Maximum PC

Who is using the oldest piece of hardware and does not plan on replacing it?

I have a new PC and I plan on rocking my old mechanical keyboard.
I still have my first 256MB USB flashdrive from years ago.

still have a 128 MB PNY (I think, any logo has long since worn off) flash drive. USB connector is bent and its been through the wash a few times, but still its useful as a boot stick.

still have a running win98SE machine, P2 400, ASUS BX6 (I think) mobo, 384 megs SDRAM, 8 gig HD, vodoo3 12 meg (?) video, SB 16, generic beige case, generic 300 watt PSU. used for Olde Skool DOS games. well years ago anyway.. last booted maybe 6 months ago. so I suppose its still "used" on occasion. does it count?

You could turn it on and use it so sure.

I have an old gateway 2000 PC(G6-200) that still runs Win98 that I haven't used in a while. The mother in law used it for solitaire. I got tired of supporting it. I'd got it new in 1998. I think it is a PII 200. I can brew a pot of coffee before it fully boots.

I still have my InWin Q-500 Full Tower Case. It's not in use at this time, due to lack of space. But then again, I could probably sub-let it to someone for a mini-apartment - that's how much space is inside.

Until recently, I was using a Toshiba laptop with an i386SX. It finally died a few months ago.

Well, if we really want to talk about old, working stuff (not in use), I do have my fully functioning IBM 5150 in my parent's house - again my apartment is rather small.

My oldest piece of hardware that is still in continuous use is my case. When my public library gave away a 600MHz PIII system a couple of years ago, I immediately grabbed it for the PC-Core Ltd. case (datestamped 1996) that was bigger than the eMachines case I was using at the time, and put the rest of the pieces in my parts box... just in case.

I don't have a lot of old stuff.

My oldest thing that I still use is probably a 512MB flash drive bought in 2005. My parents computer case is from 2006, but that's about the extent of working stuff.

when we moved I really got rid of a lot of old stuff and consolidated my server(s) to one physical box (running 3 VMs)

getting rid of my old rackmount netgear switch (with stupid loud fans) and older cases with 80mm fans has really improved my computing experience in that it is much quieter now.


i suppose the oldest thing I'm using right now is a rather old WRT54G ver 3 router with dd-wrt on it.


at the old house I was using a old pc (with a rather loud psu) running pfsense which was nice but the little wrt54G with dd-wrt sure takes up less space and makes A LOT less noise.



edit i'm super stoked with my efforts to quiet things down (all 80+ high quality psu's now (corsair)) and newer cases with 120mm fans (2x gigabyte triton 180s) put hyper 212+ coolers on the cpu(s)

moving from 3 to 2 then 1 physical boxes for server(s) has all reduced the clutter and noise. my little E3300 cpu (w/ VT) and with enough ram (running VMs) is ++ full of win vs old p4s and the AMD FX55 i have before.

Most of my old computer hardware has either been sent to the recycling center or donated to various people.

I guess you could say my mom's monitor is the oldest these days. I bought it for her back in 2003 or 2004 I believe.

The Toshiba notebook I bought in November of 2005 is now acting as a Server 2008 DC. It started out as a 'can it work' and turned into a 'let's see how far I can take this thing' project. Not a bad little server for a 1.6 GHz Celeron-M with 1 GB of DDR and an 80 GB 5400 RPM HDD. Small footprint, minimal energy usage/cooling, and a built in battery!

n0b0dykn0ws