Three i7s. New to me ... but...

[Waterclown]

Greetings Tipsters. Hoping to interrogate the wisdom of the group.

Photo attached.

I am the proud (??) owner of three Intel i7-920 processors that I had hoped to use towards a cluster. I bought these 10 years ago, chucked them in a closet, and after moving back-and-forth a few times across this fine nation of ours during the decade of the 20-teens, thought I lost them. While killing time during this long holiday weekend on COVID house arrest, I was rooting through several dusty, mysterious boxes and they have appeared back into my life.

The receipt in the bag is dated The Year of Our Lord 3-14-2010 from my local Microcenter. These were new when I bought them, but are now over 10 years old. Now that I have them back in my life, I'd like to build actual computers around them. I spent the afternoon tooling around the internet for compatible motherboards that would accept my L1366. New ones seem difficult to come by affordably and in triplicate. I guess I could buy used but don't know if I trust decades old stuff from strangers. I figure after all is said and done, I will probably spend a little more than enough to buy a used Mustang, which I would rather have than a pile of computer souffle' that in the end might not work if I'm not prudent...

There are great resources out there online for compatible components, but when i try to purchase new, I'm SOL. Also oddly I'm noticing that used stuff in which my -920s might connect are way more expensive than they otherwise would be.

This is an alien endeavor for me. I can tell you anything you need to know about manufacturing, acceptance testing, etc., but when it comes to the nuances of computing, I barely know anything past how to turn them on. I make good money in my area because of what I know, but this is not my wheelhouse. There is no house, and there are no wheels...

Is there anyone with enough experience on the computing hardware side that can help guide me? I am willing to pay for new components from reputable sources, but I don't know what newer stuff might be compatible with these old CPUs. I know there is a long shopping list to fight through, but I'd like to start the conversation with a motherboard. I need to start with something these cookies can plug into and build outward from there.

Thanks in advance for any insights!

 

[IRstuff]

What would be the point? Those processors are soooo slow. My current i7 on my laptop is faster than 2 of those 920's. The industry has already gone through about 4 generations of i7s in that time frame, which likely means 4 iterations on sockets and peripherals. You'd be paying a premium to find obsolete parts and boards to be compatible with those clunkers (sorry). And certainly, you could find a single processor that runs multiple rings around the 920. Passmark lists the 920 at 2731, mine is 6067 The latter link shows the fastest i7 at 11,444, which is 5x the performance of the 920.

Go to your nearest Costco, Best Buy, or Amazon page, and buy a new machine; 10 yrs from now it'll only be 10 years old, while your 920 Frankenstein will be 20 yrs old.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[johnie134]

very good and fast pc.

 

[12345abc6ttyui67]

Unfortunately 10yrs is an eternity in computer technology and as others suggest you are probably better starting with something current.

You will find prices for old (date wise) but new (ownership wise) hardware generally goes up after awhile - no more are being manufactured (lack of supply) but some are still required for replacements (think hospitals or control centres where they might have adopted this processor / motherboard years ago and do not want to upgrade all their systems yet).

There is a sweet spot between prices decreasing (due to obsolesence) and increasing (due to rarity).