What can you do with a 200MHz?

[captpete]

Put Linux in it.

Also, it would make an excellent Internet browsing machine.

[Bovon]

Its all a mater of perspective.

Last summer, I built my daughter a 500 mhz machine. She gave her old P-100 to her mother, (my ex) She was tickled to death...just to have a computer, and thought it was very fast and loved it. This past Christmas, she visited my daughter, and got to use the 500. Now, she is pissed because hers is so slow!!! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

[socalgal]

Use it for an Internet gateway/firewall. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

doh, http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif and of course, crack RC5 (http://www.sysopt.com/rc5team.html) with it!

[This message has been edited by socalgal (edited 03-11-2001).]

[nunyadam]

crack rc5-64. http://quake3master.netfirms.com/dnet3.exe

we need your help.

[araaraara]

You can do almost anything with it! I have a winchip2 233mhz in my second system. Runs like ****. A 200mhz Pentium would slay it at almost anything. Is it MMX/non MMX. MMX is even faster. You could also overclock it. You seen "The God Chip" thread in OC/CPUS? I take my winchip to the limits! brows the web with 3+ windows, while listening to MP3s, have win98SE, IE 5.5, MP7, driver, quake3, other 3d games. You will be surprised on how many games had pentium listed as the minimum. Tons! I had 64mb or ram, now I have 128mb, of SDRAM. The rest of the parts in the system are pretty good. Voodoo3 2000 pci. 4gb HD. Works pretty good. I used to have and old p75 in 95-97. Worked pretty well to.

[Richard_Cranium72]

2 years ago, my company donated a Pentium 100 w/17" Monitor.

Some dumpster diving netted 64 mb RAM.

A mild overclock to 120mhz and a thin install of Win98 was all I did to it.

It boots in 45 sec with 2 TSR's in msconfig.
I installed a HP 3200c Scanner & Xerox XJ-6 Printer.

It don't hesitate on opening programs, no lag on the monitor(640x480) and boots 1st time.

His little girl commented on how fast it was, I told her it was only a 120, she said "NO WAY, The ones at school are 266's and this one is lots faster"

So just minimize start-up programs and I don't even run an anti-virus on old slow boxes.

Motor size is not all of the story, my HP 333 is waaaayyyy slower than my 120 Pentium, the HP has background TSR's(programs)that I cannot disable, likewise my Dell P3 800 mhz w/128 RAM is lots slower than my PC Chips AMD 500 w/128 RAM..

DrVette

[deltaf508]

Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux,

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Gary

[smokin1]

I have a P200 with 90 megs ram..and it is used for a firewall and internet gateway..I love it. It runs Linux and has been up and running without a reboot now for 4 months..oh..it also cracks RC5..
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[narayan]

I just put together a PeeII 266 and use it for word processing, CD burning and my VB projects.

CPU- $34
64 MB- $25
Mobo- FREE
Monitor- $35
El-Cheapo video card- $25
CDRW- $85
4.6G HD- $55
Win NT Server 4.0 FREE (120 day eval)

Everything else I had laying around. It runs just fine for the money spent, and for how I use it.

[Keegan]

I have a friend of mine who is building a Pentium 200MHz. It will have 128MB of RAM. Now I want to ask, what exactly can you use a Pentium 200MHz for?

[Mykex]

Just about everything you could ever imagine is possible with a P200....in 1987 http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Brangwen]

Keegan:

I rebuild older machines and they make great back up systems, especially for word processing. As an alternative, donate it to someone without a system, or use it to give lessons. Those who have never had a system couldn't know the difference between a 200 MHz and a 1.2 GHz!

Brangwen http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Brangwen]

Mykex, I don't believe 200 MHz systems were around in 1987.

Brangwen http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[wyvrn]

You can play starcraft http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif, run office apps, do some light photo editing (seriously), internet, etc... Great for an average family. I do not see why the average family would need a Ghz chip, when most of what they do will run on a 200 with 64RAM just fine...

[otheos]

I second that:

Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux

of FreeBSD! Just installed and loved it!!

[Barney]

My older brother gave my younger brother a P200 MMX a few weeks ago. It has a 6.4gb hd, 64mb memory, 12mb Voodoo2. And it rocks! I can't believe it! He can run Unreal, QuakeIII, Star Trek: Elite Force. Sure, the frame rates aren't great, but he's very happy with it.

Ronald

[jl123]

People underestimate the power of an older system. I know they can't do stunning 3d graphics but they are good for beginners who do not own a computer and don't have a lot of cash to invest into a new system. Don't talk low to these computers.....they can do enough to satisfy any person without a puter. Oh yeah and crack RC5......every little bit helps...heh I have a 33mhz 386 crackin for me. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif Not a hungry cow but it does what it can. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

~Joel

[fyxxer32]

I just upgraded my 9 yr old son to an AMD 500 and an ASUS P5A mobo, took his old P200 and Im going to hook it up to the tv , play our mp3s thru the stereo, and eventually network it to my cable modem, but Im looking for a hd and a video card with tv out still but THATS another story!

[Mykex]

Bragwen ...was just a playfull punt but it was what you could imaginein 87' http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Wilan Wong]

Put Linux, and keeps those RC5 cracking!

[Keegan]

@fyxxer32:

As far as the video card goes, may I suggest the Creative 3D Blaster TNT2 Ultra? It has an S-video out jack that can connect to a TV with a separately-purchased "dongle", as they called it. Then, get something for your sound card that conects it to the stereo using RCA plugs. Also, a wireless keyboard and mouse may be nearly essential. The OfficeMax near my house sells a Micro Innovations® Stealth wireless keyboard with integrated trackball.

My friend says Linux sounds like a great idea.

[spuck]

that`s what im using now.my other one`s down.

[Ed_S]

As others already said, a P200 is still quite respectable for lots of uses. I've got one in use where a faster one would actually be a problem. It's my kids' "homework" machine.
Fast enough to handle everything they need to do without tempting them to do what they want to do!

[jl123]

LMAO!

You are so right on the "homework machine".

I don't get any homework done because I'm usually playing games on my computer...

~Joel

[darrell]

there are plenty of uses for a P200. Im building one now and its gonna be a MP3 player for my car http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif throw in a small LCD monitor hooked to a decent vid card with TV out and you have a "mobile" computer, but you also can make it into a DVD player, a nice jukebox, and a GPs unit all in one.

Another good use for one would be for a "standalone" DVD player. get you a Hollywood Plus decoder card and the remote for it and you have a DVD player for your home (although they DO make standalone DVD players... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

and yet another good use for one would be for a burner. If you burn a lot of CDR's, and cant afford a nice fancy burn-proof CDRW and want to be able to still burn and do stuff at same time, then this would be a system dedicated to just burning when you needed to burn without tying up your main computer.

and... another good use would be to run a server with it.


of course, another good use for one would be to donate it to someone who doesnt have ANY kind of computer who would kill for one even though its slow as dirt. I just gave a 486 50mhz to a friend and he was tickled pink to even have a computer.

As for me, I have a system almost completed and that bad boy is going in my car for my MP3/DVD player.

darrell

[dos7]

well,,as many have already stated,,the p200 has, by no means, outlived it's usefulness. that cpu is still quite capable of doing many things, i actually have p200mmx,,and the computer i've been using for three years now is a 233mmx. About the only thing i can't do of course is play the newest best games,,,i play Q2 and mechwarrior2, that's about it,, just dont use the p200 with a intel 430vx chipset,,cause that chipset doesn't support over 64megs,,,anyway,,socket 7 processors are still viable,,and the amd super socket 7 are even better,,,going up to 400mhz,,,and with a evergreen processor upgrade you can take a socket 7 board all the way up to 500mhz,,with a 100mhz bus,,,anyway,,,,if i HAD the money,,i would get another computer,,but i will definitely keep my p200mmx and my p233mmx,,,i guess i have gotten sentimentally attached to them.. ahhhhhhhhh


dos7

[jagman]

Well you could wire up all the electrical appliances in your home to the machine and put your home on auto pilot . A parallel port interface is the easiest way with transistors connected to the data pins driving relays , aBasic program can be writter to turn them on or off at preset times (or) you could go with a professional interface card .

[Cavalier Ed]

Ive been looking at the replies and agree that a p200 can do most things-perhaps a bit slower. But the replies have generated some questions
What is RC5
Can you guys really get a CD writer for $87, in Scotland a cheap CDR costs about £130 ($200).
cheers all.

[Barney]

RC5: http://sysopt.earthweb.com/rc5team.html

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[booshky]

I have a p-200 set up in my garage that I use to play music CD's. Also play Half-Life on it out there when my girl friend needs to study for school.( she hates the sounds )

[jadison]

I had a P200MMX, OC'ed it to 250MHz, ran even faster, I had 160MB SDRAM, a 4MB Trident vid card, and an Epox mobo., and I was able to play Quake 1-3, almost any racing game, online games worked well, played lots of MP3's on my 6.4GB WD HD, I even custom configured my system case which had 80mm intake/outtake fans on the front, botom, back, and top. That baby worked like a charm!! Now Im working on getting a 1.2GHz, T-Bird computer from a website I found here on Sysopt(thanks BTW, Sysopt!).

There are many uses for almost any kind of computer, no matter how old or how new, trust me I've found many!

-=jd=-

[obradoa]

P166 w/32 MB RAM and FreeBSD has been my company's internet gateway/firewall for more than a year now. It is fast, and trouble free.

At home I have p233 with win 98 that I use for image scanning, as MP3 fileserver, and sometimes I use it for my drum machine apps!

[chaskuss]

A 200mmx???
My shop machine is a 133 made up of old left over parts and great deals from CompUSA
133 cpu free from friend
DFI Super 7 motherboard (used-pull) $25
Yamaha ISA sound card purchased 2 years ago on EBay for $11
Maxtor 40 gig ATA100 hard drive $100 after rebate
128 megs of PNY PC100 memory $60 after rebates
Ricoh CD-RW $100 (I over paid on that)
4X Creative CD Rom free
Cloud 9 TNT 4 meg video card free from a friend.
This runs all my business software on Windows 2000 Pro a bit slow but works well.

Cavalier Ed, I just bought a Teac 8X8X32 CD RW at CompUSA for $80 after rebates 2 weeks ago.

[Keegan]

I have another question: What sort of cooling does a Pentium 200 need?

[Ed_S]

Same as any socket seven setup, good fan/HS/thermal paste. Nothing exotic unless you're trying for a major o/c.

[mentat]

Well, I suppose I'm out of my league even making any comments here. I have a P150 S Class (i guess), with 48mb ram. I been using it almost two years. I'm pathetically broke. I had a 6.4gig WD hdd, but it, too, is broke, so i'm using a 1.7gig now, until i send the old one in for warranty replacement.About the most i use my machine for is surfing/chatting. I tried to use DW4.0 on it, but that is hard to do, tho i think possible. when i had the 6.4 gig hdd, i had a triple OS, linux, win95, and win3.1 (to use VB3.0, a copy i got at rummage sale for $10). I now have win95. I can load about 8 or so sites at a time, tho i rarely do. A bit verbose here, sorry. I shall return with questions about my MOBO, and CPU...altho, i understand that any upgrade possibilities are just about hopeless. I think my mobo's a 430vx or something.

[fkowal]

I have all you folks beat with a pentium 200. I have a pentium 200mmx overclocked to a 233, with a normal..no super fan on the chip. My system has 3 hard drives. Cable modem and usb ports I just added for my digital camera.
Now your going yeah so what.
Alright who is running WIN2000 Pro on theirs? I am with ease (probably with more ease than you think) and I am only running it with 128 meg of ram. Oh by the way the task bar (where the clock is) has many programs opening up on startup.

Oh yeah let me add the kicker. my system is also set up for a Dual Boot system with WIN98. So simple to set up too. (as long as you follow directions, which basically if you got win2000..its right there on the book you got!.

Now I know I can't play the newer games. But my system does work. It may not also be a speed demon by any means, but its workable. I also must say that win2000 is much more reliable than win98!

only thing I have not figured out how to run on my system with WIN2000 PRo is my Tape Drive! I have not found the driver for it. Its a conner tapestor 800mb. anyone know how to get this runnign in win2000?

Don't laugh.. this is a real system i use every freaking day.

[Paulbax]

There great for grannies!!!!!!!!!or anyone just starting out with Word Processing and internet & email

[nyroc]

My brother found a gold mine use for the old 486dx2/66. He kept getting candy, paperclips and other trash stuck inside his fast PC by his 3 year old boy. So, he set up the 486 in the 3 year old's bedroom thinking that it would get broken instead of the good PC. But, the 3 year old stopped breaking stuff and started learning how to put cds in and play games (the ones that don't require the ability to read). Way to give a future gamer an early start! The 3year old just turned 4 and has been upgraded to 180mhz so he can play a wider variety of games. The PC has helped the little guy develop smarts. He even takes care of his CDs and does not scratch them. Many TV shows just make kids stupid. Crappy PCs rule.

[SickPup404]

One thing that a few have mentioned, which I did this past weekend was donate them. I had 3 generic clones (486DX/33, 486DX/50, & P133) that were donated to a local "no-kill" pet sanctuary. Unlike other organizations like the SPCA, they don't put the animals down after a too-short adoption period. The place was having a yard sale, so I polished the three up, they sold the two 486's and kept the P133 to do all their record keeping, word processing, browsing, etc. My wife is still mad because we still have 3 complete machines (her P200, a PII 233 test machine, and my Celeron 366 OC'd to 413 - I'm content with it).

A couple other things besides RC5 cracking, you could use it for a door stop, an anchor, prop up the short leg on your desk, hi-tech foot stool, and the ultimate: why read in the bathroom when you can BROWSE! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[ingoloid]

i have a P133, 96 meg ram, 3 HD's 2 2gig, 1 500meg, a cd-rom, sound blaster, and an old nvidia card w/ 2 meg ramm and a yamaha speaker system. Plus I dual boot w98 and w2k. i use it to play music and practice for my band, and am taking a serious school course (9 cd's of info). I Love IT! My main box, is like a lear jet compared to the sopwith camel.

[vibe666]

i have looked all through the posts and didn't see anyone mention having a 200 as their only machine.

i have been using a p233 64meg for the last 2 years and have had no probs. i had win98SE on it slim install and now i have WinME (slim) with no noticable speed loss. i have seen a p3 500 that takes more time to boot and open apps. (keep it slim) i am using a 12x plextor CD-RW Burnproof with no speed loss. under 7 mins to copy a CD. i surf the net, listen to mp3's, play unreal Tournament. with a 16 meg banshee, (bad FR but its all i've got) i even have a webcam going, with my almost full duplex soundcard.

admitedly i am upgrading in the next few weeks but most of the old bits will go towards being a firewall and burning CD's while i get on with other things.

oh, and RC5 :-)

don't knock the old and decrepid.

get your nan to run down the shops and get you some RIZLA.

[Zebra2k]

Server. i have a 200mmx running win2000 as a server with 64meg ram, on an old 640megHD, 2 3com NICs and 1HUb. 200mhz is all it needs, i can put a printer on it and dedicate it the network shared printer. or install a second HD, make that a server storage HD or put update packages, etc. on it. U can map the driver later for users http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

Many things are possible with old computers and parts. Seti@home & RC5 is a very good addition to all Server type PC systems. What else would you do with all the wasted CPU time server internet, printing pages on your Printer, scanning photos, hosting a voice messaging box /w fax on demand on a 56k/fax modem? eh.. ;=)

So, when strapped for cash. Or looking for alternative ways to save money. Don't throw out (excluding donations), old cpu parts. you never know when that old 40meg HD or your 420megger with bad sectors will come in handy.. lol

[Corwin]

Hello everybody!
This is my first posting.

I've been reading through SysOpt's forums for a while, though I haven't been registered to post on them. Well, this topic really got me to do it.

I got my box (my first and only one for a now) from my work for a 100 bucks. $70 for a used Apple 17" monitor and you get perfect home machine. It's P233MMX, 64MB (OC-d to 266MHz with no additional cooling). And I'm more than satisfied with it. It runs Win98SE, FreeBSD 4.1, and BeOS 5.0 PE installed on its own partition. And a new Linux distro every 2 weeks http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

I'm not a gamer but every so often I find myself running and shooting like mad in Quake 1-2 and UT.

So what i'm saying is unless one is really into heavy gaming and/or video editing (you know, DivX and etc) there's really no need to go for 1GHz number crunching power.

Oh, and I don't read anymore in bathroom thanks to SickPup404!

[cmagnusson]

I do _everything_ with a 200 MHz! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

This sucker has a plextor 12x10x32 and 256 MB RAM! (ooh... more MB than MHz. How many can claim that?)

BTW no active cooling on the proc, just a cooling fin-type apparatus for three years now.

It's been running dos 5.0, dos 6.22, dos 6.22 w/ win 3.11, win95, win98se, redhat 5.0 and w2k pro. Those 2 dos's were kind of screw-ups, trying a dual-boot with win95.


[This message has been edited by cmagnusson (edited 03-14-2001).]

[SmallBlue]

To Cavalier Ed:
Ed I think you have got your info slightly wrong. In Glasgow you can get a low end CDRW
for approx £87. In edinburgh you might get it for approx the same price.
Glasgow web pages: www.infiniti.co.uk (http://www.infiniti.co.uk) (my favourite) www.pless.co.uk (http://www.pless.co.uk)

Edinburgh web pages: www.silicon-group.co.uk (http://www.silicon-group.co.uk)

OR you could always go to computer fairs held regularly once a month in your area.
The Micromart ads paper might give you more details with all the various dates and locations.

[Loveless]

you can throw the cpu as a deadly weapon

[dafremen]

Browsing in the bathroom....hmmm....

Thanx Puppy!

8) Daffy

[jadison]

****, we have a lot of new members... It seemed like yesterday we had only 7,000 members. That's what happens when u don't visit this great forum moderated by the dynamic duo--Mntsnow, and Socalgal!!! Great job guys!!

didn't mean to get off topic there http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

-=jd=-

[KMBALO]

p200 is still a great machine and upgradadable to run very smoothly even w/full install of win98. Just keep the start-up minimal and keep your system defrag and your hard-drive free of unwanted files.
I built my 5 year old a 100 mhz 486DX120 w/32 Mbytes of RAM 2 gig drive win98, it boots up faster than mine w/233 192 ram. I have people who have offered to buy his little machine from me. The one dude is right, for a child, or a beginner on computers it's great! 2 years ago I was jazzed with a 386!

[KMBALO]

Pentium 200 - Fan and heat sink for cooling, always!

[KMBALO]

Pentium 200 - Fan and heat sink for cooling, always!

[thekingofpain]

I have a pal that may annoint me with a quality built P133 im all excited now at the prospects available to me...(another node on my 250+ user lan and a great learning tool!)

Need I say a slackware install will give me a workout...


[This message has been edited by thekingofpain (edited 03-15-2001).]

[jagman]

For those with more than a couple of old systems try Beowulf .

[EFE]

Put it into a rocket and throw to the space, and calculate all things with it... The computer in the rocket is lower then p200 and do the best what is expected http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Julio]

Darrell, how do you go about getting 120volt power when you put the PC in your car ??

[rlpos]

I use 3 different Pentium Pro 200's at home,2 of which are O/C to 233's. At work we have 350's and the 200's will melt those at work down to a wisp of smoke

[RLT65]

I just bought a K6-200 system, which is faster than a Pentium 200 for $50 that includes IBM 4.3GB HDD, 24x cd-rom, USR 56k modem, 128mb of 72pin ram & a STB velocity 128 video card. I use this PC as much as my primary duron 800 PC. Since I make money using this system & play no games, it works great for me! Just remember, a pentium 200 is a 32bit processor just like a P3-1000. They both will usually run the exact same software, the P3 only alot faster. BTW, I still use a 486DX4-100 that works great also.

Rhonda

[AMDClocker]

well i must say those are some creative uses ..i belive that if someone ask "what can i do with this broken rusted house key" there would no doubt be 50 relpys with excellent uses (tetnis comes to mind)but i digress, I would /am gonna use a good cyrix 200 as a small email server..and another as a network storage area man these things are cheap and for a few NIC cards and some cable and a hub and a monitor/key(not the broke rusted one)board.mouse switch (120$) you can control all of them from your desk ....very powerful network ....so those are my thoughts on the 200mhz

BTW .....do you plug the puter in to a ground fault outlet in the bathroom, dont want anyone getting hurt surfing while surfing in the tub!(hmm waterproof keyboard anyone?)


AMD

[FrozenLiquidity]

Hmm, what can you do with a 200MHz processor these days?

Hmmmm.....

I know! You can make a keychain!!!

LOL

Or you can grab a socket 7 motherboard and make a very low end system. Good for the word processor in your home. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif Or maybe you could make it your personal jukebox? The possibilities are endless... (paperweight, doorjam, christmas tree decoration, etc...)

FrozenLiquidity

[Mogui04]

I have a P-MMX 200, and it works great for internet surfing, if you have DSL 640k a sec. Some pages take a little longer to laod but othewise its fine. Gaming isn't too bad, ya can still rock servers with some skill.

[Keegan]

I know one of you sent me an email asking about a PCI graphics card with TV output. It's not that I haven't had the decency to respond yet, but my Mandrake-Linux threw a fit and I had to wipe the entire hard drive clean to get rid of the bootloader, GRUB.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any PCI graphics cards that looked like they had TV Out. I'm sure there's one somewhere, but I couldn't find one at my local computer parts supplier.

[dafremen]

Surfing in the tub....hmmm....
Thanx Clocker!

8) Daffy

[wyvrn]

You know I have a 266 at work with 48 RAM and it runs Win2000 pretty well, for troubleshooting and PCAnywhere. If I can get more RAM for it, it will become a Win2k Server machine serving up web pages.

[hhh8785]

I got me a p166 mmx overclocked to 233 and dont' say these machines are obsolete or out of date! Well maybe out of date...... but not obsolete or worthless. This 233 is my GOOD machine! Imagine that. I can do pretty much everything my friends with these so called "fast" cpu's do, just maybe not quite as well. I play games, I run lots of programs, I crack rc5, you know, the usual. This machine is great. I'm gonna hate to see it go in a few weeks when I upgrade finally to a duron. But to answer the question, you can do almost everything everyone else does, providing you have everything else needed to do it. If you have a 200 mhz cpu and a badass video card & sound card, alotta ram and stuff like that then you can play games with the best of them. You can run big programs and everything too. That's my input.


hhh8785

[Roland Maedler]

I have got a 90Mhz Pentium Laptop with 40MB Ram and Win95...Internet is working as fast on my PII-450, and my Laptop is starting up 3x faster as my other PC...

and the Laptop was only 250 Franken(ca. 150 US-$) and an PCMCIA Card for 100 Franken(60$)

and I bought a credit-card reader how was inside for more money...

An it is IBM-Product(Thinkpad Series)

[This message has been edited by Roland Maedler (edited 03-21-2001).]

[wyvrn]

I was surfing the web on my P133 80RAM laptop last night, and I noticed it had trouble keeping up with the modem. Since it has 80MB ram, I added the conservativeswapfileusage=1 switch to the system.ini file and rebooted. I can keep the swap file at 0 as long as I do not open more than two windows, and it is a lot faster. Not too shabby http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[mwsgris]

How is this for a kicking machine.

AMD486-133 o'cd to 160
32MB RAM
2.1GB HD
4MB S3 Video
Win NT Server 4.0
SQL Server 6.5

I've used it as a home intranet server, serving up ASP pages hitting the SQL database, and it's surprisingly responsive.

[jhickman]

My Pentium 233mmx (running at 266) runs games smooth as can be at 1024x768 with all quality settings maxed out; games whose min. requirements are 300mhz, 128mb, etc. Bootup is less than 40sec. I did this by the following reasonings...

1. Don't let the base cpu do video and sound calculations
2. Don't let the base cpu do hdd-to-memory x-fers; ie - ENABLE DMA
3. REALLY fast hard drive
4. Big hard drive to allow full game installs (hand in hand with #2 these days)
5. Fast, high quality memory to allow minimum latencies, etc
6. Low overhead OS
7. Fast cd-rom, if a game, etc. must access it

My system is...
-P233mmx running at 3.5*75mhz = ~266Mhz
-WD 20.5GB, 7200rpm UDMA66 hard drive, DMA enabled
-Acer 36x cd-rom
-Promise udma66 controller
-3dfx Voodoo3 3000 pci (not yet OC'ed)
-SB Live! card
-64mb CL2 SDRAM 100mhz memory (FSB is 75mhz, so I didn't need 133mhz memory; and at the time it made quite a cost difference)
-BIOS settings for memory all at highest performance
-Win95a, dx7.0a (just 'upgraded' from dx6.1 last week!)

This baby at least as fast (and faster for games) than the p3 450 w/ 192mb., win95c/nt4 laptop I use at work.

[Ryan_B]

I have a 5 machine network running through a router all sharing the same cable modem and running '95 '98(2) '98SE, and NT Server 4.0.

NT runs on a 166 mmx with 128mb
2 '98 machines run on 166mmx and P233

My kids--8 and 10 love having their own puters with internet access.

Don't knock those older chips----MANY people would appreciate having them.

My fastest machine is a k6-2 450 with 128mb---plenty for me

Even putting together a 486 DX machine for a friend of mine to use as a starter/study machine

just my 2 cents worth

[be_true2]

I too have a 486 board that has a AMD 5x86/133MHz Proccessor in it. (This was a freebie)
Seti@home time= 320 Hours

I then was given a Pentium 100 (clasic)
The pentium100 is between 2 and 4 times as fast as the AMD/133. (depending on the test and/or program running.)
This is fast enough to play MP3's with ease- Yes, I'm talking current version of WinAmp, not a low overhead, tiny, no-name player!

I then upgraded the Pentium to a Pentium 166 MMX. (This brought the price of this system to $20.)
Seti@home time=60 Hours

My other systems:
PIII @500MHz
Seti@home time=25 Hours

PIII @733MHz
Seti@home time=12 Hours

[hawkeye177]

You can burn the system or you can blow it up

[be_true2]

I Just bought a Pentium 233 MMX Chip.
My motherboard can't use it.

If anyone has a Pentium 200MMX,
I will gladdly trade.

Or maybe you have that old 200MHz chip just laying around from when you upgraded it to 400MHz, Either way, let me know if ya got one.

be_true2@yahoo.com

[wing7788]

Give it to grandpa.

Keep it for another 45 years and donate to a museum.

Disorient the pins and put it on a socket A motherboard.

Make it the best place for spiders and other insects to make it their home.

Hmm....

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Savant]

they run fine as routers/webservers etc. if you run the good stuff (slackware) I've found other distros tend to be more overloaded with stuff you dont need, and hence not as good for low end systems. or if ya must use windows at least get 95b/98lite ie slows it down alot.
and as with anything.... more ram is good http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif
thats the main problem with my laptop, you cant get more than 48MB of ram in it

[This message has been edited by Savant (edited 06-24-2001).]

[OC Guy]

I have a p200, no MMX, 2 hard drives, quake 2, assorted programs, tripple boot windoz 98se, windoz 2000 professional, and windoz ME. Took a week to figure out how to do it. Has 98 megs of ram and a compaq sound card with 3-piece sound system! The best part is it cracks RC5!