[geeks] value of PIII PC servers

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Tue, Jun 13, 2006 at 12:15:36AM -0500, Micah R Ledbetter wrote:
> just be careful of XU800 RAM boards that take RAMBUS, like mine. I'd  
> love to get CPUs for it and boot it up... except for that :(
> (the RAM board can be replaced without replacing the motherboard, but  
> good like finding one.)

I'd like to toss some comments into this. I have two computers with
similar problems. One is an Intel dual PIII motherboard that someone
put two 400mHz PII's in. It has both wide and LVD scsi controllers,
a 10/100 ethernet, lousy VGA, IDE and floppy controlers on the 
motherboard. Lots of fans, the capability for a second power supply,
etc. It takes some sort of special RAM, so it sits with less than 256m.


It's a nice reliable machine, but at that speed it's hardly worth
upgrading or using. It eats lots of power, and a more modern single
processor machine would be faster, cheaper to run, and a lot smaller.

Someone gave me an 800 mHz PIII and that takes regular 100mHz SDRAM.
Since I don't have any wide or LVD SCSI disks or tapes, I used it
instead of the dual PII. I was able to get three 128m sticks of memory
for free. 

The second is a P4, 1.7gHz. It takes 2 RAMBUS modules. It has two 128meg
ones in it now. To upgrade it here in Israel, is extremely expensive.
One 512m RIMM costs as much as a NEW 2.8gHz computer with 512m DDR RAM,
80 gig SATA drive, etc.

Sometimes, trying to use these old machines costs more than new ones. 
It depends upon your abiluty to scrounge and what is around.

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
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