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Building a PC to mimick mid 00s era computing

  1. #1
    PrettyHateMachine African Astronaut
    I was thinking about taking my HD4870 and making a new build out of it, but I'm wondering
    I want to create something that is as similar to a mid 00s era pc as possible, like, I want an old Dell or Compaq desktop, CRT monitor etc (aside for the keyboard and mouse which will be brand new).
    What CPU should I use that will give me the best performance, but be on par with what you could get around 2008, I had a Core 2 duo from my 2007 pc but it fried.
    Oh and for the operating system I'm going to use XP.
    I'll make a video and post it here once this build is complete, but that will probably be several months from now (I'm homeless atm).
  2. #2
    Lanny Bird of Courage
    You're homeless, don't waste even the small amount of money this would cost on a shitty computer you're thinking of building out of nostalgia.

    Like I love retro computing, but you're picking a dogshit era of design to fetishize. At least try to build a SPARC station or something that runs AmigaOS or really anything but XP on x86.
  3. #3
    HTS highlight reel
    I want to do this, but literally only so I can play KotOR again. Getting it working on Windows 10 is somehow more difficult for me than building a dedicated machine for that one purpose.
  4. #4
    Core 2 duo? Thats an odd pick. You can probably pick them out of trash outside companies or grab them second hand or the like.

    My old desktop is a Core 2 duo, it's outdated for Windows or even some sites on the modern web, but runs Linux just fine.

    I advise you not to spend any money on this project.
  5. #5
    Lanny Bird of Courage
    Originally posted by HTS I want to do this, but literally only so I can play KotOR again. Getting it working on Windows 10 is somehow more difficult for me than building a dedicated machine for that one purpose.

    Have you tried virtualbox? It's slow, but it's KOTOR so I don't think you'll be bottlenecking because of virtualisation. That was how I replayed icewind dale a while ago, played like a dream.
  6. #6
    The Steam version of KOTOR runs fine for me, and I assume the GoG version works fine too.
  7. #7
    Speedy Parker Black Hole
    Originally posted by HTS I want to do this, but literally only so I can play KotOR again. Getting it working on Windows 10 is somehow more difficult for me than building a dedicated machine for that one purpose.

    Intstall a VM, install OS of choice in VM, install old shitty game of choice.
  8. #8
    -SpectraL coward [the spuriously bluish-lilac bushman]
    I'm on an IBM ThinkCentre (2005) w/1 gig RAM and a dual 3.0 GHz CPU and running WinXP. Works perfectly.
  9. #9
    Speedy Parker Black Hole
    Originally posted by -SpectraL I'm on an IBM ThinkCentre (2005) w/1 gig RAM and a dual 3.0 GHz CPU and running WinXP. Works perfectly.

    Define perfectly.
  10. #10
    -SpectraL coward [the spuriously bluish-lilac bushman]
    Originally posted by Speedy Parker Define perfectly.

    As in no lag, smooth graphics, no crashes, no freezes, trouble-free. I'm on a Sceptre 14" analog cathode ray tube monitor, too, which I've been running since 1997 without issue.
  11. #11
    >online with 1 gig of ram
  12. #12
    -SpectraL coward [the spuriously bluish-lilac bushman]
    Originally posted by MORALLY SUPERIOR BEING 2.0 - The GMO Reckoning >online with 1 gig of ram

    Not only that, it's two 500 mb chips. I have a neat utility which can dump the RAM on them, so lack of memory is never a problem. When I want to run a game or program which requires more memory, I strip the requirements directly out of the code of the program itself and emulate other unnecessary features to make it run whether it wants to or not. I could easily buy a brand new computer, but I refuse to submit to the crony capitalist schemes.
  13. #13
    Why don't you just find out what type of RAM you have and get more from an old machine?
  14. #14
    Grimace motherfucker [my enumerable hindi guideword]
    This is a fucking terrible idea. Just go to your local thrift store and pick one up for like, $20.
  15. #15
    -SpectraL coward [the spuriously bluish-lilac bushman]
    Originally posted by MORALLY SUPERIOR BEING 2.0 - The GMO Reckoning Why don't you just find out what type of RAM you have and get more from an old machine?

    I could have, but then I figured, why bother? If everything is already running smoothly, which it is, there's no need. I like to keep things basic and simple and old school.
  16. #16
    Speedy Parker Black Hole
    Originally posted by -SpectraL As in no lag, smooth graphics, no crashes, no freezes, trouble-free. I'm on a Sceptre 14" analog cathode ray tube monitor, too, which I've been running since 1997 without issue.

    So besides posting on forums what else do you do with it? Like what kind of software do you use besides a web browser. Excluding security apps.
  17. #17
    WE SMOOTH African Astronaut
    Originally posted by -SpectraL I could have, but then I figured, why bother? If everything is already running smoothly, which it is, there's no need. I like to keep things basic and simple and old school.

    Nigga you're trolling hard lol a 3.0 GhZ processor w/ 2 500 MB chips of RAM HAHAH
  18. #18
    -SpectraL coward [the spuriously bluish-lilac bushman]
    Originally posted by WE SMOOTH Nigga you're trolling hard lol a 3.0 GhZ processor w/ 2 500 MB chips of RAM HAHAH

    No, I'm absolutely serious. I've been on this machine since 2005, 13 years.
  19. #19
    PrettyHateMachine African Astronaut
    Originally posted by -SpectraL No, I'm absolutely serious. I've been on this machine since 2005, 13 years.

    It would be pretty fun and probably really awful to main my old PC from 2005, if I still had it.
    It was (don't hate) AOL PCs you could get for like $300 or so.
    That babe was my whole world back then.
    Btw I found a CD-R from 2005 of some clips I had downloaded ... Pretty bizarre obvious brainwashing stuff like softcore porn, child abuse, blacks fighting each other, comedy shorts.
    It gave me an idea to make a bd-r time capsule and then wait like 10 or 20 years and open it up and see how much I have changed since.
    I think I contributed to a.timecapsule for grade school ... Wonder if they invite me to the opening party in 100 years (I'll still be alive thanks to age reversal)
  20. #20
    -SpectraL coward [the spuriously bluish-lilac bushman]
    With asynchronous RAM, the entire chip must be read to locate the desired data, therefore the smaller the chip, the faster the reads will be. That's the way I like it.
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