Have been given an old dell by my neighbour... is it any good?...

Access

My neighbour was throwing out an old dell dimension desktop and i asked to have it as i might have some use for it... maybe use it as a cheap HTPC if i threw a hdmi graphics card into it or even as a mame machine maybe.

I think i might be regretting it now as it is a lot older than i thought and it did all power up fine but so slow and bogged down (XP SP1). I would have no probs wiping and reinstalling XP if needed.

It is a Dell Dimension DIM 3000 - Intel Celeron - CPU 2.93ghz - 256mb

Is this processor a lot older than the dual core celerons?

A ram upgrade to its max of 2gb is easily done, but would i be wasting my time using this as a HTPC or mame machine?

Thanks for any info on this one.

yoyo

You won't be able to find a HDMI video card for that machine more than likely (it won't have a PCIe slot and maybe a AGP one if your lucky). A good machine for messing around with but a celeron and 256mb RAM is pritty much rubbish nowadays. Throw a lightweight linux on it like Lubuntu would be my advice. Unless you have RAM spare buying more would be a waste of money (the celeron will be a massive bottleneck here)

Nick

riclad

IF you put in an extra 1gig ,or 1500, 2gig ram that pc will be fine for websurfing, music,youtube, playing dvds.
the cpu is fine for net webbrowsing, about half the speed of a dual core cpu.
IF ITS 2 much trouble , to get ram, give it to a charity or school.
winxp runs much better on 1gig ,or 1.5 ram.
on 2156meg ,it will be very slow ,the os takes up most of the memory.
it would be fine as a mame pc,or media centre with 2gig ram.
Most hdtvs have vga in port.
set resolution to 1024x768 to try it, refresh rate pc 60mhz ,max.
MINT version 10 linux,runs fine on 1gig ram,
comes with videoplayer,music player, firefox , fits on 1 cdr iso, 630meg
iso file.

ED E

No school wants that, and its not worth spending the cash on DDR really.

A full Q6600 box can go for less than 300 now secondhand, maybe save for that.

Hurricane Carter

It's a heap.

Khannie

I Am Kong! wrote: »

It's a heap.

The truth be told.

riclad

If you wanna pm me, i have 500 or more ddr 1 sdram , ill post it to you free.
i know people still using dells 2.oghz pentium 4s ,ok for
web acess ,youtube , playing music.The advantage of older pcs is they tend to be quieter than a new intel
pc ,They dont require massive fans to keep cool, put it on adverts ie, free ,if you dont want to use it.
NOT needs a new superfast pc .
fast cpus, graphics cards use more power,
than an older pc.
Schools would probably need pcs with at least 1 gig ram,,just to run windows, and educational software properly.
you can buy a pc with hdmi out 1gig ram, on adverts ie
for 120 approx.OR less.

U_Fig

There's a place on Thomas street in Dublin (not sure if it still exists) that takes in old pcs and gives them to third world countries

JJJJNR

You could stick a IDE SSD in there and with 2GB ram, it would be more than enough with a linux distro or XP for browsing etc, I've an IDE SSD in an old laptop and it flies along. The laptop has a 800mhz Centrino M processor which is far worse to the Celeron D you have, it would be better again if you have sata connections on the motherboard. I know we are sweating some celrons in our business with SSD's and they are grand as a day to day desktop.

Access

Thanks all for the replys and the tips... kinda knew it was a good bit underpowered to be anything like a half decent HTPC!

So i have the option of running a mame machine running the older games that dont need much power... if i throw in a couple of gig ram or a web browsing/linux running machine.

TBH buying a €50 ssd for it isnt on my priority list... so i might just wipe it back to a fresh version of xp and try an older mame version first?

And failing that... i dont know.

coylemj

Access wrote: »

And failing that... i dont know.

Failing that, give it to these people ....

http://camara.org/