I built a PC back around 2000-2001. It had a motherboard/CPU problem a couple of years later and I bought a Dell because I was told that a scratch-built couldn’t really compete on price. I stuffed the old one in the closet for examination at “a later time”. Exactly which closet I don’t remember but it’s around somewhere. It’s now several more years later and I’m unhappy that the Dell can’t easily be upgraded due to its proprietary wiring and chassis design.
I’d like to do another home-build that would be easier to keep up to date. Would the case from a 2000 computer still be usable in a new one? It’s an ATX form factor so that’s OK, but I’m wondering about the back panel. I don’t remember if that’s part of the case or the motherboard. There were no USB ports and it may still have PS/AT connectors for all I know.
The other thing I wonder is if the 500W power supply can be re-used… My recollection is that all the terminators were specific and the technology has changed. It didn’t have SATA drives for example.
Finances are tight and I could save $100 if the case and PS could be recycled.
Most modern motherboards have all the on-board connectors in a well-defined area that is the same shape and position for all manufacturers, so that all modern motherboard fit in all modern cases. If this old case doesn’t have a large rectangular opening next to the slots, then a modern motherboard won’t fit (without cutting a hole).
The case could probably be reused. The back panel port shield comes with the motherboard.
Do not reuse the power supply. This is the cheapest PS I’d get for Office/internet , but if you’re going to be gaming you’ll probably need something better.
You can get new cases for as little as $20 or so, I’d highly recommend doing so (although if you’re fine with your current case lacking front USB ports, then stick with it).
I’d also recommend a new PSU, but only because your current one is so old. I would reuse it if it was not so old, but there are cheap power supplies to be had, as noted above.
The back panel cover comes with the mother board as yoyodyne stated. The PSU is likely garbage though since it probably has a 20 wire connector for the motherboard and all modern motherboards need 20+4 connectors. In addition, some higher end CPU’s will require an additional 4 to 8 pin power connector for the motherboard.
edit: also, be aware of the move to USB 3 connectors which are not compatible with USB 2 - except for backward compatibility at the lower speed.
Yes, I definitely need USB connectors today, but didn’t in 2000. If the back panel remained with the case instead of being attached to the motherboard, that would be a problem. I would guess that the opening on the old case will be sufficient. Without having the motherboard in hand, I can’t really say.
But there’s not an immediate need to bolt things together so if I’m wrong then I can wait until a proper case comes in. I’m just trying to plot out where and how to spend the money. I see lots of sales and combo offers come up and it’s helpful to know what I need to take advantage of and what can be recycled.
I’m not so sure the case can be re-used for two reasons:
Firstly, modern CPU coolers often require a backplate. A 2000-vintage case may not have a cut-out for the backplate.
Secondly, modern PCs usually require better cooling: 120mm fans are now the norm but back then 80mm fans were the norm.
I too would be very wary of the PSU. I’ll echo that it probably doesn’t have the correct connectors for the motherboard as well as the SATA drives. Whatever you do, don’t skimp on the PSU.
I haven’t been satisfied with most of the low cost cases that Ive seen’. I need room for at least 6 drives and it would be more space-efficient for me not to go for networked storage. It won’t be a gaming machine, I’ve never been into that.
The old power supply cost a fair amount of money (maybe $80) and I was reluctant to dump it. I see deltasigma’s suggestion that the wiring is likely not right, and if I can get something decent for $40 then that’s what I’ll plan on.
My intention is to spend more on things less likely to become technically obsolete, like cases and power supplies, and less on memory, cpu, motherboard etc. It would seem that my goal isn’t really feasible since everything is essentially obsolete within a decade. I wanted a mid-level desktop workhorse, primarily for MS Access databases and PhotoShop. The current Dell is a Pentium 4 single core and isn’t able to get the job done as well as it could. The problem almost since the beginning has always been CPU. It runs at 100% almost constantly and the 3gb of memory rarely tops 50%.
I have lots of storage already, so I won’t need any hard drives just yet. SSD drives haven’t come down sufficiently for me to make the jump. I think that I can live with the speed of my current drives if I had more overhead on the processor. Given a choice, a 2TB SATA auxiliary drive would be more useful than an 120gb SSD system drive.
Not only there will be a lack of modern connectors, but motherboards of that era tended to have lots of stuff requiring 5 Volts and the contemporary PSUs would deliver lots of amps at the +5 Volt rail and not so much on the other rails.
Nowadays I think most stuff work on 12V so modern PSUs deliver more amps on the 12V rail.
So it is not a very good idea to use such an old PSU
Only very, very high end cooler need a back plate and that’s only because of the weight. A air cooler that is 120mm or more in height with 2 120mm fans can end up weighing a half pound or more. But that is the exception not the rule.
Bummer. I’m all for advances, but throwing down $500 and more every couple of years is taxing. I’d hoped to get at least a decade out of a box with maybe a CPU upgrade midway.
I see your point about the need for better cooling though. The old machine probably failed from overheating. That machine was installed in my desk and enclosed on three sides with four inches of airspace all around. I knew that the Dell replacement wouldn’t be able to do that because it ran hotter. I’m thinking of an AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor for this build, with 8GB of memory. I’ll likely be looking for advice on motherboards soon.
Reluctantly, I’ll have to move to Windows 8, as it would be stupid to keep XP on a new machine. I say reluctantly because I really like the classic interfaces and digging into the folders myself. At the present time I only have desktop icons for eight applications. I understand that there’s third-party software to get back to the older interfaces but that will only delay the inevitable. Eventually I’ll have to work with the current trend in user interfaces.
Newer processors use smaller lithographic nodes so they generate less heat. IOW a processor on the 22nanometer node will generate less heat than the 32 nm node. So cooling should become less not more of an issue. This more true for intel than amd though since amd is a little behind in their lithograhic tech as they have to rely on places like global foundries now.
Cooling is however an issue for hard drives and good air flow through the case is something you should always strive for. Just don’t think that it needs to be like a wind tunnel in there.
There’s a nugget of truth in there somewhere, but the reality is that desktop processors are not likely to get much more energy-efficient in the near future. Any reduction in power gained by going to smaller feature size (nobody calls it ‘nodes’) is going to be offset by increased functionality, resulting in overall power consumption that stays more-or-less constant.
If by nobody you mean everybody in the industry . . . :rolleyes:
edit - and the rest of your post makes absolutely no sense - where do you think the “functionality” comes from?
If you want it to last a decade and $0 and $30 are your definitions of “more” you may need to adjust your expectations.
The A10 is pretty low power if you’ll be working with large pics or using filters frequently. It is cheap though.
Windows 8 is Windows 7 with a start screen instead of a start menu. You can ignore or remove the MS app store stuff. Either one is a huge improvement over XP; don’t even think about installing it.
