What should I do with this existing desktop?


I have a mostly custom built desktop, and want to replace it with adequately current hardware, but no real plans for gaming.

  • The IDE Hard Drives are going out.
  • On the existing desktop:
    • Windows 2000 is installed, but I rarely boot to it.
    • Ubuntu 9.04 is installed.
  • I have a SATA 250 GB drive that works perfectly fine, but which I have from another system which I upgraded to 2 x 500 GB.
  • The Antec case is a fairly nice, but dated, mid-tower ATX case.
  • I think the power supply handles SATA power.
  • The existing motherboard only supports IDE, up to a 3.06 Northwood core processor.
  • I currently do not have *any* Windows 7 installs.

I also have a Dell Desktop which is our main desktop in the home:

  • Windows XP
  • 3 GB of RAM
  • 2 x 500 GB SATA hard drives
  • 2.16 GHz [E6400?] Core 2 Duo processor
  • iTunes, media, and photos are on this box.

Some interests:

  • Windows 7 64-bit would be nice to play around with.
  • Would still like to end up with a Ubuntu install somewhere.

Some options that I’ve thought of:

  1. Upgrade the custom build (that’s a mobo/processor and ram minimally, even if integrated video)
  2. Get a recent refurb desktop, replace the Dell with it, and replace the custom build with a Dell
  3. Buy a Mac desktop, move the Dell downstairs.

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: