What’s The Oldest Part Of Your PC?

antec_slk1650bWhen it comes to "the main computer" that PC builders use for their daily computing tasks, it’s rare that the box is comprised of stuff that’s all the same age. For example, on my PC, the oldest part is the case itself. The second oldest thing is my now-secondary (and has been secondary for a while) 250GB hard drive.

It wouldn’t surprise me if most of you said the case was the oldest part of your setup, as you can get a lot of mileage out of a tower that will fit a full-size ATX motherboard. The ATX standard by the way was introduced in 1995.

Although the physical board size has always been the same at 305x244mm, ATX has had minor revisions since its introductory date. Further info on what changed over the years is here, should you be interested in reading up on the subject.

It also wouldn’t surprise me if some of you have an old secondary optical drive, but only because you lost the case cover to the 5.25-inch bay it sits in (as in without the drive there would be nothing but a big hole, and you have nothing to cover it with).

Speaking of only-there-to-avoid-having-an-open-hole-in-my-case stuff, that’s more or less the only reason anyone has a floppy drive in their PC anymore. If you’re still rockin’ the floppy drive, time to part ways with it for a card reader instead.

Sometimes the oldest part of a PC builder’s computer is the graphics card. PCI Express version 2.0 is a standard that has been around since 2007. While true there’s 2.1 now (and very soon-to-be 3.0), the majority of PCs are still at 2.0, as in the 16-lane type, which you commonly see labeled as x16.

What’s the oldest part of your PC?

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12 comments

  1. mine is the floppy drive and I occasionally use it

  2. A floppy drive. Runner up is 8x HP 9100 CD burner. I leave it there, sandwiched between two DVD burners in case of media compatability issues.

  3. case and floppy drive. a cd rom too. don’t know why i kept them. will remove them in the next updgrade i guess

  4. wtf.since96 /

    Power Suply, DVD Drive and Case.

  5. David M /

    The user.

  6. Randy Carsten /

    The Pc its self.

  7. Pogomcl /

    A floppy and C HD  A isquite old, C is ca 2000 -2002. quit counting MB, video and sound cards, etc as every time you change MB, you must upgrade, upgrade… not exactly energy packed article

  8. The processor. Intel Core2Duo @ 2.6ghz. Got it when they were brand new.

  9. I got into the habit a few years ago of putting the purchase date somewhere in most large (as in expensive or major) items I purchase. That includes computer parts.  I guess in my case (no pun intended) the case is the oldest item but there is no date on it.  Everything inside except for memory chips (purchased with MB) has a date on it and the oldest dated item is an optical drive dated 2005. Outside the computer case the keyboard is probably the oldest dating from 2005 I believe.  Until recently I was still using an HP Deskjet printer from 1999.  It still works but I replaced it with a multi-functional printer after finding that my old (from 2002 I am guessing) is not supported under Windows 7. 

  10. Vlamnire /

    My processor, AMD ATHLON X2 6000+, everything else is a bit newer.

  11. Anonymous /

    The processor. Intel Core2Duo is oldest part in my pc.

    Corporate Training

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