What would be a good use for an old computer?

[c.ruel]

I have a computer with:

sempron 140 cpu
M-ATX AM2+ mobo (IGP is HD4200)
4 gig of ram
no hard disk :S
generic 400w psu (prolly good for 300w)
HD 4850 512mb
CM elite 430 case

What would be a good use for these components? Don't want to spend money on a HDD for it without a use for it. I suppose I could sell them seperately but can't imagine I would get very much for it all so hardly worth it! If I could get over 100 quid for them then I would prolly sell, any ideas if I could manage that?

[peterb]

Put a linux distro on it and use it as a fileserver or webserver or mailserver?

[Pancake]

Get your house ready for a fire with that PSU and GPU combo, i would genuinely be scared for my family

Get a cheap HDD and sell it as a small PC to someone you know, you will get more cash.

Then just sell the GPU separately or use it in something else

[Biscuit]

take out the GPU and use the onboard then do as peterb says and use it as a file server or something.

[c.ruel]

ok I am tempted by the fileserver idea. Would also be interested to know how much you think i could get selling the parts individually. I do have a few ideas for my main upgrades for my main PC, so if I could manage £100 quid for the all the parts I would be interested in selling. Is this optimistic:?

15 quid for CPU
15 quid for mobo
20 quid for 4 gig of ram (it is crucial ballistix)
10er for PSU
20 quid for GPU (it has a custom thermalright heatsink but no fan with it)
10 quid for case (I bought it 2nd hand and it is missing a LOT of screws)

That woudl give me £90 is it optimistic though!?

[Biscuit]

you wont sell the PSU... infact i would go a far as to say you shouldnt sell the PSU. I would go even further to say even if you build a file server i would replace that ASAP.

I dont think you will sell the case but @ £10 there is a chance.

As for the Ram i think that its probably optimistic as you can pick up 8GB DDR3 for £20-30 now, however i think i would probably advertise for £20 ex postage as a starting point.

Everything else seems reasonable.

[scaryjim]

CPU's less than £30 new, so I'm not sure you'd make £15. What you'll get for the mobo depends on the specific model, but if it's HD4200 I assume it's a 785G which isn't a bad chip set, so you might get more than £15 for that. As said, the RAM isn't going to be that much interest unless someone's desperate to upgrade an old DDR2 rig, but as a bundle the CPU / MOBO / RAM should make £40, and might stretch as high as £50. 4850's still a nice GPU, so you might get £30 if you're lucky. I'd forget making money on the case & PSU, tbh.

That said, Sempy 140 + 785G mobo is what's currently powering my (DVD only) HTPC, and doing a damn fine job of it thank you very much it's a damn fine combination (I might even fancy getting another one... ).

[c.ruel]

Probably a dumb question but could I use it as a fileserve/HTPC or would that not be possible because the fileserver has to be liinux and HTPC windows and presumably you can't have a simulataneous dual boot. Is there an operating system that can run a fileserve and HTPC with that cpu adequatley ?

[scaryjim]

both linux and windows will serve both functions with the appropriate software installed. Linux is probably the better option though - make sure you get a version with a graphical desktop then install a media player of your choice (I don't use linux much nowadays so someone else will be able to give you better advice on which ones!).

The on thing I will say is that, if you're planning on leaving it on 24/7, see if you can *under*volt the Sempron. Mine dropped all the way down to 1.05v stably, which means the whole system draws ~ 50W from the wall at full load. Not all motherboards allow downward adjusting of the core voltage, but if yours does you'll see the benefits on your electricity bill

[Biscuit]

XBMC has a linux version, i used to use it before i switched to windows so that i could play blu-rays. Again, if this is going to be left on 24/7 and you are going to store valuable media on it, get a new PSU

I have had a freaking nightmare getting Samba to share to my windows PCs recently though, if you dont REALLY know what you are doing in linux then i would just go the windows route.

[DanceswithUnix]

Read up on "MythTV" for an htpc Linux system. There are easy to setup distributions out there specifically for running MythTV, I think Mythbuntu was the recommended easy start version last time I looked.

[eagle123]

thing is hard drive prices going crazy at the mo so i rather flog it and get a laptop

[Rookie1986]

I say stick it in your local Yellow Paper/Ad Mag for £75-£100 ono and see what happens you might find someone who is in the market for a cheap computer just for doing e-mail and browsing the web. Its not like you have anything to lose by doing it either.

Rookie

[andyjohn3]

whats wrong with the psu?

[scaryjim]

whats wrong with the psu?

Generic PSUs are normally badly built, have very high ripple, poor voltage regulation, and little protection should the worst happen. You won't find anyone on this forum recommending a cheap generic PSU. It's the worst thing to skimp on in a build, yet also the most commonly skimped on.

short answer: probably everything.

[DWhitley]

whats wrong with the psu?

As already pointed out, the quality of no-name PSUs can be awful.

I'm breaking the rules as well however. I'm still using a 400W PSU with an otherwise new Core i7 2600k based PC roughly overclocked to 4.3GHz. I intend to upgrade the PSU with the case when I get around to it but it's actually working perfectly as it is.

The difference is that my PSU is an Enermax, and is probably capable of more than its spec suggests. That's the difference.

I like the look of the Seasonic Platinum-1000. Probably last 25 years with my record.