hardware that has survived multiple builds/just won't die?

so on monday, i decided to ditch a few older IDE drives that i kept in my desktop as a raid 0 array on which i had debian installed on for a newer sata drive i had lying around to just save a little power and make my system a tad bit quieter. i had everything taken apart, re-ran cables nice & cleanly, went to plug in the power cord from the wall to the psu and i heard the sound of arcing.

long story short, my psu was toast so my desktop was out of commission. i then remember the power supply that i had on my floor which had temporarily powered my server for about a month when it's psu went up in smoke. before that, it powered my old dual xeon system when it was a desktop and then when it was turned into my server. before that, it was in another one of my desktop systems as well.

what is this awesome psu which has lasted this long? it's a silverstone st60f which i bought back around late 2005/early 2006. it's not exactly the most beautiful psu anymore as it has seen a fan & grill replacement and a few re-lubrications from time to time but it still works like a champ. i wasn't sure if it would still handle my system in my signature but i figure if it couldn't hurt to try and sure enough, it's rock stable once again. i was thinking about what psu i want to buy as a permanent replacement but i'm not so sure that is even necessary and the silverstone might have just found it's new home.

so does anyone else have any stories of pc components that have stood the test of time/multiple systems that you keep finding a use for?

I still have power cables and molex Y adapter from early 90's that I still use.

Probably next is a 9 GB SCSI hard drive that went through multiple Macs before I finally retired them. I still have it and I bet it can work if I find USB to SCSI adapter for the iMac or Pismo I got sitting around.

Matt,

Yes, I still have a Dell Dimension 4100 Intel PIII 1000 still up and running bought in Jan., 2000. My wife uses it to fool around with typing recipes (that I never get to taste) and plays Spider and Solitaire on it. Original Maxtor 20GB hard drive, a Fortron 200W ATX5V proprietary power supply and Windows ME.

Still have a couple od WD 4GB and 6GB hard drives around with Windows 3 and ME still on them. They worked the last time I tried them (2005)

I added another Maxtor 30GB hard drive a couple years after that. Everything refuses to die. Fortunately, none of these components will be useable for any future builds.

The first PC I build back in early 2004 is still kicking around. No major hardware failures at all.

2.6ghz P4
1gb Geil DDR3200
x800pro
intel board 875pbz (er something like that)
the original drive is used as a secondary while a first gen raptor is used as OS and apps.

AMD 3200+ socket A
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe /w wireless adapter
Saphire 9600 Pro
Don't remember what power supply is in there but it was one of my first builds. Then when I upgraded I gave it to my sister, then it went to my niece, then two other nieces in succession. Still runs strong today. Everything else dies, but that thing is indestructible. The first niece was still playing games on it in the last couple of years.

p3 500 laptop with the original install of Win2k still running. Only change on it is maxed RAM. Original OS, Original HDD, everything...

IMOG got my favorite hardware ever. OCZ Modstreaam 450/ That thing was near impossible to kill. It powered sooo many parts and iterations/generations of my machines.

I shorted it out more than 5 times. It restarted and for some reason lived. Heck, it even lived when it went through my wife's machine that caught fire.
I have had two machines that somehow produced flames. (The first one, took out the PSU and the parts attached.) The second time was the board fizzled, and that silly OCZ kept chugging.
One time, one of the cables melted.

Some hardware is just very cool, and will last forever.

My 600w OCZ GameXstream was the first PSU I purchased ever, still kicking 24/7 running GTS 450's and a i7 @ 4.2GHz Folding all day long.

It has nearly run 24/7 (loaded) for the last 6 years.

Same with my original Laing D5 pump.

i guess now that i think about it, the computer i gave my parents which had a p4 willamette in it is still running at their house 24/7 pretty much all of the components have been around in the same box since about 2003 or so. it sounds like the fans are in extreme pain and the hard drives are screaming loud but it keeps on chugging. i will have to take some pictures in its natural, dust covered state when i eventually replace it.

If we are talking old complete machines.

I got an old Slot1 PII machine that runs like a boss.

Here it is. For it's age, yes, them are ISA slots. Since you asked. Yes that is a 1meg PCI video card.

I had an Abit IC7-G for about 8 years running O/C'ed 24/7 and never had ANY issues with it.
It had stood HDD and memory changes, PSU's exploding, vid-card failing and yet that awesome mobo was still there, rock solid!

I was kinda sad when I finally sold it, but it had to be done 'cause I was moving and coudn't take it with me...


BTW: this thread is only a month old so I guess is ok if I bump it, right..?

Enablingwolf said:

If we are talking old complete machines.

I got an old Slot1 PII machine that runs like a boss.

Here it is. For it's age, yes, them are ISA slots. Since you asked. Yes that is a 1meg PCI video card.

Click to expand...

i had an old compaq that looked alot like that that i just took out of commision last year as my web server... only cuz i dont run one anymore lol

tool_462 said:

My 600w OCZ GameXstream was the first PSU I purchased ever, still kicking 24/7 running GTS 450's and a i7 @ 4.2GHz Folding all day long.

It has nearly run 24/7 (loaded) for the last 6 years.

Click to expand...

The PSU went poof last week.

I blame thi thread

tool_462 said:

The PSU went poof last week.

I blame thi thread

Click to expand...

LMAO

haha go figure

mbentley said:

haha go figure

Click to expand...

Conservative estimate of 43,800 hours, probably 85% of that time on a full load system.

I'll take that, at least it didn't take anything else with it

Had an OCZ Powerstream 520w that survived multiple builds. Had since that was the best you could get...all the way up until Corsair made a grand entrance into the market. I also still have my Intel Bad Axe 2 motherboard, that I've had since it use to house an E6600. But the hardware I've had THE longest...is my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 soundcard, which I've had since 2003 I believe.

wagex said:

i had an old compaq that looked alot like that that i just took out of commision last year as my web server... only cuz i dont run one anymore lol

Click to expand...

That was a Dell.

Since I posted the pic. I tore it down and parted it out.

My Pentium 3 Dell workstation and acer-thinkpad from late 1999 still work perfectly, my 2003 ThinkPad also works perfectly... I still use all 3.

I often strip apart my computers after a while to use them for parts...

Where to begin...

My old Pentium III Performance 866MHz machine (originally bought by a relative in 2000 and used until 2004, then used by me from '04-late '06, given to a friend of the family to use in 2006 and still running. The only thing that was replaced so far was the hard drive (SMART errors). I still have the original drive here actually, but it doesn't work anymore.

Pentium III 650MHz slot 1 machine used from 1998-2005 or so by a friend, decommissioned in 2005, and I just fired it up last week and to my amazement it still runs although very slowly.

The original 300W power supply from my first build, built in 2006, used the power supply until 2009 when I bought a name brand PSU. It still works, and I use it to test systems I work on from time to time when needed.

Old Netgear 10/100MB NIC card, purchased in the early-mid 2000's, still works fine and I used it in a system last week.

Zip drive from my first system (Pentium III 866MHz above) still worked fine the last time I used it, sometime last year.