Windows

A lot of instruments require old computers to work. What are the best computers given old OS requirements?

Windows XP

TLDR: Optiplex 790 (preferred) or 960 are good choices

"it is somewhat paradoxical, but the 790 is actually a newer computer than the 960. Wikipedia has a good overview https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_OptiPlex#Series_4 it is the second digit that designates the generation for that era, so the x90 sandy bridge and x010 ivy bridge are the most recent ones supported by XP"

Optiplex 790

• Brochure
• Used by Peter
• CPU: Intel ® 2nd Generation Core™ i7, i5, i3 Processors
• Max RAM: 32 GB
• OS: XP, Vista, 7, 8

Optiplex 960

• Intel® Core™ 2 Quad
• Max RAM: 16 GB
• OS: XP, Vista, 7
• Used by Ryan
• Drivers

Max HDD size?

• "While NTFS is limited to a volume size limit of 256 TB, windows XP 32-bit only supports HDD's up to 2TB in size. This is because XP only supports disks in MBR format, and the max MBR supports is 2TB"
• Link

Case study: JSM6460LV SEM

• Main PC: Dell Precision 360
  • Model DHM
  • P4 CPU
  • No observed problems so far
  • Lots of special full height cards
  • Do not replace unless absolutely needed
  • Precision vs Optiplex?
    • "Usually the precision will have more robust processors and video...Usually we stick to opti for general users and precision for cad engineering users"
• EDS PC: hp Compaq d530 CMT
  • P/N DQ321S#ABU
  • Unreliable / capacitors are leaking
  • Need to fix and/or replace
  • HP support page not great / they removed a lot of info
  • Socket 478 – Support Processor Type: Intel Pentium 4, Celeron
  • 4 * 184-pin DDR DIMM slots Supports DDR 400/333 MHz non-ECC, un-buffered memory (Max 4GB)
• Can we upgrade to Windows 7 or later?
• If we must use XP what is the best computer?
• Special requirements
  • Firewire card (full height)