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IBM ThinkCentre 8183 - Is it even worth keeping???

Todd82TA

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2012
Messages
110
Location
Florida, USA
Guys, I have an IBM ThinkCentre that I bought a couple of years ago for $40 bucks, just so that I could play Pool of Radiance on it (the newer one that runs under Windows 2000). I honestly have no use for it, and I can't even get anyone to take it. Looking on eBay, they don't even go for $40 at this point. It's a Pentium 4, with 1 gig of ram, 120 gig hard drive, and a couple of other things.

I'm thinking of stripping it and save some of the parts, and then recycle the rest. It doesn't seem worth it to me to keep. Here's an auction for a similar one (not mine):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Thinkce...T-M-E1U-P4-512-RAM-DVD-NO-HD-OS-/222195559807


Mine isn't even in that great a shape (it was abused a bit in it's former life).


Is it worth even bothering to sell? No huge loss here I assume if I just strip the parts and recycle it?
 
I would not want it but then I hate the Pentium 4. ThinkCentres have nicely laid out cases but bottom rung Pentium 4s had run out of value back in 2006. Stripping it is probably the best use for the components.
 
I would not want it but then I hate the Pentium 4. ThinkCentres have nicely laid out cases but bottom rung Pentium 4s had run out of value back in 2006. Stripping it is probably the best use for the components.


Thanks... I'm not a big fan of just keeping stuff around for the heck of it. It's not an early Pentium, it's definitely not an 8088-80486... I just couldn't see any use for it, and it has a couple of issues that I think are systemic and not something I can fix simply by swapping parts or with a re-image anyway... even though it boots and works fairly well.


Thanks, that's what I'm going to do.
 
and it has a couple of issues that I think are systemic

Not surprised it has issues, some of the last consumer IBM systems were about as reliable as Packard Bell machines (ie. junk.) I'm honestly surprised that one even powers on.

Back between 2004-2006, I was repairing TONS of IBM machines of all models. The capacitor plague hit them hard, the PSUs were junk and we all know about the deathstar fiasco. The client I was repairing them for eventually threw in the towel and told me to scrap the remaining systems which yielded a pile of CPUs and RAM, which were the only good components left in the machines lol.
 
Out of every computer I receive, I almost always scrap Pentium 4 systems. They lost most of their value by 2012 after the Core i series had taken hold and the Core 2 series was priced for budget-minded builders, making single-core Pentium 4's nearly worthless. Nearly everyone who has one of them are looking to get rid of it too, plus if your particular model is known for widespread issues (or are showing examples of) then it might be the end of the line for it. It might only be worth parts at this point.
 
Every system made has hit a point where it was worthless as a main machine, quite a few of them have turned out to be collectable down the road.
 
Out of every computer I receive, I almost always scrap Pentium 4 systems. They lost most of their value by 2012 after the Core i series had taken hold and the Core 2 series was priced for budget-minded builders, making single-core Pentium 4's nearly worthless. Nearly everyone who has one of them are looking to get rid of it too, plus if your particular model is known for widespread issues (or are showing examples of) then it might be the end of the line for it. It might only be worth parts at this point.

The only P4 rigs still worth anything are those that accept Pentium 4 6x1 (D0 core) parts, which are 64 bit capable and have the lowest TDP of any LGA775 Netburst part (65W). These parts make very good upgrades for many SFF Dell systems (like the Optiplex GX620/280) as it stops thermal death and gives enough headroom on the anemic PSU to install a PCIe GPU.

The supply of old P4 rigs seems to have dried up though, at least in this area. I used to be able to find piles of them, now it seems the oldest I can find are old Pentium dual cores (E21xx).
 
I still use a very similar IBM ThinkCentre (small form factor desktop case, Pentium 4 CPU) as my "daily driver". So it's still a useful computer, just not a very valuable one. Yes, the P4 runs hot, but it serves double duty as a food/beverage warmer -- if you put a chocolate chip cookie behind the case fan, after a few minutes it'll get warm enough to melt the chocolate. :)
 
The only P4 rigs still worth anything are those that accept Pentium 4 6x1 (D0 core) parts, which are 64 bit capable and have the lowest TDP of any LGA775 Netburst part (65W). These parts make very good upgrades for many SFF Dell systems (like the Optiplex GX620/280) as it stops thermal death and gives enough headroom on the anemic PSU to install a PCIe GPU.

The supply of old P4 rigs seems to have dried up though, at least in this area. I used to be able to find piles of them, now it seems the oldest I can find are old Pentium dual cores (E21xx).

Almost half of my haul from a community pickup in a rural Missouri town was Pentium 4 systems with an even mix of LGA775 and Socket 478. Surprisingly I still find some Pentium III systems too.
 
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