Computer Buying Questions

[Discusman]

If he wants a little bling Rosewill has actually stepped up with there cases for better air flow, This is a Micro ATX case but only has front 2.0 USB ports and both are $3 more in price.
Rosewill RANGER-M Dual Fans MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case - Newegg.com

and a standard ATX that can take a Micro ATX board and had both 2.0 and 3.0 USB on the front (Well the 3.0 USB is actually on the top front)
Newegg.com - Rosewill Galaxy-02 Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, 1x Top 120mm Fan, Top mounted USB 3.0 Port

Would dust get into these cases easily as they have more openings for better air flow?

 

[Discusman]

If you want to do gaming you'll need a decent video card. That can get pricey so you'll have to set a budget you're willing to pay up to and I'll retailer the PC for gaming.

Just link a case you like and I'll let you know if it'll work or if it's decent. Need to accept mATX boards at least.

What's the mid price range for a video card for game playing?

 

[Discusman]

The Dell Poweredge SC430 will work with Windows 7, but it will still be very slow due to the age of the hardware, even though it has had little use. For small scale development, it would definitely be fine as a server. I'm sure later versions of Windows Server are compatible with it. You could also go the open source route and install Linux and run it as a server (Ubuntu being the easiest route).

About the Asus and Dell i5/i7 PCs, most of them would probably suit your needs, but if you list some requirements and some possible options for computers, I could provide a stronger recommendation for you.

Would my power edge sc430 good for windows server 2012?

It currently has windows 2003 server installed. Is there a way for me to get all the service packs for 2003?

 

[PP Mguire]

Would dust get into these cases easily as they have more openings for better air flow?

Dust will get into any case easily if your house has a lot of dust. You should dust your PC every 6 months or so anyways to keep parts from overheating.

What's the mid price range for a video card for game playing?

250 bucks for a GTX 760 is a good start.

Would my power edge sc430 good for windows server 2012?

It currently has windows 2003 server installed. Is there a way for me to get all the service packs for 2003?

Probably not and I doubt there would be any drivers for 2012 or even 08.

You can download 2003 service packs directly from Microsoft.
Windows Server 2003 Service Packs

 

[Discusman]

Dust will get into any case easily if your house has a lot of dust. You should dust your PC every 6 months or so anyways to keep parts from overheating.

250 bucks for a GTX 760 is a good start.


Probably not and I doubt there would be any drivers for 2012 or even 08.

You can download 2003 service packs directly from Microsoft.
Windows Server 2003 Service Packs

I've never really thought about cleaning my computer for all these years I have been using it. I normally just remove the dust ball from the ventilation holes in the back of the computer. Do I need to open the case and clean the inside as well?

My old Dell currently has a Radeon 9600 series video card. I think it was a top end video card back then. Can I still use this one for the new PC?

I logged in Windows server 2003 and I click the windows update button and it brings me to the Microsoft website and I get an error message saying the windows updates are no longer exist.

My Dell PowerEdge SC430 has only 128MB. Does it make sense to add more rams since it has dual core CPU which is better than my Dell dimension 450. I want to set up my SC430 as a file server as well as a web server. I have multiple computers home including an iMac. I want to have a share drive that can store important documents, file backups, photos and videos. Can my SC430 running Windows 2003 Server handle the job?

I will post a thread under the software.

 

[PP Mguire]

Yes. PC parts today are about 10-20x more powerful than what you're currently running and a good PC like what I've listed up there requires you to clean it out often so it doesn't overheat.

If it's a PCI-E card then yes, but that card is super old. The drivers may or may not be available for newer operating systems and it is not good enough to do any modern gaming at all.

Use the link I provided to get the latest and last updates for server 2003.

Both are very old. The Pentium D in the PowerEdge is capable of being a media PC with a good GPU and would be a decent file server but that's it. Depending on the traffic it could work as a web server only if it had a small load. I used an old Dell Pentium D based Dell XPS machine as a file server for LANs but I had 4GB of RAM in it running Windows 7 x64.

 

[Discusman]

The GTX 760 video card takes a huge chunk of money out of my budget. Can I just use the onboard one for now and buying the GTX video card later if there is a need for it.

Would the Radeon 9600series is better than the onboard one?

 

[PP Mguire]

You could, but you're looking at needing to keep resolution low and settings basically on all low depending on the game in question.

No. It's way worse.

 

[Discusman]

I used an old Dell Pentium D based Dell XPS machine as a file server for LANs but I had 4GB of RAM in it running Windows 7 x64.

How was the performance of that XPS machine?

I'm installing SP packs and windows updates for Windows 2003 server on my PowerEdge SC420. It's laggy surfing on the internet while installing the updates. Would adding more memory help in this case or it is because the slow dual core CPU? You had 4GB of ram on your machine. I guess it maybe worth while adding more memory to my machine.

I want to check with you guys before purchase it. What do you think about this deal?

4AllMemory 1GB DDR2-400 (PC2-3200) ECC RAM Memory Upgrade for the Dell Poweredge SC420

 

[PP Mguire]

Even with 4GB of RAM it was slow. I didn't really watch movies or anything with it because it would sometimes lag out on 1080p content even with a dedicated GPU. It worked fine as a file server though until I started taking it to LANs. People hitting it constantly on DC++ lagged it out bad so it got replaced eventually. The Pentium D was just a very terrible processor. You also have to take into consideration that the machine I was using used non-ECC DDR2 and the speeds were 800MHz. So I had a lot more memory bandwidth in that machine as well.

I would look to Ebay for your DDR2 needs.
Kingston 2GB 2x1GB KTM2865 G PC2 3200 DDR2 400 ECC 2GB Memory Kit 2pcs | eBay