First post, by maximus
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AKA, a nice high-end rig circa 2002. Specs and pics first:
Dell Dimension 4500
380W Antec EarthWatts PSU
Pentium 4 2.8 GHz
1 GB DDR
250 GB HDD
MSI GeForce4 Ti4600
Sound Blaster Audigy SB0090
I got this Dell Dimension 4500 for free a few years ago. Used it pretty heavily in its original configuration, which was a Pentium 4 1.8A GHz and GeForce4 MX420. After the old hard drive died, I decided to do some upgrades. The result is a pretty snappy Windows XP rig.
Some highlights of the build:
To replace the original 250W Foxconn PSU, I had to cut away some of the steel case with a reciprocating saw. It was nerve-wracking but fun.
The original Dell heatsink mounting bracket was non-standard and wouldn't take the new Rosewill cooler. I ordered an el-cheapo Socket 478 heatsink bracket from China, which held for about 24 hours. It then failed catastrophically (while I was installing Windows, no less!), the heatsink fell off, and I got to test the Pentium 4's thermal throttling. (The machine straight turned itself off.) Ordered a new one from a US seller which is much beefier and seems to be doing well.
Said Rosewill cooler had to be attached directly to the PSU, so it would always run at the full 2400 RPM. It's a tad noisy at that speed, so to quiet it down, I got one of those 3-pin resistor cables. That did the trick nicely; I'd estimate it runs at about 66% its original speed. Much quieter.
My favorite part of this machine has to be the Dell case. It's an absolute joy to work on - everything comes apart without tools. The way it opens on hinges is very clever, and the motherboard even comes out on a tray. How cool is that? 😁