- Nov 12, 2006
- 925
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For the past X years (It's been a while now) I've used a refurbished Dell Dimension that was really top of the line when I bought it. It has since fallen into "disrepair" of sorts; it currently has no OS or graphics card installed, and I've got some choices to make. First off, I'll list the specs as well as I can remember:
--Pentium IV 1.7Ghz
--512Mb RAM (no idea what kind)
--2x IDE/ATAPI DVD drives (1x burner, 1x reader)
--80gig HD, not sure what interface (most likely IDE, since the comp is like 5 years old at least)
---Santa Cruz Soundcard
---NIC card
---PNY GeForce 6600, fresh from getting RMA'd. I also have a GeForce 2 or 3 fanless card. (neither are installed)
Since it was a pre-built system, the BIOS gives me almost no options, so OCing is out of the question. I don't expect this system to be that fast anyway, so it doesn't matter.
So, what I want to do is the following:
First, clear as much crap as I can from the truly terrible Dell case (it is really flimsy plastic). The wiring job is really horrible, and last I remember the computer was pretty loud, so if I can get the wires managed a little better, then get a few decent fans in there, it should be somewhat more quiet. There is a strange green plastic duct over the CPU, and hopefully I can take that off, and possibly put another heatsink on the CPU that is quiet and hopefully more effective. I would even replace the fan in the PSU if i thought that might make it quieter.
After I get the system more cleanly setup, I can worry about reinstalling the OS. It had Windows 2000 Professional, but I was thinking that maybe I should use another OS, like one of the Linux flavors. Only problem is that I don't know Linux at all, so I'm not sure. I'm just going to have to learn how to clear the HD of whatever was crap/ pieces of corrupt filesystem were on there before. Is there a way I can totally clean a HD using just a bootable floppy or something?
I think I'll just be quiet now and see if anyone has any advice to help me out...
Thanks in Advance
--Pentium IV 1.7Ghz
--512Mb RAM (no idea what kind)
--2x IDE/ATAPI DVD drives (1x burner, 1x reader)
--80gig HD, not sure what interface (most likely IDE, since the comp is like 5 years old at least)
---Santa Cruz Soundcard
---NIC card
---PNY GeForce 6600, fresh from getting RMA'd. I also have a GeForce 2 or 3 fanless card. (neither are installed)
Since it was a pre-built system, the BIOS gives me almost no options, so OCing is out of the question. I don't expect this system to be that fast anyway, so it doesn't matter.
So, what I want to do is the following:
First, clear as much crap as I can from the truly terrible Dell case (it is really flimsy plastic). The wiring job is really horrible, and last I remember the computer was pretty loud, so if I can get the wires managed a little better, then get a few decent fans in there, it should be somewhat more quiet. There is a strange green plastic duct over the CPU, and hopefully I can take that off, and possibly put another heatsink on the CPU that is quiet and hopefully more effective. I would even replace the fan in the PSU if i thought that might make it quieter.
After I get the system more cleanly setup, I can worry about reinstalling the OS. It had Windows 2000 Professional, but I was thinking that maybe I should use another OS, like one of the Linux flavors. Only problem is that I don't know Linux at all, so I'm not sure. I'm just going to have to learn how to clear the HD of whatever was crap/ pieces of corrupt filesystem were on there before. Is there a way I can totally clean a HD using just a bootable floppy or something?
I think I'll just be quiet now and see if anyone has any advice to help me out...
Thanks in Advance