this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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This would be fine for running some lower powered CAD applications.
I’d put this in a work machine that ran survey software like Trimble Business Center or an older version of AutoCAD maybe. Probably run 12d fine.
But yeah probably not a full gaming machine.
From my experience, I think you’re being a little hopeful here. For this machine to transcode even a single video stream is really pushing it. That’s why all video on the server is H265, so it can always direct play to my AppleTVs at the lowest bit rates possible, while still maintaining the highest quality and Atmos surround sound + HDR
During my monthly reboot, even starting it up is a monumental strain. It takes almost 15 minutes for it to fully get its shit together. I’m at the point where I have to stage docker to start up after everything else is already done starting up. I have nine containers in three stacks. no biggie for a modern computer, but I’m not running this on a modern computer.
There’s not an SSD in the machine at all. And not for lack of trying. But that’s a conversation for another time.
Altogether, when treated with a gentle hand, this machine performs as perfectly as when it was new.
When treated with a gentle hand… and I’m sure I can get another 14 years out of it. When treated with a gentle hand…
Oh, before you ask: I’m not cheap. I’m just poor.
Yeah nah, the 8 gig would be fine with lower end applications. I’d be able to calc up a house on a low powered version of AutoCAD or the like, produce a dxf, go set the thing out and spit out the pdf and setout file. I had no dramas dong this on stuff far less powered than this.
I’d actually have no issues drawing up a few things. No, if I was a planner in a consultancy designing estates or high rise or working with stuff that required full capabilities I wouldn’t be running this but it’d be fine for a sole operator surveyor doing small stuff like house set outs and topos et al. It’d even be fine for cadastral work.
I have 8gb VRAM and use local LLM for Ai. xD Thanks to Vulkan it partially runs on GPU and partially on CPU, so its not too slow running "bigger" models.
And no, before anyone downvotes me, I am not an Ai bro. I do not generate everything with Ai (would be difficult with low end hardware anyway).
I can play all kinds of shit with 8GB. I have no clue what people are whining about.
Ah, yes, the halcyon days of the 00s, when nobody knew any better, and when ram and CPU cycles flowed like water from tap
Oh, buddy, 30 seconds in, you’d have a very quick change of attitude. This was an awesome machine back in 2012, but just try to render a few polygons now, and you’d be tearing your hair out.
Like I said, it’s great for some network-based video streaming, but, today, its limits are extremely well-defined, and for good reason.
Yeah okay
There are people in my industry still adequately using Win XP machines running old Sokkia software
I’d be able to use this more than adequately with a number of older softwares still available and more than capable for the tasks I outlined. I’m a surveyor, not a video renderer or gamer. I said if I needed the power you are talking about, I’d not use this card.
Well bless all your fucking hearts.
You’re better people than I am
Hahahaha hey it can be quite frustrating at times, especially working under or with senior blokes whose equipment and software is so old Noah used it to set his wooden ship out
But yes, a lot of us really only need a small card to take on middling tasks to keep the processor clear, so to speak. That’s not the case however for the design people in the industry, they need the cards you’d want.
You know it’s even more frustrating? Hoping you’re almost 15 year-old computer and almost 10 year-old storage array hosting your 20 y/o media library will continue to work because you’re too poor to replace any of that.
Times are tough
Edit: Seagate EXOS— worth every fucking penny. I’ve never had a Drive fail, and I have witnessed many drives work 24/7/365 perfectly well beyond 10 and even 12 years without losing a byte.
Ever seen a drive return a full bank of SMART diagnostics with “OLD AGE”? Yeah, that’s a thing.
Seagate EXOS Enterprise Hard Drives. There are no other others.
That’s impressive. I usually get six, seven years tops. Fuck that’s impressive
I have a Dell Inspiron I bought about eight years ago which I’m still managing to keep going. I’ve replaced the RAM and pulled the old 710 out of it and put in a 1070 I think it is which maxes this thing out. So far I’ve had issues with just the RAM and the SATA cable, which I’ve replaced. When Win10 runs out, if it’s still churning along I’ll install a Linux distro.
I’ve run TBC, AutoCAD LT and 12d Model on it, with no issues and that was on the 710 but as I say, you wouldn’t run these with five windows open and doing heaps of reductions on several models.
My old Win7 laptop is still going…I’m targeting it for a Linux do over soon as well.
Just for the sake of titillation, this is the oldest drive. I still have running on that server:
I’m pretty sure that this drive and the two other drives, which are in similarly terrible condition, could simply just die at any moment
And I am so poor, that I could, of course, not afford to replace any of them, especially considering hard drive prices at the moment.
Edit: if you know how to read Smart status output, you can clearly see that this hard drive is, for all intense and purposes, already quite dead. It’s a fucking miracle. I can read any data off of it at all. But it chugs along, as if it was brand new. Bless fucking Seagate.
That’s really impressive
I hope that drive goes full 2002 Corolla mode and lasts forever.
SEAGATE EXOS ENTERPRISE. SHELL OUT THOSE DOLLARS ON THE FRONT END AND NEVER LOOK BACK.
Not just my server, but I have set up and can attest to the integrity of at least six other Plex servers that are a similar vintage to mine that live on safe and sound
In my 45+ years of computery, i’ve never known a hard drive quite like the Seagate EXOS. Expensive as fuck, but quite invincible.
Edit: *under normal operating conditions. If it gets a little too hot, that shit will melt. Like any enterprise hardware, you gotta keep your eye very carefully on its operating temperature. I have known a situation or two wherein a drivebox overheated, causing drives to fail. But that was a USER error, NOT a hardware failure. But this is 2026, not 1986, so you’re gonna get plenty of system warnings before you get to that point.
But if everything is properly monitored and cared for, it will operate perfectly for an extra extraordinarily long time, and it will do so perfectly.
Its discussions like this one that make me want to pull apart all the old desktops lying around here and seeing if I can build a true old hybrid clunker
This has made my day ay
Time well spent, I say!