Uses for a 300 MHz Pentium II w/ 128 MB RAM, and what can I upgrade on it?

N

Noah

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 15, 2004
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273
Here are the specs of an old system I have lying around:

  • 300 MHz Intel Pentium II (Slot One) Processor (would consider upgrading
  • 128 MB of some sort of SDRAM (not sure what type)
  • 40 GB Hard Drive (old 4200, would definetly upgrade)
  • AGP graphics card (ATi Rage Pro)
  • Windows ME

What could I use this for? Would a server be good? I would like to have something to run Windows Server 2003 on.
 
You could use it as a file server, but Windows 2003 server would be a bad idea with only 256MB of memory and an old processor like that. Just put Windows 2000 on it since for most file serving needs that has all you need.
 
My advice would be to buy a slocket adapter and a coppermine p3, then add more memory and... well, do whatever you want to do --just a lot faster than the P2 would do it :).

Coppermines on 440BX motherboards with SDRAM actually give pretty good performance.

Erik
 
They're usually called slocket cards, I'm sure you could do a search online for them. Note that you have to be certain to get a slocket card for coppermine CPU's. Slocket adapters for the older celerons aren't the same, even though both are considered Socket 370.

You'll also want to get one that will allow voltage adjustment, because coppermines don't use as much juice as your pentium 2.

I have one sitting in a rig at a friends house, and if ya really need it I can find out what brand/model it is tommorow. Pretty sure it's MSI.

Erik
 
I'm sure someone could come up with something including a celeron 300A, as well :D
 
That's true, especially if you have (minor) FSB adjustments in your BIOS, like the relatively standard 75/83mhz options.

So long as you had those, you could also get yourself a Celeron A (used, I'm sure;)) and a Slocket card (again with onboard voltage controls to make overclocking easier) and do some overclocking with that.

But you'd get (quite a bit) more performance out of the cumine idea, even if you went with a cumine celeron. Don't think you'd have to buy used either, shouldn't be hard to find stores selling coppermines.

Erik
 
I'm in a similar boat. I've got a PIII 500 that's just sitting there. 384mb of ram.

What should I do with it?

Fileserver? What the heck am I going to serve?
HTPC? Already got one :\
Webserver? Same as my HTPC
Folding? boring, but I've been doing it anyways. Also very slow and hardly contributing.

How about a spider/crawler or something? I dunno. Something intersting.

I overclocked it to a 665MHz, but it got way too hot, and overclocking below that seemed kind of useless considering the next lowest interval was 600MHz. New cooling is not an option, since it's Slot 1.
 
Internet sharing server perhaps? Other than that, maybe OC it, stick a bit more RAM in it and then run Server 2003. Don't think it has much use as a PC other than word processor and internet explorer.

Originally posted by angrybusdriver
I'm in a similar boat. I've got a PIII 500 that's just sitting there. 384mb of ram.

What should I do with it?

Fileserver? What the heck am I going to serve?
HTPC? Already got one :\
Webserver? Same as my HTPC
Folding? boring, but I've been doing it anyways. Also very slow and hardly contributing.

How about a spider/crawler or something? I dunno. Something intersting.
Click to expand...

Heck, i've been using my P3 500 to do assignments and play UT and Half-Life. If you like, you can give the RAM to me and we can work something else out..... :p
 
Now I can feel bad, I have a 1Ghz P3, 512mb PC133 ram in a Intel D815PEEA2 mobo sitting here doing nothing.
 
Originally posted by malingjc
Now I can feel bad, I have a 1Ghz P3, 512mb PC133 ram in a Intel D815PEEA2 mobo sitting here doing nothing.
Click to expand...

Give it to me!!! ;)
 
Load Gentoo on it, use it for a file server, music server, webserver, mail server, network time server, firewall, whatever you want ... there's a million and 1 uses for a P2 linux box!
 
Porno box. See, you take out a few of those 5.25'' drive covers off and stick a mini sized tissue box in there.
 
I recently got a P2 350mhz with 32 megs of ram in it, got it for free when the girlfriend won it in a raffle and realized she couldn't do anything with it and it's way slower than her computer.

Anyhow, I threw 128 megs of ram in it, and have another 128 megs on the way and when I find another good deal it'll get a total of 384 megs of ram. I installed Lindows (Linux based OS) 4.5 developer on it to experiment with. I got lindows for free when lindows had an instant rebate on their site that was equal to the price of the developer edition of the software. My P2 does a good job running the OS, and does a good job running other linux apps.

Another option for you might be to throw something like Weatherbug on it so it's not on your main system, and use it as a weather station in addition to whatever other minor uses you may come up with for it.

You might also use it to backup files to, by flashing the BIOS to support larger drives, throwing a couple big HD's in it, and then set up an automatic backup via your favorite backup software and backup your HTPC or primary desktop machine to the p2 box. Keeps heat and noise out of your htpc box and primary desktop
 
Originally posted by malingjc
Now I can feel bad, I have a 1Ghz P3, 512mb PC133 ram in a Intel D815PEEA2 mobo sitting here doing nothing.
Click to expand...

Haha, you think that's bad:

I've got a full 1.3 (maybe 1.4, not sure)ghz Athlon XP system that I still need to do something with. I DO have a plan for it though --media centre and gentoo. I just got distracted by gentoo and ended up putting it as a second OS on my main PC though.

I've also got a 900mhz cel sitting in a mobo + case, a 400mhz cel sitting in a mobo, and a 350mhz k6-2 sitting under my work desk (... I don't intend to do anything with that last one).

I wish I could come up with real uses for the 400mhz cel, but it's in a socket 370 budget via board so there are no overclocking options. If it was slot 1, I'd definitely put a slocket + cumine in it though, and do SOMETHING with it.

Erik
 
Originally posted by MooCow
Porno box. See, you take out a few of those 5.25'' drive covers off and stick a mini sized tissue box in there.
Click to expand...

Condom dispenser? heh.

I might get a Overture case and make a media box out of that P3.
 
file server is fine, you dont even need to upgrade anything unless u decide to change everything to gigabit

300mhz is mighty fine for firewall, file server etc.
i was at a place where a p1, 120 was the firewall (no hdd, linux boot from floppy) and it served 120 stations on dual T1s.

when the power went off once, that thing just rebooted and worked with out a hitch.

for home use you can do many things and learn lots of new server/client stuff. remember even a slow hard drive is faster than any internet connection.
 
another vote for fileserver. I have an old P3-550 doing just that.

many people don't recognize the advantage of having a separate machine as a dedicated fileserver. In my situation, i have 3 PC's and a file server. I do a lot of work related stuff on my PC's so the data on them is very important to me. Every night, the file server backs up the important data from each PC. It has saved my butt a couple times already. Once when a bad PS totally wiped out one PC, and another time when a HDD went bad.
 
I use my P3 450 as a fileserver. I serve movies and tv shows to the other 7 machines on the network. I also use it as my HTPC controlled through my main machine with UltraVNC. Works great for me.
 
Heh, my P2-300 is currently unemployed, I got this system (long story), and retired my XP-2000 to server/2nd workstation[1]. I wonder if it'll play DivXs?
(If so, it'll end up in the living room.)


[1] Samba/nfs fileserver, always-on downloader, aDSL-router, DHCP, local DNS. Apache/php/mySQL-playbox. Also, since it's always on, and the monitor is on the same desk as the other computer, it's permanently on IRC.
I'm also posting from it now, since I won't bother firing up the other computer just to check a few forums. (fora?)
I have to confess that's it currently underclocked to whatever speed matches 1500+ (1.3Ghz, I think), because that lets me use a much quieter heatsink fan.
 
300 MHz wasn't fast enough for me to use for divx's, even with 384MB. I had the box set up as an HTPC, but could only use it for winamp streaming, play mpg music videos, and other fun like that. Upgraded the proccy to 500 (fastest the board supports) and divx's are fine.

Some of you peeps with the 300 - 800MHz boxes sitting around should watch the FS/FT forum. There are always people trying to get machines in that range without having to part things out.
 
Here is a better idea... don't be a cheap ass and just buy a better computer. Then, take that one outside and go office-space on it's ass. Just like they did to the copy machine. Destroy it and get on with your life.
 
Originally posted by Ahriman
Here is a better idea... don't be a cheap ass and just buy a better computer. Then, take that one outside and go office-space on it's ass. Just like they did to the copy machine. Destroy it and get on with your life.
Click to expand...
did you even read the thread? it's a spare machine, he's wondering what to do with it. There's no point in destroying a perfectly good computer, it isn't THAT old.
 
...


I was just putting up a suggestion. I understand it's a spare machine. I had a spare machine once, and I had nothing to use it for. Instead of being an uncreative bastard, I took it out into the back yard and destroyed it. I slept extremely well that night and whenever my current computer becomes so outdated that I have to ask people what I should do with it, I will take it out back and destroy it with a golf club.
 
Originally posted by Ahriman
...


I was just putting up a suggestion. I understand it's a spare machine. I had a spare machine once, and I had nothing to use it for. Instead of being an uncreative bastard, I took it out into the back yard and destroyed it. I slept extremely well that night and whenever my current computer becomes so outdated that I have to ask people what I should do with it, I will take it out back and destroy it with a golf club.
Click to expand...

Right. How about you read the post before replying and not post anything else retarded like that.

If you want to waste a computer by destroying it, good for you. If you ask me, and a lot of people around here though, that's retarded.

Why waste it? Why not give it away? Selfish.
 
hey, i have a p2 500 laying around. what is all this stuff about using another computer as a firewall? i don't get it, help me understand and tell me how to do it please.
 
Instead of being an uncreative bastard, I took it out into the back yard and destroyed it
Click to expand...

Yes, because the definition of creative, a word derived from 'create', is most certainly something along the lines of 'the ability to destroy senselessly'.

Well done and bravo, good sir!

Originally posted by rive22
hey, i have a p2 500 laying around. what is all this stuff about using another computer as a firewall? i don't get it, help me understand and tell me how to do it please.
Click to expand...

Linux (other OS's could do it, but Linux is what you'd use) can be used to turn a computer into a network device, such as a firewall or router. In fact, most such network devices are really just computers in disguise anyhow, doing the same thing. I think Linksys routers even use linux for it.

You can do it in a variety of ways, but for an example: If you have an older machine lying around that has or can have several network cards in it, you can hook them up and then configure the computer to run linux with the job of being a router + firewall. It will then perform all the duties that a software firewall would (like the one built into Windows XP), meaning one less program to buy/install on your computers or one less device to buy.

If you're interested in it, just look around the net for information on Linux --there are sure to be dedicated sites about using linux for firewall/router/and related duties.

The system requirements for this sort of thing are NOT high, the biggest thing is to have enough network cards. 486's can do this duty quite easily with properly configured versions of linux.

Erik
 
Not to start an OS war, but a BSD might be as good or better for these kinds of things. See, for instance, this article.
 
ive been meaning to get my p3 800 back up and running.

gateway did an awesome job on that one... passively cooled.. 64mb ram, 10 gig hd, nothing onboard but video and sound

its an 810e chipset, and is an MSI board, but its a special model made for gateway, and there are really no bios updates for it, except from gateway. no agp, 2 or 3 pci, dont remember which, in one of those bookshelf cases.

if i use the same board, i will use a new HSF, ifi can find one...
i have a 40 gig for it, gotten an additional 256mb for it long ago. also needs a new case, which its going to inheiret from my current main one
 
Originally posted by HHunt
Not to start an OS war, but a BSD might be as good or better for these kinds of things. See, for instance, this article.
Click to expand...
yeah i keep seeing all these firewall/file server suggestions coming up. that's BSD all the way, imo

i have nearly the same computer as you, but it sucks more. lol
p2 300
160MBs pc66 :rolleyes:
8.4GB 4200rpm
i still use it full time as a "school work" computer if you will. it also holds most of my music, and is generally playing it just about 24 hours a day. it also works as a print server for my network
my setup is:
gentoo (running a 2.6 kernel, i haven't bothered to figure out if a 2.2 or 2.4 would be faster on this hardware, i like and am familiar with 2.6 so w/e, i'll use it)
openbox 3.1 with perlpanel 0.4 (any lighter ones out there?)
abiword 2.02, gaim 0.75, firefox 0.8, xmms 1.2.8, mplayer 1.0_pre3

to whoever asked it, the 300 is fast enough to handle DivXs and DVDs. don't expect anything impressive out of it, but if you use the -framedrop option and are careful with memory usage and other background apps it can fully handle divx/xvid/mpeg2 to the best of my experience. no skipping either, unless you try to multitask while watching movies. zooming is a bitch, unless your graphics card is hardware-accelerated (and supported). my advice on this is simply use X with 640x480 (ew) or 800x600 (no better). but this atleast displays the movies nicely
 
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