Accidentially Rebuilt My Old System

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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I will try to make this short.

Several years ago bought all new parts and put together a new system with an i5 2500k, Gigabyte Z68 Motherboard, 8 GB of RAM, Antec Power supply, and a GTX 660. It was a great system until a few years ago, when my buddy decided that his 4790k didn't have enough cores. Being a buddy, I took it off his hands, and paired it with a new motherboard and ram. A very old Compaq was retired from server duties and I bought a cheap case and some extra RAM for the new file server (which now had enough power to be my media server). A few years later, my GTX 660 was finally not cutting it for me, and in went a GTX 1060 and a newer power supply (as the Antec had a few years on it at this point). Not too long after that, summer vacation started, and the main rig was being used all day long, since the old Core 2 Duo Dell in the kids room isn't playing much more than flash games these days. So the file server got the GTX 660 and the Antec power supply to be relocated to their room and it hit me...

I JUST REBUILT MY 2500K DESKTOP - 8 YEARS LATER! (only case and drives are different)

Thought I would share, it gave me a chuckle!
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
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I guess I'm having trouble understanding. You built a 2500K desktop, then re-built it with a 4790K, upgraded GPU, and then took your old file-server, and re-built the file-server with the 2500K?

I guess that's a fitting "put out to pasture" job for it.

I was just thinking today, about dismantling my two AM3 rigs, with older, beat-up / dusty cases. They both have Phenom II X6 1045T CPUs in them. Haven't used them in like a year. Did use them for "mining shells", for a little while ago.

Still have my Core2Quad rigs, taking up space too. Are those susceptible to Meltdown / Spectre?
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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I think it was something like.... the vulnerability can be traced all the way back to Core 2, but these machines are so old that nobody cares, or something like that.

For its ago, the Core 2 has held up pretty well, but using it today, it's amazing how much heat that chip puts out for how slow it is comparatively.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
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You should put some RGB bling on it. :)

Or maybe get one of those RGB cases (cases with RGB fans pre-installed, or a light strip, or whatever), and if you decide to "scrap" the 2500K, if it's still working, then give / sell it to a kid / parents. I think a kid would love an RGB PC, even one with the performance of a 2500K. I know I would have.

(I had a 386DX-40 when I was in HS, then later a 5x86-133 from AMD, which I failed to OC to 160Mhz like "everybody said" was "easy", and I ended up blowing away my boot sector, which I had to manually rebuild my MBR partition table with Norton Diskedit. Yeah, I was pretty hard-core low-level back then.)
 

mopardude87

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2018
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Got a friend using my old 2500k+gigabyte H67+8gb kingston that i gave her back in 2012. No complaints after all those years. She got a ssd upgrade and a 1050ti upgrade last year from me. Funny story on the 2500k choice, it was on sales and was a bit cheaper then the 2500 non k lol.

I guess the complaints won't come in for some time for this build too, she isn't into the newer games and unless a 2500k isn't holding up for basic browsing and Youtube i just assume its just gonna keep on chugging. Your guess is better then mine on just how much time this thing has left.
 

A///

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2017
4,351
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I guess the complaints won't come in for some time for this build too, she isn't into the newer games and unless a 2500k isn't holding up for basic browsing and Youtube i just assume its just gonna keep on chugging. Your guess is better then mine on just how much time this thing has left.
You'd be surprised how long modern hardware lasts. PSUs tend to decline at around 5-6 years, but replacing them is a breeze.
 

j03h4gLund

Senior member
Nov 8, 2010
354
3
81
Still rocking it and Im a gamer who plays GTA V, Battlefield, CS:Go etc.

Helluva chip, but it is time, I must choose... do I buy now, in November, or just wait it out for some massive price drop?

And similiarly, I've upgraded my i5 2500k through a few upgrades, first from 670 to 670's in SLI, then to the 970k then quickly after to the 1080. I kinda want to retire it and just mount it to my wall or something, but its still a very smooth operating machine. :cool:

Btw, I also put in a USB3/USB-C PCI Express card for like $15, which is nice for my earbuds.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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That's probably the biggest thing - not the chip itself, but all the other technologies that have been updated since then - USB, HDMI, drive access, etc. There are only so many ad-on cards you can add to these boards.
 

mopardude87

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2018
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That's probably the biggest thing - not the chip itself, but all the other technologies that have been updated since then - USB, HDMI, drive access, etc. There are only so many ad-on cards you can add to these boards.

To be honest all i have cared for usage wise in my case is the addition of Sata 6. I use a usb keyboard and mouse and a Samsung 860 500gb Evo. I am sure for most people even a B360 chipset would be overkill for general usage and gaming. Last i checked even usb 3.0 for a ISO boot of W7/W10 still is not support and locked to USB2.0 to boot. My only USB thumb drives are still usb 2.0.

As i only game and randomly browse youtube and these forums, even a back up is kind of not exactly required. With a 400mb cable connection my currently played games on a fresh format take perhaps 2 hours top to install. Haven't done a fresh format in about 4 months.
 

mopardude87

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2018
3,348
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You'd be surprised how long modern hardware lasts. PSUs tend to decline at around 5-6 years, but replacing them is a breeze.

The 8800gts 512mb which i gave her back when i upgraded to a gtx280 back in 2008 was in her pc right till i think 2016 when it crapped out and she replaced it with a 2gb gtx950. When she got my 1050ti last year the BFG PSU i gave her with the 8800GTS 512mb was still functioning but was buzzing very loudly. I gave her my old CX430 and the 1050ti and the old H67 did not even throw a fit with its 2012 bios supporting and running the card. This woman milks pc parts better then anyone i ever known in my life.

Her newest game is currently Day z that she got on sale recently and well i asked her how it ran. She says very good. Before this it was the original COD BO and well her favorite go to is still CS 1.6. She did play a library shared version of Doom 2016 with me and she enjoyed that one too but we both came to the conclusion that the "where the heck do i go games" aren't exactly fun and we both quit playing it maybe half way lol.
 

SamirD

Golden Member
Jun 12, 2019
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www.huntsvillecarscene.com
It's amazing how well old hardware still works. What I end up doing with old boxes that are still running is just rdp into them. I have one watching weather for me, another checking something else, another checking something else. Yeah, it's power but unless you're taxing it hard, it's not going to be pulling 100W idling.

My dad's system is an older P4 socket 478 that spent its former like as the server at a hotel for better part of a decade. I revamped it by upgrading the ram and adding an agp gpu and it's his daily driver now since 2012. He's got 2 22" displays on it and it does all he needs which is really light web-stuff. I guess the thing is 25yrs old now and still keeps running. IBM made some good stuff back in the day...