SFF - Small Form Factor PC's...SAVED from E-Waste!!

[@GGigabiteM]

The power supplies on those HP/Compaq SFF machines were hideously unreliable, not really surprised the one machine had its PSU missing. The Pentium 4 machines had it the worst, not only were they affected by the capacitor plague, but by poor ventilation making them as hot as easy bake ovens. When the PSU died back then, the machine was just trashed. Those weird proprietary PSUs were always ridiculously expensive, and it wasn't worth the headache to recap the existing unit, which usually had other heat related issues from baking for years. I remember seeing Ebay prices for those PSUs back then being in the $100-150 range, which were guaranteed to be untested and probably in similar condition to the one being replaced. The best fix for those PSUs was to restuff the guts with a board from a different MicroATX or SFX PSU. But you really had to love that machine, because that's a time consuming task that can take hours.

[@TheRetroRecall]

This is great info and aligns with what I've researched. It seems that those PSUs are still running that costly online. I will see if I can find a replacement from a worse off machine for a restoration - or as you suggest replace the insides with another... More exciting content :). Either way, thanks so much for your comment. The Easy Bake oven got me haha!

[@Conenion]

The first system has the weirdest alignment of the RAM slots I ever saw. 😂

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha agreed. Must be for a space reason I'm guessing.

[@daw7563]

With the company I worked for back then I ordered 50 similar SFF HP computers with the E6300 cpus. They were good but still had the capacitor plauge (near the cpu) which bite us a couple of years down the road. With a recap they stayed working.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yeah, I fortunately did not run into that issue on these, but I did notice the Tangent PC having a few bad caps.

[@blackrain2739]

I'm currently buying broken computers and fixing them myself from ebay, recently I got a ibm t41 labtop im fixing up. Love watching your videos keep up the good work! 👍

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ohhhh a T41 - Beautiful machine! Thank you for your support and for watching!

[@mexx69]

i do the same thing but i’m friends with the owner of a local pc store, and he gives me anything that he would just stick in the recycling bin. i get all kinds of stuff from early win xp laptops, to older macbooks, to newer optiplexs that just need some replacement parts. it’s a really, really good side hustle to make some extra money on the side.

[@blackrain2739]

@mexx69 that would be amazing. Im still a newbie at fixing stuff but learning quick.

[@carlcarlson983]

Same, but I’m an IT engineer, so I also get a good supply of old kit from our company scrap pile. Recommissioned a whole stack of HP Z series PC’s that mostly only needed new hard drives that would otherwise have been scrapped. All sold and given a second life.

[@maxtornogood]

System #2 - They were always nice to use in my experience! I've used them on campuses & also refurb'd them as a volunteer 🙂

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome. I'm happy it fired right up!

[@ksweeley]

These SFF computers typically came with either SFX or SFX-L PSUs which are much smaller than your typical ATX PSUs, also there are home versions of these SFF computers which are much smaller than your typical computer case, I purchased a SFF computer and discovered the case would not fit a typical NVIDIA graphics card and that’s how I found out that a SFF computer is different from your typical ATX, miniATX computer.

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure. That PSU pin out is definitely proprietary. I'm either going to have to find an adapter for an ATX, or the exact replacement.

[@laurencejohnson4106]

Great finds!👍👍

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed!!

[@waize]

i worked at a place where we bought those old compaqs, dc7100 and dc7600/7700 on pallets and utilized them as student pc's at schools. They ran just win xp.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome that they rescued them. The unfortunate thing is they often tend to be shipped out on pallets to the dump :(

[@Mirra2003-f9s]

That Core 2 HP can even run Windows 10 flawless if it gets a ram upgrade and an ssd. I usually hate HP computers but i have a soft spot for their business grade machines because they're extremely reliable. I have the last LGA 775 model they ever made before switching to i series processors with DDR3 and latest Core 2 Quad support,it ran as a POS without any maintenance for 7 years straight and then i ended up keeping it for myself and restore it because it was still in brand new like condition. BTW those screws under the faceplate that are visible in the video are spare screws for the hard drive and optical drive

[@Mirra2003-f9s]

@@The_Rebel934 I personally prefer to build my own PCs but if i was on a tight budget and needed a pc to get by i'd definetly pick a refurb business pc. They may use proprietary parts but they don't fail so often. I have a small collection of those SFF computers from different generations that i got for free after they got replaced and just restored them as a hobby. HP Compaq,Acer Veritons, Dell Optiplex/Precision,Lenovo Thinkcenters and so on are workhorses but their home grade computers suck

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks!!

[@mexx69]

those older 2nd or 3rd gen i3 or i5 optiplexs from dell are very reliable computers as well. you can easily build a good office or even light gaming pc for sub 50 dollars if you find good deals.

[@Mirra2003-f9s]

@@mexx69 I know. I serviced a lot of business grade computers from various brands and basically any Optiplex is reliable. Heck,Dell and Acer even have 80+ bronze certified power supplies which is nice.

[@mexx69]

@@Mirra2003-f9s yeah i have a couple of those acer veritons from the intel i3 i5 i7s 4th gen. they all have good quality psus and decent motherboards, and the space in them is great for a mid tower.

[@johnhudson7055]

If I remember correctly that black DIMM slot is black because thats the one that provides VRAM so if you are using the on board graphics it has to be populated.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ohhh makes sense!

[@lumanenti]

Boa noite! acompanhando seus vídeos retro muito bom aqui do Brasil! - Goodnight! following your very good retro videos here in Brazil!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you and hello from Canada!!!!

[@i80386sx]

Those Compaq EVO D510 systems came in so many configurations. The last one I had to support was a POS (disclaimer: Point of Sale) server. It was in use until 2016 when I demanded the XP systems off of our corporate network. I killed it (not on purpose) when I attempted to replace the leaking caps on its system board. The WD200 drive was a noisy one.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for sharing this - sad we lost one to cap juice!

[@adulaney2004]

I am with you on Vista, it definitely didn't deserve the bad rap it got. And both those EVOs and the HP/Compaqs of that vintage were definite workhorses.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed!

[@gentuxable]

Yeah HP/Compaq often had a CMOS-Reset button. I worked at a bilingual company and if I needed to change the language of the preinstalled windows, I had to open the box and reset it using that button first, otherwise it would not show the language selection but directly ask for the XP disc of the current language.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha thanks, this info is great!

[@andreabc1469]

nice finds

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks!

[@ClassicBMWFanInQuebec]

I'm not a fan of the silvery grey color of the computers in the mid-2000 time period. IMO it hasn't aged well. I much prefer beige or straight business black. Another nice video!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks and I agree, however there's something about that Tangent PC lol!

[@pierreinthavong181]

Impressive retro PCs so far!😊

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks!

[@sergiobisonte]

90% of the times, cd drives dont open because the rubber belt is desintegrated... thats why you hear motor spinning and nothing happens

[@TheRetroRecall]

Great to know! Will be fun taking it apart and seeing what the issue is and if there are any surprises lol.

[@sergiobisonte]

@@TheRetroRecall its not hard.. you can open drawer by sticking a paper clip on the front little hole. buy a cheap ebay belt kit in various sizes, and you good to go..

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks! I was planning on dismantling it lol.

[@cyberjack]

I had same machine back in day and as I remember they very finicky on what RAM it liked ..

[@TheRetroRecall]

I've started experiencing this lately with some of these ewaste systems. Definitely keeps me on my toes!

[@spywarefinder]

I remember back in 2010, I managed to get two HP SFF towers, identical to the tower with the Intel vPro sticker except it was a Pentium 4 still an LGA 775 and it performed so well! The only problem I had was the lack of a low bracket GPU. Later on, I had it working as a server and being able to adjust the fan speeds from the BIOS for both the CPU and PSU fan was an awesome feature!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed, and thanks for sharing this!!

[@spywarefinder]

No problem!

[@Mr_Cukiii]

We actually have a few of those HP Compaq sff computers at school still! 3gb of ram and upgraded CPUs, still going!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Holy!!!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Apparently! Of course, we can't forget those ThinkCentre PC's!

[@gentuxable]

4:32 looking at the label, it seems some configurations would come with onboard VGA and then the space next to the first serial port would be a VGA and then the second serial had to go further back.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I did see those markings for the config that would potentially have a VGA connector. I still find it funny though that they kept the serial ports apart from each other.

[@gentuxable]

@@TheRetroRecall True it's funny but it was also quite common for Pentium 4 systems to not have a second serial port on the I/O-Shield but only as internal connector. I think for businesses that might use those PCs for deployment of industrial machines or need it for the older PDA or such.

[@retropcdurham]

That Tangent PC should clean up really nicely to use as a basic computer running Linux or maybe WIndows 10

[@TheRetroRecall]

I think it needs some Linux love!

[@doseofl0s]

We had similar Compaqs at my first job working at an insurance company. I think they used the same case for several years. The desktop assigned to me was on an old Celeron that was pretty crappy even for the time but they wouldn’t approve a newer PC for me. There was a manager that was always finding innovative ways to mess up their computer and always demanding a new one. One day the IT guy got tired of them and gave me the newer model (same case but with a Pentium 4 HT) they ordered and gave the manager my old one. They were none the wiser and thought they got a new computer… which they proceeded to kill a few weeks later. They eventually got a totally different computer but it was just a nice gesture to get me a newer PC and basically tricking management into buying it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahah! Love this, thanks for sharing!

[@chrisrudi7162]

I have the upper one, the Compaq EVO, as a tower version with a 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 and GeForce 6800 card. The chrome on mine still looks very nice and has no abrasions. Unfortunately, only cheap foil was glued here, which has peeled off over time.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Glad to hear you have a working system! I just need to find PSU for it and we will be all set.

[@chrisrudi7162]

@@TheRetroRecall Mine has a normal ATX power supply from Compaq in it. It even has enough power for the 6800 and I didn't have to replace it. You have to take a look, there are often such adapters in various online shops to connect a normal ATX power supply with a proprietary connection.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I'm going to start the hunt. A simple adapter would solve quite a bit.

[@qbertguy]

I had one of those Compaq machines. They have driver support for Windows 98 and even OS/2

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!

[@markwalsh8411]

Aww we want to see what’s up with the jammed tangent drive

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahaha so do I. I'll provide an update during a restoration video on it lol.

[@AlejandroRodolfoMendez]

4:51 one com Port is for mouse and the other for devices like busniess recive printers. Those are stil in use.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ok awesome. But why are they always separated

[@Natures_Intentions]

Number 3 has some BAD caps close to the CPU Awesome saves

[@Natures_Intentions]

also a few bad caps around the ram slots

[@TheRetroRecall]

Great catch, I'll take a look!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you, I'll get those fixed!

[@Natures_Intentions]

You have some awesome systems the restoration videos are so fun

[@Agoz8375]

I had some of this but all had bad caps on the mainboard lol 😂

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes - I'm fortunate that only 1 of the 3 board seem to have the bad cap issue.

[@CounterStriker013009]

The Last one can use a modern motherboard with the old case :)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Absolutely. I love when they use standard stuff!

[@miguelque9102]

I used to own a Pentium 4 based NEC mini tower with dimensions similar to these SSF PC. Couldn't find a decent low profile AGP card at resonable price (the most powerful one seemed to be some kind of ATI FireGL), so instead I opted for installing a PCI 8500GT (not PCI-Ex). Though certainly not perfect, it was way better than the onboard "Extreme Graphics 2" (82865G) controller.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes for sure. Low profile can be challenging.

[@krad2520]

The split serial ports might just have been to more easily differentiate the two so businesses weren't hooking things that needed to be on COM1 into COM2 on accident. A lot of legacy industrial applications that communicated with specialized devices over serial were hardcoded to expect it on COM1, and grouping COM2 over by the mouse/keyboard inputs may have been a helpful little nudge that "serial mice/trackballs go on COM2 over here" to just make it less of a headache.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Makes total sense. Easier to identify, especially in cramped areas if used in industrial scenarios.

[@jnharton]

Just conjecture, but I suspect that's because at one time even older legacy industrial applications were keyboard-driven. So they didn't need a mouse until GUIs started being point and click.

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

These SFF and USFF HP/Compaq units suffered from "tan glue of death" in the PSUs, which might be why the first one had it missing. The glue was used to hold thru-hole components on the PSU PCB before flow soldering. The trouble is, this tan glue they used turns hygroscopic over time (and/or more and more brown with heat), absorbing moisture from the air. So a lot of these weren't used for a while, then someone plugs them in again and the tan glue shorts out the high-voltage side of the PSU so they blow up spectacularly as soon as you connect AC power. Quite a shame as these systems were rare in that they have AGP (or PCIe) slots while being SFF. Most (U)SFF PCs only had useless intel chipset integrated graphics with no expandability besides PCI. This whole PSU issue is preventable if you know about it and disassemble the PSU before ever plugging it in and scraping off all the tan glue around thru-hole components, especially on the primary/high voltage side around the legs of transistors/mosfets etc edit: the PSU in the tangent PC looks to be TFX standard. Might be able to pick one up on the bay cheap if you want to keep the 2nd one around or fix it up to sell. These Fortron-Source/FSP PSUs *very* often have bad Capxon junk caps that are all puking their guts out at this point. Easy enough to fix, and more worth it on these oddball form factor PSUs than a standard ATX one. Also not a bad ODD per se on the last one, just a bad tray belt as is unfortunately very common. They just stretch over the years and then don't have enough grip/torque to open the tray. Mild smack on the top of the drive when it's trying to open tends to help release the disk clamping magnet (or just use the hole on the front of every ODD with a bent open paperclip). and dammit... yet another wall of text comment 😆

[@TheRetroRecall]

Bahahaha a wall of text. I had to go make a coffee before reading this 🤣🤣. Jk! I love this info and perspective. It really helps. I'll try the smack of the ODD when I go to restore the system. I had no idea about the chemical reaction of the material used in the PSU. This is extremely handy to know and good for me to check before powering these systems up - saving them! Thanks again for supporting the channel :). Keep the wall of texts going!! Haha :)

[@hugosimoes5119]

20:42 Well... the black slot happens to be the RAM slot "0" or in this case XMM1. There are markings near the sots.. Or better, there will be 2 black slots and 2 white slots. 20: 57 The BIOS screen shows that the memory module is installed on XMM3. Well... putting a module on XMM1 while there's a module on XMM3, would enable Dual Channel. I would get rid of that E6300 and put something better that chipset allows. An BIOS updates would be nice also. HP and Compaq release lots of updates.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I know I shouldn't be surprised at the ram configuration like that, however unless this system is unique, I'm used to placing a stick of ram anywhere and have it just run in single channel. This system seemed to get mad at that lol.

[@mbwoods2001]

In that compaq, its better to have the fan at the side of the heatsink at the front to bring cold air over it rather than the warm air thats been circulating inside, same as those BTX boards that has the cpu closer to the front and the slots to the right, as in that HP pc.

[@TheRetroRecall]

It's funny, I've never really given much though to these designs, but definitely makes sense given the SFF design.

[@retroftw]

The Compaq EVO D510 (not sure if the first one is the same model range) supports PCI sound cards in DOS due to the motherboards chipset. So aside from the half height AGP slot, it makes a powerful Windows 9x and DOS gaming PC 🙂 And now I need to actually watch the entire video and see if this is mentioned later on 😛

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha!!

[@chrisrudi7162]

That's true, though. I have the EVO D510 CMT and Windows 98 with SB Live works perfectly. The SB16 emulation also works perfectly. In addition to a GeForce 6800, I also have XP on it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice.

[@KrissBartlett]

i have 2 of the Tangent very simular computer still working to there great

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome!

[@MajenkoTechnologies]

That Compaq looks just like someone held a Compaq Deskpro up to a mirror and copied it for the p4. Almost identical design but backwards. I'll show it on tomorrow's stream if you want a look at it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Would love to see it!

[@Matt08719801]

a week ago i won an auction at the charlotte nc goodwill for $17 with shipping included for an hp compaq sff very similiar to your second one only difference is it was silver on top and bottom and black on the very front it was a dc 5800 model with a core 2 duo e8300 which ive rarely seen much more familiar with its slightly faster e8400 cousin

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!!!! You are going to have a lot of fun with that!!

[@xAbhimanew]

i was looking these hp for a while couldnt find them anywhere .

[@TheRetroRecall]

Do you mean you were looking when they first came out or you are looking for one now?

[@jodajackson4489]

I didn’t have much of an issue with Windows Vista either. Probably one HP printer didn’t have drivers but I was able to use the drivers from a similar model, Bob’s your Uncle. I probably had more problems with Windows 7 with some older systems then with Vista

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed. As long as you had the hardware and the right drivers - most were fine. The manufacturers promoted all of their PC's as being able to support Vista when it wasn't truly the case which gave Vista a bad name (in my opinion).

[@simonlathwell]

Another beautiful crisp autumn November day, and another great video from TheRetroRecall. A great way to start my afternoon. Edit: I've always found that those riser PCI slots can cause problems. This is because you are connecting two PCI cards to a single PCI slot on the motherboard which in my experience can cause conflicts, especially IRQ conflicts. This is why I prefer motherboards without a riser so the cards connect direct to the motherboard.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks, I'm glad you are enjoying!! I also agree with you. I do tend to like when they have different proprietary riser card inteecaes meant for more bandwidth / resource allocation. To me thats more like an exte tion to the motherboard VS a splitter haha.

[@billoverson2263]

Just about 6k - Yay! The flaking chrome is pretty nasty - seems chrome on plastic never worked ☹

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes almost! True, I remember spraying that stuff on something when I was a kid and it equally failed haha.

[@FlashPan73]

sigh, I remember using the top 2 machines as daily drivers and windows servers many moons ago.

[@TheRetroRecall]

They don't seem to be that bad of a system, especially at that time. If anything you can enjoy the retro era of them now.

[@donixion4368]

I think the RAM slots might be offset to accommodate a bigger video card. My guess is that they designed it so that if the video card was upgraded there would be room for a bigger card.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Smart!!!

[@Windows-Vienna-1]

I like HP Compaq PC's

[@TheRetroRecall]

I'll be honest I never had much experience with these systems as I mostly built custom builds at the time.

[@marksmith9566]

The second serial port is rare, so it did not have a home with the serial/parallel standard ones.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Good to know!

[@gentuxable]

Haha that AMI Bios tries to win an Award? Got it?

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes!

[@marksmith9566]

Can the hard drive in system 1 be tested in 2 or 3? If possible please do update video.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I can test it, however I'm not sure about updating the video. I can certainly provide an update in the community page :)

[@davinp]

the problem was PC manufactures made PCs that met just the minimum requires to run Vista, so they could barely run Vista

[@TheRetroRecall]

Exactly.

[@branscombe_]

Are there any places to find e-cycle waste around these parts? I believe there’s a place in Fredericton

[@TheRetroRecall]

Not really - you have to usually know someone at the recycling center. I'm fortunate to have a great supporter of the channel that is always on the hunt through his suppliers for a lot of what I feature on the channel.

[@branscombe_]

@@TheRetroRecall I’ll just have to keep my eyes and ears peeled. thanks RR!

[@TheRetroRecall]

@branscombe_ you're welcome!

[@jkmac625]

I've have one of those Compaq Evos with a Pentium 4 but mine must be a later version as it doesn't have that silver strip at the bottom and has a "designed for Windows XP Pro" sticker. It came with a DVD-ROM but I changed it to an NEC DVD-R drive. I also bought a USB2 card for it as the built in USB is only USB 1

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!! I would like to get this one going, if I am able to get the PSU working, or find one and get an adapter for it.

[@jkmac625]

I bought mine from Ebay around 2005 so not sure how old it is. I upgraded the hard drive as the one it came with was either 20 or 40 GB. I also installed a TV tuner card as well as the USB 2 card so that was both expansions slots filled.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!!!

[@0431Niko]

The black RAM slot in this computer is known as the primary RAM slot in this computer it is known as RAM slot number 1 and the white one next to it is known as RAM slot number 2

[@TheRetroRecall]

Many thanks!

[@dagglock7615]

Where can I get Knoppix?

[@TheRetroRecall]

If you google Knoppix 9.1 live cd, it will take you directly to their site to download :)

[@Hadisabetghadam]

I Thinking You Can Power Up The Compaq Evo By 24 Pin To 8 Or 6 Pin Adpater The Power Pin On Compaq Is 8 pin? And Power Cable For HP Is Using Mini 20 Or 24 Pin(I assuming)

[@TheRetroRecall]

I believe there is an adapter you can get for this yes.

[@donaldnemesis393]

but how they performs in windows 11 with ssd

[@TheRetroRecall]

Most times when I restore these older systems, I bring them back to what they were like when new. That said, it would be cool to update them with an SSD and see how Win 10 would work.

[@kopspijker3515]

Turned into spoons? Gold plated plastic spoons! That second system is not focused on consumers but to businesses. It has intel vPro according to the sticker at the front which is a remote management solution from intel.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Metal chassis spoons! :) generally with an OS noted as XP or Vista in my experience was meant for consumers as in business they had the Windows XP or Vista Business case badges, licences on them.

[@2xtreem4u]

6:04 my fujitsu opens the same way

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha awesome!

[@2xtreem4u]

Nice

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!

[@davidp4456]

These things are so frustrating. I have two junk IBM ValuePoints that I hope will marry together. I have a couple of old Epson 286/386’s, an Ambra Sprinta and an Elonex 486 that I want to resurrect. You’re always treading a fine line between fixing them and breaking them. They all have non-standard parts. If you break any of these ancient PC’s, that’s it, you can’t get replacement parts, it’s kaputt, extinct, gone. Then you spend years trying to find another. What’s the point, you may as well have thrown it into landfill in the first place?

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha, well I usually have pretty good luck to be honest and can repair most items. For the stuff I can't repair I have a lot of great resources around me. It's about the hobby! Heck, if I just threw everything out that was a challenge like when these go wrong we wouldn't have any fun! :)

[@GamerisawesomeYTonPSN]

Windows vista capable on that hp one windows vista capable is just minimal requirements

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yeah, I found for Vista it was thrown on every pc they could find for marketing that barely met those requirements.

[@GamerisawesomeYTonPSN]

@@TheRetroRecall Microsoft got sued once for the false advertising on windows Xp pcs with the windows vista capable

[@TheRetroRecall]

I think I remember something like that. I know it caused quite a bit of issues for end users unless you had beefy hardware.

[@computernewandoldcomputert2971]

this a good video.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks!!!!

[@johnmay4803]

ive got to say im not a fan of desk tops there a pain to upgrade and they have funny power supplys

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure, it really depends on the oem and what they chose to use. Some have standard PSUs, others much more difficuly haha.

[@johnmay4803]

@@TheRetroRecall some of them if the psu goes bang you might as well give up because it was a 1 off psu that was only put in that 1 type of pc and no1 got 1 so you cant even get 1 second hand!! lol hp and dell love doing that with there desktops but i do like there towers and workstations i think thats why ive got so many! the dell workstation psu is a pain i managed to find a 1200w 1 on the jungle website but it cost over 300pounds! but i had to have it so i could put a 1080 in it lol

[@johnmay4803]

it will run a lot faster if u use both chan of ram

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure!

[@quinceyhall1276]

I have a HP Compaq dc5100 sff I bypassed the current hard drive and installed a new Solid State Drive and I was able to install Windows 10 on the computer after that. It runs slow but at least its installed. I know that I have some more upgrades to do in order to get it runs correctly. I'm a novice at this so I tried it and it worked. I'll take any suggestions to get it to run faster and better if anyone has any. I also have a dc 5000 sff and I want to do the same thing to it but I'm not having any luck with that one. Again if anyone has any suggestions I'll take them......THANK YOU.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Welcome to the Retro community!! The important thing is to keep trying and learning as you go :). Generally for these older systems that have the processors to support Windows10, an SSD and Ram (memory) upgrade are usually good enough to breathe new life into the machine. It's hard to comment on your second build but for your first, the memory upgrade should do the trick. Also keep in mind that you will be limited by the processor on these systems. You can always experiment with various versions of Linux (Kubuntu, Linux Mint, etc) that will run a bit better than the Windows counterparts. Good luck tinkering and welcome to the channel!

[@quinceyhall1276]

THANK YOU so much.

[@johnmay4803]

there is a black ram slot because its 2 chan ram pal

[@TheRetroRecall]

So you're saying it's dual channel? It seems to be very unhappy that there wasnt a stick of memory installed in that black slot. I wonder if it was inky installed in that slot if it would have cancelled out that error.

[@johnmay4803]

@@TheRetroRecall thats it pal if u want 2 go single stick, stick it in the black slot but it will run a lot faster with both chan filled

[@johnmay4803]

@@TheRetroRecall great channel by the way i watch every1 of ur vids! i love seeing a normal person playing with tec it keeps me happy for hours! toys for big kids lol

[@TheRetroRecall]

Great to know!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahah I'm happy you are enjoying!! I loved sharing this with everyone.

[@jnharton]

Uh, those are "desktop" style PCs not SFF.

[@TheRetroRecall]

You can have both SFF Desktop and Tower PC's. Small Form Factor is exactly that.

[@jwoody8815]

I hate non-standard PCs, it kinna defeats the whole premise of being "x86 PC compatible" What are we apple? (Ahem Dell, Ahem)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Bahahhahahaha I was drinking coffee then read your Dell quip lol! Needless to say, I didn't finish all of it haha.

[@mmartti2k116]

WOW 8 minutes ago

[@TheRetroRecall]

:)

[@Hadisabetghadam]

Sound Quality Is Low

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for the feedback

[@Hadisabetghadam]

Sorry if I upset you@@TheRetroRecall

[@SamOlds2999]

175th comment

[@TheRetroRecall]

Welcome!

[@juicy_pineapple]

Respectfully, I don't see how these PCs were saved from e-waste. What are they going to be used for? Even if you installed an up to date OS on them, what is the use-case for a ~15 year-old pc?

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure - everyone certainly has a perspective. Saved implies 'value or worth'. In this case we have hardware that is being recycled that can still be used in some form today. I have much older systems that are in use with games / apps of that era running on real hardware VS emulation. Alternatively these '15 year old pcs' can still be useful for again running era specific applications and or games - especially with the various expansions that are available... But also with say a Linux distro, these systems can get online today. The list can certainly go on and really is based on the end users use case. In my opinion - a saved, restored system is better than a melted down piece of computing history. Thanks for watching!