Vintage Viability

For tech wizards and n00bs alike. Questions, answers, or just general hoo-haa.

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Bellhead
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Vintage Viability

#1 Post by Bellhead »

Simply put, people tell me I'm crazy, and I disagree.

My work computer is a Dell Dimension 8250 with 2 GB of ram. It's offline only, and I have over 32 hours of music, several movies and a few animes on it. Dual monitor setup, surround sound, the whole shabang. The "am I crazy" part comes after.

Last week, I was playing Quake III at 60 FPS, while recording music through the line in and listening to something else through the speakers, and my coworker told me it was insane, and my computer was going to catch fire and die a horrible death. Thing's coming up on 20 years old, and running strong on all of its original hardware besides the graphics and sound cards.

What can I tell these guys to prove them wrong?
Gearhead mechanic in the digital era, who will probably grow up is in the process of growing up to be a very grumpy old man.

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Re: Vintage Viability

#2 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Dell has some really good equipment.

In any case quake is a rather old game and quite lightweight by today's standards. With only 2 gbs pf ram I think openi chrome wouldn't not be a good idea. And the audio processing is mostly off-loaded to the sound card so I see no reason for the setup to fail.
Yet I imagine any update in the software might break the thing specially a Windows update
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Neutral Smith
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Re: Vintage Viability

#3 Post by Neutral Smith »

Least you can do is remove all the dust, apply new thermal paste and check the wiring for dried/crumbling insulation, especially around places that get warm.

And maybe keep an eye on the (area around the) BIOS battery.
If it moves but shouldn't: Duct tape. If it doesn't move but should: WD-40. With a hammer everything fits, and if it still doesn't fit: bigger hammer. If it can't be fixed with a hammer it's an electrical problem.

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