What do you do with a spare computer?

Recently purchased a new desktop as it was a bargain but now wondering what to do with my old system. Theres nothing wrong with it and I have been respecing it about every year if not more often.

I am not sure if I want to sell it purely as it has sentimental value not to mention you actually need to treat it with tender love if you want it to do anything useful.

The best suggestion I have had so far is to host Habboxforum on it :P

An american friend of mine was telling me of his friend who modded his setup so he could fill the case with water or something outrageous like that. That sounded like fun so I was considering that, but I wanted to hear other opinions before I go and short circuit everything.

Backup, backup, backup! :)

That's what I used my old system for, backing up my backups. ;D

When I get my new CPU I'll have all the old parts to make another computer with, I'm going to put linux on it and use it as a movie/tv show computer so I can watch a movie from my hard drive on TV while playing a game without lag.

Depends on the phyisical size of it. Ether new MediaCentre or basic homeserver for video storage or backup.

Or Ebay...

Well I keep my old system, or use it some where else in the house hold (currently my old system is now the family computer) my old 98 computer I decided to smash out side last year, now that was fun.

Like people have said, use it either as a home server or just a small media center to store all your media on etc

You couldn't host HxF on it, since you internet wouldn't have a good enough connection xD

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Originally Posted by yabberer

Like people have said, use it either as a home server or just a small media center to store all your media on etc

You couldn't host HxF on it, since you internet wouldn't have a good enough connection xD

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colocation duh :P

May turn into a media center, I have a pc input on my new plasma (see I am trying to jump start the economy with all my spending).

Install hackintosh or linux on it :P

Install linux and get experience with different versions of that.

You'd have to work out how many U it is before trying to colocate it... and it wouldn't be a great idea using old technology to host habboxforum, as you say, it needs "tender love" for anything useful.

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Originally Posted by Jin

Recently purchased a new desktop as it was a bargain but now wondering what to do with my old system. Theres nothing wrong with it and I have been respecing it about every year if not more often.

I am not sure if I want to sell it purely as it has sentimental value not to mention you actually need to treat it with tender love if you want it to do anything useful.

The best suggestion I have had so far is to host Habboxforum on it :P

An american friend of mine was telling me of his friend who modded his setup so he could fill the case with water or something outrageous like that. That sounded like fun so I was considering that, but I wanted to hear other opinions before I go and short circuit everything.

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As good of an idea of hosting Habbox Forum on it is (um...please don't do that:P)...I would sell it regardless of whether or not it had sentimental value. It's a machine. Or I would (if it can handle it) give Windows 7 a spin. You can use it for folding, or a DVR. You can run MaxiVista off it, and get a second monitor:D. You can endlessly calculate pi.

Other than that your fish tank idea sounds good.

They used mineral oil, not water ;)

I've got Ubuntu server running on my old one, getting away from a GUI and into a lovely command line.

Linux it, I dare you :P

Or just use it as a home media server.

I think your friend meant oil not water :P dam tawm already said xD

Co location isn't really an option as people(datacenters) don't like co-locating anything that doesn't rack fit.

The idea of running some sort of linux distribution sounds reasonable, such as ubuntu server 8.04 (hardy), newer version has less support for good repos etc.. I have 8.04 server edition on my old pc and home rackmount and I use it to develop sites as having a 1gbps connection to a server (local network) is of course alot faster when making a video site (as you have to test the uploading, converting etc...).

Boxee.tv could be another option if you were looking into sharing media around the house, its a social media network server/client and can stream video's / audio / images from internet sites (such as rev3 for the fans) and local networks.

Linux on a computer isnt as much fun for me as it is for others, i deal with it every day and well after a while it is just linux.

I think media center aquarium cooling system would be cool, it will solve both the issue of the avalanche of DVDs falling from our cupboard thanks to my girlfriends constant need to purchase physical disks and keep the guests marvelled.

A vid of the mineral oil thing. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PtufuXLvOok

my friend made an, um, admirable video of him throwing his old computer into a rocky creek. and it smashing into pieces.

Liquid Nitrogen cooled system :P

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Originally Posted by Sc0tteh

Liquid Nitrogen cooled system :P

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Nah, liquid helium's better. Superconductivity FTW!

That would be pretty immense though, "At 100% load i'm getting 74° temps" Other guys like "Yeh 100% load i'm getting about -103° temp" :P

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Originally Posted by Sc0tteh

That would be pretty immense though, "At 100% load i'm getting 74° temps" Other guys like "Yeh 100% load i'm getting about -103° temp" :P

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Lol too cold has an opposite effect to system performance. Windows 7 would be an interesting feat I must admit.

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Originally Posted by Jin

Lol too cold has an opposite effect to system performance. Windows 7 would be an interesting feat I must admit.

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Yeah, the silicon semiconductors die below about -140C, but meh.

Yeh great overclocking :P

Windows 7 sucks imho i hate the taskbar...

I'd personally use as filesharing/backup :P