Generic PC (AMD SEMPRON 2400+ 1.6GHZ)

ID: PCD09

HISTORY

This is a PC that has been in use for a over a decade, and so is way behind in technological advancements. It belonged to a customer that I have helped for a number of years who has now upgraded to a more modern system. Naturally, there was no use for this old relic once the new Dell tower complete with Windows 10 and an SSD was up and running, so it was given to me.


INITIAL SPECIFICATIONS

Model: None (Generic Desktop PC)
Year of Manufacturer: 2005 (Estimate)
Motherboard: ASROCK K7S41GX (REV 1.03)
Chipset: SIS 741GX
Processor: AMD SEMPRON 2400+ 1.6GHZ (Socket A)
RAM: 2GB DDR (2x 1GB 184-Pin DIMM)
Hard Drive(s): 40GB 3.5" PATA
Optical Drive(s): DVD-ROM 5.25" PATA
Graphics: Integrated (SIS)
Audio: Integrated (C-Media)
Network: Integrated (100Mbps Ethernet)
USB: 2.0 (2 Front, 4 Rear)
Power Supply: Generic 400W
Other Features: 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive, 56K Dial-Up Modem
COA: Windows XP Home


INITIAL INSPECTION

Although the computer is old, it's in really good condition and shows little signs of use. I was pleasantly surprised to find the inside the computer relatively clean with no bad capacitors on either the power supply or motherboard PCBs. When tested, the fan in the power supply was a little noisy, but this should be easy to rectify. Although plenty of RAM is present, the processor is very out of date and isn't up to modern Internet use, never mind Windows 10. In fact, it probably won't run Linux that well either, so this will be another system to stretch the workable life of Windows XP even further.


REPAIRS & MODIFICATIONS

• The bearings in the power supply fan were lubricated.

PREPARATION

With the fan in the power supply now running sweetly, I cleaned out the case, applied some fresh thermal paste to the processor cooler and put the system back together. The owner of the computer had been experiencing stability issues, but diagnostic tests on the RAM and hard drive showed everything to be working correctly.

SETUP

Windows XP was the only real option for this system, because everything else would have run far too slowly. With all drivers and updates installed, it booted up in no time and felt responsive in use. After the usual burn-in tests, I installed some office and media player software, but was stuck for a browser that could be reliably used on such old equipment. Google Chrome no longer supports XP, and both Firefox and Opera require processors with the SSE2 instruction set, which sadly all socket A processors lack. However, I came across a little known browser called QTWeb, which works surprisingly well on older hardware. It wasn't fast, but browsing popular sites such as BBC and Amazon was at least practical, and I was able to complete my weekly Ebuyer order without much difficulty.

CONCLUSION

Limited as the specifications are, I'm hoping this computer will find a new home and a new use. It still works fine for most general purpose offline activities, and would work well for someone who just wanted to send a few E-Mails and print off some documents, or someone who still needed Windows XP to run legacy software. The lack of processing power and instruction sets limits it's practical use online, but the QTWeb browser should provide enough functionality for basic use of Google and the Internet.

Generic PC (INTEL CELERON D 331 2.66GHZ)

ID: PCD04

HISTORY

This desktop PC was probably supplied by a local firm, as it does not seem to bear any manufacturer markings. It's built in a typical black computer case and doesn't look like anything particularly special. I took it away for recycling after setting up it's replacement (a refurbished Windows 10 unit). It was in a working condition, but was very slow.


INITIAL SPECIFICATIONS

Model: None (Generic Desktop PC)
Year of Manufacturer: 2007 (Estimate)
Motherboard: ASROCK 775I65G (REV G/A 2.04)
Chipset: INTEL 865G
Processor: INTEL CELERON D 331 2.66GHz 64-Bit (Socket 775)
RAM: 2GB DDR (2x 1GB 184-Pin DIMM)
Hard Drive(s): 160GB SATA
Optical Drive(s): DVD-RW
Graphics: Integrated (Intel)
Audio: Integrated (C-Media)
Network: Integrated (100Mbps Ethernet)
USB: 2.0 (2 Front, 6 Rear)
Power Supply: Colorsit 400W
Other Features: None
COA: None


INITIAL INSPECTION

The outside of the computer didn't show anything a miss but removing the side panel revealed some bad capacitors on the motherboard that would need replacing. In addition, the power supply fan had completely seized up. With a single core processor and original DDR RAM, this would probably run Linux better than Windows 10.


REPAIRS & MODIFICATIONS

• 1000uF and 1500uF motherboard capacitors were replaced.
• The bearings in the power supply fan were lubricated.
• The DVD drive would not read disks reliably. I tried cleaning the lens in the drive several times (both via disassembly and cleaning disks) but in the end it had to be replaced.

PREPARATION

The recap was a success and the computer started up first time. Further diagnostics on RAM and hard drive did not reveal any further problems, so I was ready to proceed with the setup.

SETUP

I thought Linux would be ideal for this system. With an older but 64-Bit capable processor and plenty of RAM, I expected Ubuntu to work fine. However, I was proved completely wrong - performance was terrible. I'm not sure if this was down to the integrated Intel graphics or just inadequate processing power, but it certainly was not usable. I tried an older version of Ubuntu and even the special 'Lubuntu' lightweight build, but graphics was still unacceptably 'laggy'. In the end I gave up and installed Windows XP using a key I extracted from the registry before wiping the hard drive. This worked much better, especially when the 'Color quality' setting was lowered to 16-Bit, and the 'Classic' theme was enabled. Opera still has a version of their browser that works on XP, and this proved to be the best option in this case.

CONCLUSION

I don't have any peripherals to give away with this system, so it will be offered as a 'tower only' computer for somebody to use with their existing monitor, keyboard and mouse. It would certainly be of use for word processing, E-Mail (through a client such as Outlook Express), basic use of Google, listening to music offline or photo storage, but I think modern web apps like Facebook or Outlook.com would be probably be too slow for regular use.