As you may know, I am at least affiliated with Ye Olde Computer forum. I might even be the administrator, but that's not what's happening here.
On a pretty regular basis, I say something about the more practical aspects of computing, and somebody says something about how some people like to drive on the roads with their 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Aire, even though a 2012 Toyota Yaris is probably a more efficient car to drive.
In the typical course of conversation, it's that somebody wants to keep running a computer that is impractical because it is not receiving security updates, and they think that the lack of security updates shouldn't be used to prevent them from operating that machine. (They might argue that this is analogous to how you are allowed to run a vintage car on the road even though it doesn't have seat belts, anti-lock brakes, good tires, or air bags.)
But what of the late '90s muscle car that has all of this safety technology? Well, I think I've found that. It turns out that around the time of the Intel transition, Intel was also transitioning away from the NetBurst micro-architecture to the Core micro-architecture. Unlike Apple's transition, most NetBurst chips continued to run new software, and to this day, Windows 8.1 will run on certain Netburst-based systems for just about a decade ago. People often talk about the Mac Plus having this capability, but that's an extremely rare circumstance in the Mac universe. Merely a handful of systems over the course of 30 years on the market have had that kind of longevity. In addition, if you ask somebody to run System 7.5.3 on their Mac Plus, they'll likely inform you that you can kindly go do some rude things to yourself.
On the Windows side of things, however, there are two factors typically working in favor of a given system's long lifespan. The first is that if you buy the right system (usually this means "not cheap" and "business-class") then you can typically install the latest version of Windows on it for about a decade after it's current. The second thing is that as it stands right now, Windows is on a ten-year support cycle – Windows 7 will be getting updates through about 2019 and Windows 8.1 should get updates through about 2023.
The topic of hot-rodding old came up when somebody linked to a machine, in particular the Dell Precision 690, configured with two Xeon 5080 chips. For the uninitiated: The Xeon 5080 was a 3.73GHz dual-core Xeon and is the fastest NetBurst chip Intel ever built. The NetBurst-based Precision 690 supports up to 16 gigabytes of memory, up to five hard disks, two graphics cards, and has a monster of a 750 or 1000-watt power supply. It's a true workstation from the tail end of that era when "workstation" always meant something really powerful and significantly different from a regular office desktop computer. (Don't get me wrong – I appreciate the fact that you can now get ISV certified systems that are more affordable, but there's something satisfying about the raw power of workstation systems.
Previously, I'd thought I might one day get and configure a system like an OptiPlex GX620 or 745 with a fair amount of disk, a slightly newer graphics card, the maximum amount of memory, and so on. The idea at the time was that I was going to build the "ultimate" NetBurst box and it would probably still be slower than my laptop, but it would be fun because having a computer that revs up when you launch Word or Excel just seems exciting. The OptiPlex 745 is a fine system, but it's reasonably possible I have been de-sensitized to its fineness by the fact that I use one all the time at work with a Core2Duo in it. If I am going to build or buy a NetBurst system as a show of insanity and as a hobby system, it may as well be specifically more powerful than my regular work computer.
The practicalities of buying a really big box like the NetBurst version of the Precision 690 are pretty slim, however. Even with four cores at 3.73GHz each, Penryn (the specific version of the Core microarchitecture my current laptop uses) is way more efficient than NetBurst, and buying a new ExcelBox class system (such as an OptiPlex 9020) will tip the scales so heavily it's not funny at all. A decked Precision 690 may be faster than my laptop, but at five years old I don't know if that's a compliment or not. Of course, it'll run modern software and to be honest, that's the biggest concern to me.
Unfortunately for all parties, the opportunity to acquire a Precision 690 with dual Xeon 5080s came at time when I'm in a somewhat prone position in regards to such matters. My home hunting aspirations have left me with a desire to never spend money on anything, so as to get that much closer (a fraction of a percent) to being able to afford the first phase, a down payment. The other problem I have with the whole situation is that SuperSlab is still my main computer, and I am still (after all this time) "looking" to build a desktop computer. That's code for I don't want to do it until my consumer debt is paid off. Unfortunately, once my consumer debt is paid off, I'm looking to hop directly into stockpiling cash for the ever important down payment.
One of the frequently cited reasons to own an old computer on Ye Olde Computer Forum is that old computers cost less money and not everybody has the money to buy new computers all the time. In fact, (despite the fact that I'm now using a five year old system as my primary computer), it often gets framed as though I'm disconnected from the society of regular people because I want my computer to be fast at normal computing tasks, run modern and secure software, and be physically reliable.
The Precision 690 no slouch of a computer. Even given its age, it has a whole lot more capacity than the laptop I use for my desktop tasks today, and with four 3.73GHz cores, I suspect it'll even be faster. Toss in some big or fast disks and a discrete graphics card or two and you're honestly looking at a machine that will be good for the next few years. I guess the biggest question is, at what cost? I'm going to need a newer computer at some point anyway. Are my notions of NetBurst creating a situation where I'm going to need to migrate my data more times than strictly necessary? In addition, even though YOCF thinks that running old computers can be fun and quirky, I can't get the power usage numbers out of my head. I'd pay for it if I were already in direct control of my electric bill, but that may not happen any time in the immediately near future.
Regardless, my main system isn't getting any younger or sprightlier, and every time a YOCFer buys a new computer, I fall further down the list of MLAers using "new" computers. I think that buying a big old hotrod Xeon box as a project is a fun idea, but I don't think it will make a practical main computer. In the end, even if I did, my '57 Bel-Aire would have ABS, seatbelts, and traction control, but car analogies are horrible anyway, which is what I'd be told if I showed this thought process directly to the YOCF.