A thread about putting new computer parts into old computers.
So I bought a Sparc64/i386 dual chipset workstation today and am looking to make a high-powered server.
Anyone else working on a similar project or care to discuss?
>>946922
no.
old cases do not have ventilation that a modern computer requires.
get a new case
>>946933
Well it already has a fan, vents, and ample space inside. I'm not getting a GPU.
Why would pic related not do the trick?
>>946935
its more a matter of not circulating the same hot air inside the case
>>946922
I've been thinking of putting together a silent and energy efficient Windows XP machine with an SSDD and an LCD monitor.
Go on.
>>946922
I swore I will never buy a new case. I have some old ones, filling them up with all-powerful new equipment rubs all the right places. They are atx houses by the way, not crazy old stuff like ops pic
>>946940
newer cases mount the PSU at the bottom. so it can suck in fresh cool air. it's the new ATX standard. it's important now that PSUs are generally at least 600W now while ten years ago they were at most 300W
>>946936
It's not very old (1998 earliest) and has air flow like this, but without the vent on top.
Sorry to be obtuse, I've rarely had a computer run hotter than 70 degC, and that was for obvious reasons like transcoding video.
If that somehow isn't enough then there's plenty of space for a water pump.
>>946943
It hurts me that you think I am some gamer faggot
True ATX form factor PSUs still exist
>muh cooling
I always used stock coolers, no case coolers and I never had anything dying on me like that
>>946945
>>946944
>hotter than 70C
wut? that's insane. I run stock coolers on everything. just sayin that capacitors fail faster the hotter they are run. particularly important when a cap in the PSU blows and takes other equipment down with it.
hell my computer is 7 years old now and runs fallout 4 fine. I still have a shitty case without the radiator top vent and inverted PSU. it's worth spending 50$ on a new case for your next build though.
>>946945
>True ATX form factor PSUs still exist
yah, they never changed? the dimensions and mounting holes are the same. you just put it in upside down instead now.
![Sun-Ultra-10-440MHz-UltraSparc-512MB-RAM-2-x-9.1GB-HDD-Workstation-[3]-26811-p.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/DSM83nA.jpg "Sun-Ultra-10-440MHz-UltraSparc-512MB-RAM-2-x-9.1GB-HDD-Workstation-[3]-26811-p.jpg")
>>946940
That's an Apple IIe, which would probably require case mods to retrofit with anything semi-modern.
Mine is a Sun Sparc Ultra 10, which already has optical/floppy drives, VGA, PS/2 ports, RJ-45, audio, etc., everything I need except USB.
I'll probably buy a modern mobo, desolder whatever doesn't fit naturally (USB ports), and rearrange things as necessary. There might be space for USB ports in one of the four PCMCIA slots.
I don't physically have the machine with me, so it's somewhat hard to describe.
>>946946
>it's worth spending 50$ on a new case for your next build though.
Probably, but using classic hardware scratches a certain itch.
I don't play computer games or use fancy GPUs so my internal temps are low, 30 or 40 degC on average.
>>946955
well that's fair enough. but you could just buy a NUC for what you use your computer for then.
>>946976
Not that guy, but NUCs are gay and not expandable
Full form ATX for maximum future proofing
>>946946
>>hotter than 70C
>wut? that's insane.
No it's not.
CPUs are rated to at least 85 degrees, and if that temperature caused them harm, they wouldn't be rated to it.
>>946989
>not expandable
Who the fuck cares?
As has already been established, it doesn't need to be "future-proofed", because whatever can be bought to completely replace it will be better in every measurable way.
>>946989
...if you dont play games and you don't do anything else GPU intensive, I doubt you do anything CPU intensive.
Why would this individual ever want to expand and why they want to do anything more than just buying a newer NUC?
>>946997
>>947002
Buying consumershit regularly is gay and shit, and what if I want to start tinkering with VMs, "just buy a new computer"? Hell, no
I also need to pay for shit that I already have in ATX form, so why would I buy it every time?
Better buy quality that can last for a lot of years, I buy computers for 10+ years
>>947012
Whoa whoa whoa time the fuck out. First off, you're a lying piece of shit, or just a fucking retard.
It doesn't matter if you buy the best GPU, after 10 years it is woefully outdated. CPU will be pretty dated, but usable.
My i5 2500k is 5 years old and still going strong.
My 780 is under 3 years old and can't max most games anymore.
If you built your PC more than 6 years ago, your shitty comp is getting rekt by $250 NUCs right now.
>>947025
>First off, you're a lying piece of shit, or just a fucking retard.
Nice. I'm typing from a Core2Duo mobile version, and it works. Note that the RAM can be expanded to 8GBs, which is the same what you can do with consumershit low-tier laptops, except this was cheaper and it looks nicer too. This is the main bottleneck of this machine right now, since the HDD always clicks when the memory is full, indicating the extensive use of swap memory. Buying 8GB RAM and adding the cost to the price I got this laptop for still gets me under the half of the cost of cheap consumershit laptops, and it just werks, dude
>My 780 is under 3 years old and can't max most games anymore.
Wish you did not said that at all. First off, I don't play games anymore, so the only use of a GPU is hardware acceleration, which this gutless thing does adequately. Second, "maxing" games is a pretty retarded hobby, but I guess it would be too hard on your poor soul to watch movies and play games for the story.
>If you built your PC more than 6 years ago, your shitty comp is getting rekt by $250 NUCs right now.
Oh don't worry about me, I can find a better use for that money
Grow up or go back to whatever consumerist hellhole you crawled out. This is /diy/, not /v/ or /g/, people here are smarter, save for the occasional bypassers. Maybe one day, you willl realize that your super cool gayming, all aesthetics, underutilized powerhouse won't worth it, just to impress strangers on the internet
>>947002
I meant that I don't mine bitcoins.
Most heavy tasks I do are one-off, like transcoding video, running genetic sims in a Java env, compiling software, etc.
>>946997
That NUC doesn't have PS/2 or VGA ports for starters.
>>947025
DESU, I could easily run OpenBSD on the original Sparc64 processor at 440 MHz with 512 MB RAM and the ~10 GB hard drive.
Just looking for a project, it doesn't need to be an $800 Intel setup.
>>947072
>I'm typing from a Core2Duo mobile version, and it works.
I'm sure it functions. But if you were to put it side-by-side with a packard-bell from PC world, you'd see just how much of your ostensibly-valuable time you're wasting waiting for it to catch up with you. You don't even see, because you're like the frog in boiling water.
Ivy Bridge Celerons smoke top-end Core 2 Duos, and Haswell i3s are faster than Core2 Xeons.
Sad but true.
This difference in performance is more than just theoretical or for enthusiast workloads: it translates directly to better responsiveness in modern web browsers and compositing GUIs. Core2 is just not fast enough anymore.
>Second, "maxing" games is a pretty retarded hobby
No it's not, it's playing them the way the designers intended them to be played.
Not maxing your game is like watching a Bluray on an SDTV.
>>947072
>super cool gayming, all aesthetics, underutilized powerhouse
I'm pretty sure that describes your full-size tower: a giant ostentatious phallus of a PC, a monument to your ego.
>>947088
>Core2 is just not fast enough anymore.
Yet I'm typing on one, it works!
>a giant ostentatious phallus of a PC, a monument to your ego.
There is no suitable reaction picture for this sentence
![Tandy+1000SX+First+Advertisement[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/JSaCByH.jpg "Tandy+1000SX+First+Advertisement[1].jpg")
>>947075
>doesn't have PS/2 or VGA ports for starters.
It also missing a Centronics port, floppy drive, and cassette port.
![maxresdefault[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/nIeu8wn.jpg "maxresdefault[1].jpg")
>>947089
>Yet I'm typing on one, it works!
And as we've established, you're an idiot.
My Atari ST also still works; that doesn't make it a good idea to use it for day-to-day business.
>>946933
Because its so hard to cut some holes an put some screen under them..
Get the fuck off my /DIY/ faggot.
>>947091
Are you retarded?
>>947091
That's an Aptiva, I believe. I have the midi tower version of one of those somewhere. I believe mine is slightly older than pic related, tho.
>>946933
Old professional use workstations actually have quite good ventilation usually.
With some clever airflow directing on the inside it can be more then enough for a modern system.
>>946946
yeah but your valves will run better hot, though.
>>947517
seriously
>>946922
you could probably retrofit a mini-itx board into an apple //e or maybe gut a silent thin client and put that hardware inside the apple case, since thin clients dont usually have fans and run totally silent (if you use a SSD with it of course) and that way it can still get enough air to keep cool but require no mods to the case for fans
>>947600
that cap isnt too healthy.
>>947620
Not too surprising when they stick it right next to a tube.
>>947600
Are there any circuits in a modern computer that would gain a tangible benefit from tubes over solid-state components? I'm ready to destroy modern hardware in pursuit of this.
>>947602
I can't find any indication about what form factor the original Sun Sparc Ultra 10 mobo has, and not knowledgable enough to find out exactly.
It seems like a historical version of ATX, pic related. Will upload pics momentarily.
>>947685
Okay guys I got the pics. 1/2, full view, case on its side.
>>947688
2/2 orientation shot, case standing up, back panel on the left, mobo on bottom with row of caps. Link to service manual here:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19127-01/ultra10.ws/805-7764-12/805-7764-12.pdf
Sorry for the shit quality, they were taken on a smartphone.
>>946943
>at least 600W now while ten years ago they were at most 300W
Uh, no.
An average PSU in your average PC is around
300W.
Also, 650W units were available in 2004-5.
>>947691
3/2, near the top, we seem to have RAM, audio, and at least one PS/2 port wedged between graphics card(s?) and ATA/floppy/optical drives. Power supply on top left, PS/2 ports not positioned very close to each other on the back panel.
Using an off-the-shelf ATX board is starting to look like a project in itself.
My explanations are amateur but the service manual is very helpful.
>>947685
That thing is using it to amplify the AC97 soundcard.
>>947685
>Are there any circuits in a modern computer that would gain a tangible benefit from tubes over solid-state components? I'm ready to destroy modern hardware in pursuit of this.
Literally zero. I love tubes, but they are really just a novelty at this point. Russian military equipment used tubes for quite a while because they can withstand the radiation emitted from a nearby nuclear detonation, but replacing the standard audio amplifier on a modern PC with a tube circuit does you no good when the CPU, ram, and everything else on the board is toast. Not to mention, if there are nukes dropping outside your door, you probably have better things to worry about than your PC.
>>947711
Considering 100% of the server's music output will be streamed online I see your point, but it would be nice on a workstation with fancy speakers.
>>946994
My Intel CPU throttles at 100 and shuts off at 105°©
>>947718
The audio source doesn't even matter. A very high quality tube amp and a very high quality solid state amp should do exactly the same thing: amplify the signal with as little distortion as possible. There are many many tube and semiconductor amps with distortion below the threshold of human hearing ability. If you can tell the difference between two amps, it means either or both are not very good.
Tubes have niche uses, like super high power RF amplifiers, applications where extreme radiation resistance is necessary, and guitar amps, where the distortion mechanism is intentionally invoked. Even then, semiconductors are catching up in high power applications, there are radiation-hardened semiconductors, and you can almost exactly duplicate the "tube sound" distortion of an amp with a few transistors.
That said, I still think tubes are super cool. I want to build a power amplifier that uses exactly one of a bunch of different types of amplifying devices (tube, bjt, FET, IGBT, maybe something really obscure like a unijunction transistor).
>>947711
>Not to mention, if there are nukes dropping outside your door, you probably have better things to worry about than your PC.
You don't know me
>>947711
>Russian military equipment used tubes for quite a while because they can withstand the radiation emitted from a nearby nuclear detonation
And like most Russian "innovative design choices" it turned to out to be more trouble than its worth.
In a much more probable scenario of tank getting hit by a conventional munition, the shock from the hit makes the tubes short out. Possibly because of the cathode coming in contact with one of the control grids.
Tank electronics literally have to be "rebooted" for 15 minutes because of that.
>>947948
Usually people talk about planes instead of tanks when the Soviet use of tubes in military stuff is mentioned.
Afaik the main reason was just availability and serviceability and that nuke thing was mainly just US paranoia ("it's for nuclear war" sounds scarier than "their and their allies' technology is bit outdated").
ARRL tested tube and semiconductor radios using a NEMP simulator some years ago and the somewhat surprising result was that the tube stuff wasn't much better than the current semiconductor stuff.
I have a Macintosh plus in full working condition BUT
>no mouse
>no keyboard
>no hard drive
wat do? Any contemporary solutions or are original parts from ebay the only way?
Anyone have any experience with decoding a keyboard output? I have a old (early 1990's) keyboard + mouse combo that has a 5 pin output connector. I would love to use this keyboard with a custom computer I'm making out of a pi. No clue how to use the 5 pin connector tho. Nothing came up from google searching.
>>948922
it's quite likely compatible with PS2 jacks. in which case, you could get one of these adapters, and if you need it, a PS2-to-USB adapter.
>>948936
Make sure you get an active ps2 to usb adapter - the passive ones won't work with a keyboard that old.
>>947708
>This Sun has a 250W supply, which seems reasonable on an 95W CPU with integrated graphics. Energy efficiency is a primary concern here.
That's not how it works. The old 250W supply probably uses BJTs, while new, efficient designs use MOSFETs and synchronous rectifying to achieve the ultimate efficiency. MOSFETs have way less on-state resistance than BJTs, and have no thermal runaway, oh, and don't forget active power factor correction. You could probably hack an at least around 600W psu in the same space, using new stuff, and could come around to the same heat output, but hey, 250W is not that much, so who cares
>>947711
Some audiofags like the way tube amps sound, so that's kinda an advantage I guess?
>>949110
being an 'audiofag' is already a disadvantage though
