Odd computer situation...

In My Humble Opinion
1

OK, so the other week, I was driving to my GF’s place, and I see sitting on the sidewalk, not really in front of anyone’s house, just kinda there, a computer case. I pull over to take a look and notice there is a motherboard and processer in it as well, so I grab it and figure I’ll look at it later, figuring it to be either broken, or so obsolete I couldn’t use it for anything, because why else would it be on the sidewalk?

When I finally get the chance to look at it, I notice that it’s a Pentium 1.4 GHz processor. I turned it on with a spare video card I had, but there was no RAM, so I got the “no RAM” noise from the motherboard, indicating that at least something is working. Now I am left with the problem of what to do with this.

My other computer is an Athlon XP 1800+, rated at 1.56 GHz, I believe. My question is basically which one is better, assuming everything else to be equal? The Athlon has a faster rating, but the Pentium 4, being a Pentium 4 and all, might be better. Of course, the problem of getting RAM for the Pentium is also an issue. It takes RAMBUS RAM, the kind that is expensive and has to be installed in pairs. I looked around online, and it seems the cheapest I can get 512 MB is about $90, more money than I can afford to spend, being a broke college student and all.

I also looked around and noticed that I could get a new motherboard that took cheaper RAM and get the RAM (PC133) for less than $70 combined, that it just about cheap enough for me to do, but then I am left with MUCH slower RAM (133 MHz FSB vs. 600 MHz.)

So then, let’s just say I figure this out and have two working computers (I have a spare hard drive and video card for whichever one is not the primary, and can probably scrounge up a CD-ROM drive easily enough.) What do I do with the second one? A little voice says use it as a server, hey, great idea! Then I realize I arely know what a server is and certainly have no use for one myself. I could try to sell the spare parts, but I looked around on eBay, and I really wouldn’t get that much for it.

So, any suggestions?

2

The pentium is slower than your athlon. I suggest–since you got it basically for free–to use it as a learning experience. Install stuff on it that you don’t want to risk on your main machine, like Linux.

Or you could fix it up and use it as a server. Or give it to a poor family that you know. Or just fix it up like your main machine and use it as a spare (which is what I do–it’s always good to have a spare computer if you’re an addict like me :slight_smile: ).

3

If you’re considering replacing the motherboard, why bother getting it working at all? Basically, you have a free Pentium 1.4 cpu. That’s kind of cool, if you need it, but I wouldn’t spend a lot of money to get it running, since you obviously don’t really need it for yourself. You could probably sell a complete system for couple hundred bucks, if you felt like doing the work, but if you don’t end up selling it you’re out $70.

Personally, I’d just throw it in my closet and wait until I found someone who needed it, letting them pay for the ram/motherboard.

4

I’ve heard tales that a P4 running PC133 can be as fast as a Celeron. But I’m not sure I believe them.

Either sink the money into the real memory, or put it back on the sidewalk.

-lv

5

Early Pentium4’s were very slow - in fact a Pentium3 at the same clock speed(IIRC, 1.4Ghz was the fastest the P3 got up to.) would easily outrun your Pentium4. The Athlon processors are much faster than the Pentium4 at the same clock as well; thats why AMD introduced that whole rating scheme of there’s.

6

Depends on how much the mobo is. Most new P4 mobos work with DDR RAM, which is cheaper than Rambus RAM. But, you have to figure in the cost of the mobo and see which plan is cheaper.

7

Oh, I forgot to mention that you should check what’s in the current mobo. New mobos most likely use chipsets that have built-in video, audio, and network capabilities.So if you need any of that, and don’t have any spare cards, you probably come out ahead with a new mobo.

8

Actually, this mobo has NO built in audio, video, or networking. It is, quite possibly, the worst I have ever seen.

9

Can you plug in a mouse & keyboard? :smiley:

10

Anyone else love that error message you get when a keyboard’s not hooked up to the computer? “Keyboard not detected, press F1 to continue”