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Question What to do with an old rig?

C

Cyborg

Member
I built a desktop back in 2012 with mid-level components. Looking to build another desktop. However while everything is still fully functional, I don’t need my old PC anymore.

what are some ideas on what I could do short of throwing it away?
 
Obviously you could sell it...
You can also move it to your living room and turn it into a retro or general couch gaming system that will also play your media.
 
File server/NAS. I've used hand-me-downs a lot in my time. I remember when I repurposed my first rig to be a dedicated file server. It's your next step to insanity. LOL
 
bigboxes said:
your next step to insanity
Click to expand...
Not if you do it right. I run mine w/ Ubuntu and it's painless. The issues I run into on the box are usually kernel updates not working for a particular device and then just roll back to the prior version and everything works again. Mostly the NIC modules get dropped in RC versions because it's Aquantia based for 5GE ports. Never an issue with the "NAS" / Raid / Samba. Upgrading from 8700K >> 12700K posed more issues than anything else. There are some quirks I ran into but, sorted it out pretty quickly.

Recent upgrade to 22.10 re-enabled something that borked pihole until I disabled it again and then things went back to normal. I run it though as the primary router / switch / nas / htpc / plex / firewall / etc. so, it's a 24/7 device. Been rolling DIY for ~7 years now after being disappointed by off the shelf options.
 
Tech Junky said:
Not if you do it right. I run mine w/ Ubuntu and it's painless. The issues I run into on the box are usually kernel updates not working for a particular device and then just roll back to the prior version and everything works again. Mostly the NIC modules get dropped in RC versions because it's Aquantia based for 5GE ports. Never an issue with the "NAS" / Raid / Samba. Upgrading from 8700K >> 12700K posed more issues than anything else. There are some quirks I ran into but, sorted it out pretty quickly.

Recent upgrade to 22.10 re-enabled something that borked pihole until I disabled it again and then things went back to normal. I run it though as the primary router / switch / nas / htpc / plex / firewall / etc. so, it's a 24/7 device. Been rolling DIY for ~7 years now after being disappointed by off the shelf options.
Click to expand...
I meant that the first step to an expanding hobby. And yes, I run a Plex Server on my home server as well.
 
I built it with the propose to replace all of that crap from stores. The I sold all of the devices it replaced. NAS+ drives, DVR, router, switch, etc. Net cost vs the performance gained was worth it. I'm not stuck with a 2 bay NAS and slow speeds and buggy software. I'm not capped on the DVR function at 2TB of space. My firewall rules are more secure than the router and don't have the constant buggy fw updates that caused more issues than they fixed The initial wifi card I was using as an AP inside the box was faster than the router ever was. I have the ability to record 4 shows at once vs 2 on the DVR. I can playback from any device on the network vs needing boxes to pull from the DVR. The list goes on for convenience and performance though. It was worth the investment in time to collapse things into a single box. All of those functions / devices added up over time as well.

NAS $200+
DVR w/subscription was $500+
Router $200
Switch $100

So, $1000 in equipment that has planned obsolescence vs custom setup for about the same price with better performance is worth it. When I rebuilt it wasn't a huge cost when selling the prior box as a complete ready to run system to someone. originally I was thinking about just doing an upgrade / overhaul to the CPU/mobo/ram but, I ended up getting more in return building from the ground up again and just moving the drives over to the new setup.
 
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