Maximum PC

I have a P3 1GHz computer that I've been using the last 4 years, and I was thinking of turning it into a media server as well as building a new machine for gaming. I'm wondering if I should salvage its parts or start over completely and say goodbye to old technology. It's been a great computer and very reliable, and here's what's in it:

P3 1Ghz
512MB Crucial 133MHz SDRAM
Asus CUSL2 mobo, USB 1.0 only
Antec 1040B tower that everybody else has also
Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 Ultra
SB Live! X-gamer 5.1 soundcard
Pioneer DVD ROM
Plextor 12x CD burner
40GB IBM 120GXP Deskstar
120GB WD Caviar 8MB cache
Linksys ethernet card

What I was thinking of doing is getting rid of the case and hard drives and then running XP RAID (mirroring) on 4 or 6 WD 200GB drives, maybe putting everything into a larger aluminum case, or getting the same case made by Chieftec so it's aluminum. Then I would build a completely new system for gaming and media stuff.

The other alternative here is to scrap the whole idea and to just focus on one system and have that be a media server as well as a gaming rig and HTPC. Any thoughts or suggestions?

There is still some life in that system. While not much good for high-end gaming, I think it would work well for server duty. If it works, why junk it?

keep the hdds and the case. the case and hdds are still pretty good. you can make a linux server out of it or something. there is still life in that system. you can put the hdds on another computer if you have other computers and buy the new WD hdds.

It would be great as is for simple file serving if you get a one of these

$22 - SYBA PCI Ultra ATA/133 IDE host controller
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 001&depa=0

or these

$36 - SYBA PCI 4-Channel Serial-ATA controller card
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 020&depa=0

depending on what kind of drives you get. They are cheap, and probably will tax the cpu a bit. For HTPC playback will be perfect - PVR function may be pushing it... depends on the card definitely get hw encode/decode capable like PVR-350 will help ease up the load.