like a screw might go in it to the hard drive bays. Do the bays come out? If you decide to dump it please send me a PM first.
 
How much ram does it have?

2GB DDR 400

There's a flange that is curved that shows on the right edge of the window. Looks like a screw might go in it to the hard drive bays. Do the bays come out? If you decide to dump it please send me a PM first.

The hard drive bays are held in with a lever. You release the lever and the whole cage comes out. Each cage holds 3 drives.
 
For the hell of it, I tried to install Windows 10 on this machine. Seems the latest version of Windows this machine will run is 7. Not bad for decade old hardware.

Also, here's a picture of the keyboard I'm using with it.
 

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This sounds pretty much like the MSI board with the X2-3800+ I have. Two gigs of memory also which is the max.

Today, they're pathetically slow in comparison. My G540 Celeron was like 2x faster than them.
 
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Ah yes, the IBM Model M. The BEST keyboard ever made.

It really is. On my work computer, I run a Model M clone by Unicomp. Almost identical, but has the Windows superkey. This is a real Model M from 1993. One of the girls at work said she had it in her closet and gave it to me. I think she likes me...

This sounds pretty much like the MSI board with the X2-3800+ I have. Two gigs of memory also which is the max.

Today, they're pathetically slow in comparison. My G540 Celeron was like 2x faster than them.

This board maxes out at 4GB. A modern smartphone has more horsepower than this machine. I think I'm going to gut it and have some fun with the case, building a modern rig inside it.
 
I have a Model M I got with an IBM XT-286 computer back in 1986. I no longer have the computer but still use the keyboard. It's just about 30 years old but still works better than a lot of the cheap flimsy keyboards they sell today. It doesn't have the Windows key but Ctrl-Esc can be used for that. Truth be told, I never got in the habit of using the Windows key so I don't even miss it on my Model M.

I have about a half dozen Model Ms stored away. There are Model Ms being offered on Ebay right now for as much as $150. One of these days I will put mine up on Ebay, maybe I'll fund my next build from the sale of them.

A company called Unicomp now owns the rights to the Model M and they still produce them. You can buy them new here: http://www.pckeyboard.com/
 
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