I got bored so....

[John P. Myers]

I decided i'd take an ancient lolDell Dimensia 2350 off my sister's hands. She hasn't used it in years and i thought i'd make a fun project for myself out of it :D

First thing ima do is benchmark it using POGS. Then i'm going to slowly make changes in the hardware and see how much i can reduce the time it takes to crunch a POGS WU. Note that the goal here is the best possible *CPU* crunch time, so adding GPUs isn't the simple solution. It only has 3 PCI slots anyway :p

It's running Winblows XP 32-bit, and has a 2.0GHz P4 with 512MB DDR RAM running at 267MHz. This will be fun ;)

[DrPop]

Hmmm...2GHz P4 sounds like it was prior to 64bit Prescott core. Bummer because if it supported 64bit, you could run 64bit Linux and reduce your CPU WU times that way. ;)

[Fire$torm]

Hmmm...2GHz P4 sounds like it was prior to 64bit Prescott core. Bummer because if it supported 64bit, you could run 64bit Linux and reduce your CPU WU times that way. ;)

UPGRADES

[John P. Myers]

No upgrades yet and my POGS step time averages 33mins 18 secs (:| Could prolly do a step faster with a pencil and paper.

Ordered a new WD hard drive for it 8 days ago from Micro Center. Still waiting....

[Fire$torm]

No upgrades yet and my POGS step time averages 33mins 18 secs (:| Could prolly do a step faster with a pencil and paper.

Ordered a new WD hard drive for it 8 days ago from Micro Center. Still waiting....

Hmmm... As you know, I've been waiting longer for parts to my next project (order date: 02.05.2014). Package returned to shipper, as USPS doesn't allow for a redirect with address correction on FedEx SmartPost shipments. Lesson learned, NEVER use multi-carrier shipping....

[John P. Myers]

Hmmm... As you know, I've been waiting longer for parts to my next project (order date: 02.05.2014). Package returned to shipper, as USPS doesn't allow for a redirect with address correction on FedEx SmartPost shipments. Lesson learned, NEVER use multi-carrier shipping....

In my case, i didn't use multi-carrier shipping. And i actually paid for shipping instead of going the free route to save a few $$, and to get it "faster". Finally was able to grab the box containing my HD off my front porch today, day #9. Thing is, Micro Center sat around with their thumbs up their asses for 3 days before they even bothered to ship it. It was just a hard drive...how much simpler could it get? *sigh*

Anyway, i ordered some more RAM for the P4 yesterday from Amazon. Seems i found a tax loophole :D They claim to charge tax in TN, but if you order from someone who lists through Amazon who has no presence in your state, you pay no tax it seems :D According to lolDell, this motherboard supports up to 1GB of PC2700 RAM. It currently has 512MB of PC2100 RAM. Bought 2GB of G.Skill PC3200 RAM with a CL of 2.5 :D Watch me make it work.

[John P. Myers]

Short version: the motherboard is bricked. Ordering a new one since i'm determined to see this project through.

Went to update BIOS to ensure support for the new CPU and RAM i'll be getting. Had a DOS-bootable USB stick that i download the updated BIOS image to so i could boot to the USB stick and flash it. Dell provides a BIOS package download specifically for this. I was happy for Dell for once since they did something right....until i actually tried it. Unless you have already flashed your BIOS, you can't boot from a USB stick to flash your BIOS. Have i ever properly conveyed the degree with which i loathe Dell? Anyway...

So had to go the floppy route, but i didn't have any disks. So messaged my sister, who i got the lolDell from in the first place,to see if she had any spares. She did, i got them, made a DOS-bootable out of it and put the BIOS image on it. Stuck it in the Dell's floppy drive, rebooted, flashing began, then i get the lovely message: Disk read error in drive A: Abort, Ignore, Retry, Fail. If you remember your DOS, then you know it's over at that point. Bricked.

[Mumps]

Well, I've had that in the past. As long as you have another machine with a floppy drive, create another diskette on the other machine and simply swap the diskette and hit Retry before you ever turn off the one partially flashed. :)

And, I wouldn't be surprised that the machine would not have begun the actual flash until it had read the entire diskette. Was the lolDell that stupid? :))

[FourOh]

Short version: the motherboard is bricked. Ordering a new one since i'm determined to see this project through.

Went to update BIOS to ensure support for the new CPU and RAM i'll be getting. Had a DOS-bootable USB stick that i download the updated BIOS image to so i could boot to the USB stick and flash it. Dell provides a BIOS package download specifically for this. I was happy for Dell for once since they did something right....until i actually tried it. Unless you have already flashed your BIOS, you can't boot from a USB stick to flash your BIOS. Have i ever properly conveyed the degree with which i loathe Dell? Anyway...

So had to go the floppy route, but i didn't have any disks. So messaged my sister, who i got the lolDell from in the first place,to see if she had any spares. She did, i got them, made a DOS-bootable out of it and put the BIOS image on it. Stuck it in the Dell's floppy drive, rebooted, flashing began, then i get the lovely message: Disk read error in drive A: Abort, Ignore, Retry, Fail. If you remember your DOS, then you know it's over at that point. Bricked.

Have you already ordered a new system board? I have a P4 Dell Dimension in my attic, might be a 2350 but not sure. I could pull the mobo if you want it-

[John P. Myers]

Have you already ordered a new system board? I have a P4 Dell Dimension in my attic, might be a 2350 but not sure. I could pull the mobo if you want it-
No haven't ordered it yet. Watching one on eBay that ends in about 24 hours. But sure, if you're not using it and it's a 2350 (or close to it) i'll gladly put it to work. Let me know what you find.

@Mumps: Nope no other computer with a floppy, and only had the 2 floppies to try with, but one was too small. I know i have a box of 40 somewhere, most which have never been used. Pretty sure they're in my storage unit in Little Rock. I'll be sure to check the disk used in the next attempt for errors first this time :p

[FourOh]

No haven't ordered it yet. Watching one on eBay that ends in about 24 hours. But sure, if you're not using it and it's a 2350 (or close to it) i'll gladly put it to work. Let me know what you find.


It's not a Dimension 2350 but an Optiplex GX260. Similar chipset (845g or 845gl). I think the main difference on the Optiplex board is an AGP slot. Dell Service Tag 8333V21. Let me know if you want-

[John P. Myers]

It's not a Dimension 2350 but an Optiplex GX260. Similar chipset (845g or 845gl). I think the main difference on the Optiplex board is an AGP slot. Dell Service Tag 8333V21. Let me know if you want-
Sounds perfect. I'll take it :) I'll swing by and pick it up whenever is good for you. Took the week off work so any time is fine.

[Duke of Buckingham]

Yeha, I was bored also and start on studying computers hardware, linux software and other complementary stuff. I am tired of passing for a very stupid guy concerning this computer thing.

I was bored, so I am builting a farm, with 3 computers with 14 cores and 3 GPUs, in about a week I will send all the pictures, I will detail it on the pictures that is what I am doing now, not time to make the usual posts with carefull graphics, I am preparing the detailed transformation, step by step.

Rocket computers with old and new stuff on the way

1667

You will see the Duke Offensive ... in a flash.

http://episdesign.webs.com/photos/Wallpapers/The%20Flash.jpg

[John P. Myers]

Any luck with the P4 Dell box?


Strange thing happened actually. I got it running and found a 2.2GHz CPU to replace the 2.0 GHz CPU. 10% faster, but the WUs completed 3% slower, even after going from 512MB RAM to 2GB. I need to look into it a bit more to see what's going on. Ordered a 2.8GHz CPU which should be on it's way, but coming from China so who knows when it'll arrive. Only $10 though so can't complain.

[rgathright]

Enjoy reading your story here John.

I have discovered that reusing/rebuilding old computers can be quite fun because it gives us the chance to add newer technology to older problems.

Will start posting my computer rebuild stories soon!

[DrPop]

Strange thing happened actually. I got it running and found a 2.2GHz CPU to replace the 2.0 GHz CPU. 10% faster, but the WUs completed 3% slower...

Was it the same "version" of P4? They changed the pipelines quite a bit on some of the revisions, so if it's a longer pipeline revision of the P4, that 10% MHz gain might have come at a 13% IPC cost, so your net was -3%. :p Not sure that would be the answer, but it's possible.

[John P. Myers]

Yeah was the exact same kind of P4. The chipset only works with the P4s that have the 400MHz FSB. No wiggle room there at all.

[John P. Myers]

Before:
http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-filesystemfile/__key/communityserver-components-imagefileviewer/CommunityServer-Discussions-Components-Files-3514/5444.may2009-009.JPG_2D00_550x0.jpg
P4 @ 2.0 GHz
30GB HDD
512MB RAM
200W PSU
Crunching power: 6.16 GFLOPS FP32


After:
2388
P4 @ 2.8 GHz
64GB SSD/FDM
2GB RAM
750W PSU
Crunching power: 277.62 GFLOPS FP32