zjrog

I'll start by admitting. I'm CHEAP. Not frugal. But cheap. 18 months ago or so, I picked up a used Kurt Kinetic fluid Trainer, added their iNRide sensor. I've used just my phone, just my tablet and just my 4 year old laptop with ANT+ dongle, or any combination to have Zwift running and the companion app. Granted, my laptop is connected to a 50" TV for display, but that was a Black Friday Walmart purchase 6 years ago.

My laptop just doesn't really give me the best video all the time, sometimes it is impossible to watch. And that is with a wired ethernet connection. Decided to see if I can resurrect an older PC for Zwift and for media/Network Attached Storage use. I built this machine quite a few years ago for gaming, and about the time it wouldn't run the latest games, I sort of quit gaming. I tried to get Zwift downloaded to it, but it is still only running Windows XP Pro. I looked at a few other options, like purchasing a new PC or laptop. But after talking with a couple gamers, we believe my older machine will suffice for my needs. A benefit of not buying cheap once.

So, what am I upgrading? An older Asus mother board with AMD processor, only 2GB of RAM and dual video cards. I'm adding another 2GB of memory, maxing out the board. Swapping out the older 256mb dual video cards in favor of a newer 2GB video card (for less than 1/10th what I spent on the original two cards!!!). New fans because the older ones are noisy. I'm also adding a 128GB SDD drive for boot and OS. PC currently has multiple hard drives serving as network backup and file server currently. I am in this upgrade for less than $130... I will be updating to Windows 10. And adding Bluetooth LE and ANT+ dongles to the PC. I would have likely made these upgrades, perhaps not the video card, soon anyway. Just waiting on parts.

I'm not expecting to play current games with this setup, but expect Zwift should be much smoother and maybe more detailed. And I get to keep a machine I once spent nearly $2000 in service. I did consider a new mother board and processor. And that is still not off the table.

I know many of use use laptops, tablets, Apple Tv and such. Wondering how many use full blown PCs or gaming PCs for Zwift?

spelger

my rig is a 10 year old laptop running Win7. zwift takes forever to start partly due to the HDD so your SDD should be an improvement. it has 16 GB memory although Dell claims it will only support 8. all 16 are accessible. Zwift is using about 2GB so your upgrade in memory should set you straight. pretty sure your upgrade in the video should be much better than what i have.

unterhausen

I have a cheap pc I bought used running zwift. Fortunately, Microsoft will still let you upgrade win 7 pro to win 10 for free. Had to swap video cards to get it to run, but I got that out of another computer I bought used. I'm not sure if I'm missing anything, the video seems fine. I imagine the developers will eventually make it so the game doesn't run on my computer and I'll have to upgrade.

spelger

I wouldn't use Win10 with a 10 foot pole. I do use a 10 foot pole at work though.

gthomson

I wouldn't say you need the latest and greatest to run Zwift but as long as you have a decent, current system you should be fine. Like anything, technology keeps moving along and it has to be respected. I run Windows 10 on a IBM Thinkpad with a 2.9 Ghz processor, hooked up to a 21" monitor and things work fine.

It looks fine for my purposes and I just keep following the butt in front of me when I'm in group rides or races or I watch GCN videos when I'm riding casually.

zjrog

This machine is nearly 16 years old, still runs fine for what I used it for once I quit gaming. I realize a quad core CPU would be better today, but the AMD Athlon 3000 in this is just fine. And doubling my RAM will probably make a big difference, but not as big as the new video card. At least I am hoping that will be an improvement.

Cheap, keeping what I already have and repurposing it. Upgrading from Win XP Pro to Win 10 gets me away for a no longer unsupported/Legacy OS, meaning better and updated drivers where needed, support for large drives. I had been using a flavor of Linux for file server stuff, but I'm not always bright enough to fix little errors that crop up in Linux...

Win 10 will be a vast improvement over Win XP Pro. (Too bad Win 98SE is no longer viable!)

Other than drives and fans, I never replaced anything on this system. And with the exception of the RAM I'm adding, I can easily use it all for a new build if this doesn't work out. Memory is cheap compared to 16MB (4x4MB) of 30 pin SIMMs... So an upgrade is ok, but not expecting Miracles out of Nowhere... While the Athlon 3000 CPU runs at 1.8ghz, it was easily running much faster when I had it overclocked for gaming years ago. And now to just get everything delivered, the machine rebuilt and ride...

unterhausen

I did find there are video cards that are inadequate for zwift. But the card I'm using now was low-end when it was new, and that has been at least 10 years, I think.

zjrog

Pretty sure ANY new card will surpass my old SLI paired cards with little trouble. That card and the memory should be here in the next day or two. I already swapped the fans out, and then realized the noisiest fans were in the power supply. Again, cheap wins, new fans were less than $10. Probably swap them out tonight. The motherboard Northbridge chipset fan was dead, but a 40mm fan fits in the heatsink. Again, cheap and easy.

Only real issue I've run into is getting Win 10 on the machine. The board doesn't support booting from USB. And I downloaded Win 10 from Microsoft and followed their instructions, but the ISO size seems too big for my DVDs... I'll get it figured out. I don't want to overwrite the existing drive, but install Win 10 to the SSD. Win XP Pro doesn't recognize drives larger than 128GB, and doesn't seem to recognize SSD either. Mother board BIOS shows all drives properly though. Probably all an exercise in futility, and may yet just buy a new board and CPU and memory. Or a refurbished machine that my drives and video card can be moved to. Still, a fun exercise regardless...

unterhausen

Sounds like you have more in fans than I have in my computer, which was $10 + the SSD for an old i5 dell.

zjrog

HAHAAAA!!! Yeah, I do. As it had been a gaming machine, I had a few fans. It has a couple less now, but they are quiet again. Well, not in the power supply. Yet.

superdex

Your upgrades will be great with Zwift. It's GPU demands are pretty low, actually. Unless you want to see little details like headlight shadows at night. Up to you.

I'm running a multi-year old PowerSpec pc with an i3, a 128Gb SSD, and a ~$70 GeForce card. Looks great. The only thing I would change is the fans in the PC are loud.


* the PowerSpec: PowerSpec Support System Specs
* GPU https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AZHOWL0/

zjrog

While, low, they are taxing on a low end laptop such as my 4 year old Dell. Perhaps, it may be time to update that. But first, the old PC. I am curious about what other visual details are available, but not enough so to chase them beyond this current effort. I mainly want a smooth video output, smoother than my laptop often gives.

I've always been amazed how much happier one is with quiet PC fans...

superdex

Basically any external GPU will work. This is what I'm running. It's not 4K, but I don't need that when I'm chewing on the stem anyway....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AZHOWL0/

*OH! also take a look (and perhaps upgrade) your network card. Solid WiFi is important too...

zjrog

Network port is Gigabit capable, I much prefer wired wherever possible. Even when using my laptop I use a hardwired ethernet connection most of the time.

I ordered the 2GB version of that video card. It is presently out for delivery.

zjrog

Slow and agonizing, but progress all the same. Power supply fans arrived, and installed. New video card arrived, will install tomorrow.

Figured out my Win10 DVD issue, I bought single layer single side disc's. I need double layer... None at my local Walmart. So. One step forward, the other stuck in glue. Grrr...

I spent some time on www.newegg.com today. I can't believe how little I could spend on a much newer set of components. Must learn all the new stuff, I just haven't needed to keep up since I quit gaming.

zjrog

Well. Win !0 will NOT run on this old computer. I see conflicting info online whether my CPU is not up to snuff, or the socket on the motherboard doesn't support Win 7 and above functions. I tried Win 10, Win 8 32 bit and 64 bit. To no avail, wouldn't even try to install. And Zwift requires a minimum of Win 7. Zwift won't install on XP, I tried. So, buying new stuff. Next month or so. Just spent money on my Jeep, so need to rebuild my fun funds... I can use the SSD and the video card I just bought, and I can re-use my 500GB and 1TB hard drives. But new case, power supply, CPU, motherboard and memory. Not going top drawer, but not going bargain basement either. I might find a game I want to play...

superdex

oof. Sorry about all that. I can totally get behind your optimism though!

zjrog

Thanks! I went into the project not expecting much. It is an old machine. I can still use it with some flavor of Linux, as a file and media server. It was a fun exercise at least. Ok. A bit frustrating. But a good learning experience and realizing I stepped away from what the current state of tech is for a bit too long.

Edit: I was thinking about how to make a PC not look out of place.

Then I decided to build it in this sewing machine table. It was my mother in laws, and hasn't been used in 20 years. I think this can tidy up a lot of things. Next comment when parts show up...

unterhausen

i would offer to mail you one of the $10 dells, but I think now that everyone has discovered they will run zwift, they sell out pretty quickly.

superdex

out of place? with that saddle???

zjrog

Thanks! But yeah. I can't find those that cheap locally. I'm cheap, but the more I messed around with this project, I realized I wanted a new PC anyway.

zjrog

Haha! Yeah, um. That works well indoors. No way would I like it outdoors.. if I ever do a rocker plate, then I might hate it. I lost over 140 pounds and my butt is not self padded anymore...

superdex

now THAT is worth celebrating! Whoo!

zjrog

unterhausen

A rocker plate does help somewhat. But I would say my pain was more tailbone related than seat related.