Help identifying this old Packard Bell Desktop Computer!

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
T

Tom_129

Honorable
Jul 25, 2016
26
1
10,545
Here's a link to a Google Drive folder containing pictures of the case and motherboard.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3yezkd23h27V2VaOFJweUNQR1E

It's from the late 90's, and has a Pentium III processor.

Basically I found it at the back of my parents garage, full of dust and dead spiders and cobwebs but seemingly in very good condition despite nearly 20 years of neglect - no rust on the board and would probably still power on. I can't seem to find any stickers though which say the specific case or give any information about the specifications of the computer, so I need some help
 
Solution
dudmont
If you could find ram for it, and you cleaned it up a bunch, bought a decent PSU, you could probably get it going. Finding IDE drives and cables could probably be accomplished through an ebay search. Lots of games from the 90s would run quite well on that machine. Getting drivers and the like might be the biggest challenge. With persistence, I think it could all be done. The reclaimed computer market is stronger than you think.
Sort by date Sort by votes
dudmont

dudmont

Reputable
Feb 23, 2015
1,404
0
5,660
It's got a MSI mobo with 3dfx Voodoo 3 graphics built in. If you take some pictures of the ram(is there any ram in there, it's not on the mobo) and few close ups of one of the ram packages, we'll be able to get you specifics on that. DDR had just come into being at that time, and there was also rambus(due to licensing requirements and expenses it didn't really catch on), but I'm betting that's a ddr board.
If you get ideas of a rehab, take your time, thoroughly clean everything, a modern PSU would work, to a degree, you'll have to do some improvising in regards to molex connections and a floppy drive power connector(some psus still have one). Get yourself a copy of Win98SE and keep it off the internet, no matter what you do(unless you're ok losing control of the system to hackers in like 1 minute).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
T

Tom_129

Honorable
Jul 25, 2016
26
1
10,545
I asked my oldest brother and he said that there wasn't any RAM inside originally. There was a RAM stick which I removed but didnt put any images for that reason. I was able to identify that stick though as a single 64mb RAM stick from NEC.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
T

Tom_129

Honorable
Jul 25, 2016
26
1
10,545
Dont't worry, I wont try to power it on - I don't even have the power cables! And the PSU is caked in insect corpses and dust, I'd be suprised if it even worked.

Can anybody identify the case? I've been looking everywhere for it but I haven't seen anything - I'm wondering if it's an uncommon case, purely curiosity driven though.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,754
18,126
184,590


A proprietary Packard Bell case.
As was often the case at that time. Everyone had their own special cases. PB, HP, Dell, etc, etc.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
T

Tom_129

Honorable
Jul 25, 2016
26
1
10,545
Ah so it's very unlikely I'll be able to find the specific case's name then... Darn. Shame because I actually quite like how it looks - pictures probably don't do it justice because they were taken on a camera relying on interpolation in very poor lighting conditions, but I was actually considering gutting the case and modifying it to house a newer mobo for fun.
(Probably wont do it though because it's not technically mine lol)

If anybody can find the name of the case that would be amazing, but thanks for all comments so far.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
dudmont

dudmont

Reputable
Feb 23, 2015
1,404
0
5,660
If you could find ram for it, and you cleaned it up a bunch, bought a decent PSU, you could probably get it going. Finding IDE drives and cables could probably be accomplished through an ebay search. Lots of games from the 90s would run quite well on that machine. Getting drivers and the like might be the biggest challenge. With persistence, I think it could all be done. The reclaimed computer market is stronger than you think.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom