What are these unbranded Desktops from 2007? 

So many systems looks similar because they are built by a handful of ODM/OEMs on behalf of anyone that wants to slap their logo on a box. Small cosmetic changes like a different plastic bezel, chassis color, custom logos, and branded BIOS screen can be had if there is enough volume. This goes for desktops, laptops, servers, phones, and tablets.

14:30 Powering on as soon as you plug it in usually is an option in the BIOS. It's commonly labeled something like "Power on after power failure" or something like that.

I do like that these are 64-bit systems that can do at least 8GB's of RAM. If you don't need a high powered gaming rig these would go nicely with something like Linux Mint for some web browsing & word processing. Shame that someone tried to toss these!

Love these no name pc’s. Mystery PC’s :) Watching now.

I like the cases, they are nice for diy homelab servers for someone too cheap to buy a rack ($100 for a rack, and an extra $100 for each server chassis VS a $100 hardware store shelf you can put lots of desktops in). Unfortunately, the hardware has too high of an idle power draw to make a good server and are missing more modern instructions to run more advanced apps. Idle Power Draw is one of the most overlooked statistics of computers but it is super important because most PCs spend most of their lives at idle.

Love, Love you're channel! The best part is the Retro sign language!

MDG were just rebadged DELL computers. They used to have commercials on TV regularly and are based in Canada.

Every other school, drs surgery, hospital and dentists had one of these machines at one stage.

Almost to 13K. 🙂In my experience, unbranded desktops usually have better quality, non proprietary components compared to branded PCs. Laptops and AIO machines on the other hand, branded is better. A company I used to work for had an unbranded laptop that ran Windows 7 and it was nothing but trouble from day one. I agree! These machines still have plenty of life left in them and can still handle the modern web with ease.

I'm guessing medical ultra-sound apparatus would need a discrete PC like this. Screen, controls and an ultra-sound wand to perform image capture. Interesting. Thanks.

Something to note about that generation of Intel Desktop Boards. Intel for whatever stupid reason used a thermal junction offset for the CPU temperature, rather than reporting the actual CPU temperature. I don't know if all Intel Desktop Boards did this, but quite a few did. How the offset worked is that the BIOS would report the difference between the current CPU temperature versus the maximum thermal junction temperature. The way to figure out what it is would be to unplug the CPU fan and watch the temperature. If the temperature starts going up, it's just normally reporting the temperature. If it starts going down, it's counting the difference to the thermal junction temperature.

Dell, HP, and IBM all used to have a riser card in their SFF machines which would allow you to use full height PCI/AGP or PCIE cards. I don't know why they quit doing that, but it certainly limited things.

These look similar to a computer that my middle school had. The district bought them in bulk for all of the computer labs. They were branded "ByteSpeed". I'm guessing ByteSpeed just got a hold of some generic pc's and slapped their name on them.

The hard drive/SSD/optical drive cage is very much like my HP SFF computer with the exception that it isn't necessary for me to remove the front bezel to lift it up to access the drives. I have another computer with an Intel Core2Duo chip and Windows10 that I upgraded to 16GB of memory and an SSD drive for the boot drive. It was the SSD drive that really made a difference by boosting performance.

Вітання з України! Підписаний з тих пір, як подивився відео про Compaq Armada 1700.

MDG in early 2000s "do you really want a clone?" I hated those commercials...

Intel's website indicates that this board has support for Core2 Quad processors, based on the DQ35J0 model number. It would be interesting to put an SSD/8 GB of RAm, a new CPU, and a cheap AMD low profile graphics card and show how this could easily serve as a daily driver for the average person almost 15 years after it was made. it could even game to some degree. Maybe try the Q6600 tape mod on it up to 3 GHZ and upgrade the CPU cooler to compensate. There are also modded socket 771 Xeons that could work with the microcode injected into a modded BIOS. That would offer maximal performance gains. They cost about $10 or you can order a sticker to do the pin switch. You have to mod the CPU socket itself but it is easy with a razor blade. a GT 1030 would be a a good fit. Maybe drop in a 1650 Super low profile card just for fun. Love the video. Thanks.

Those look quite nice for 2006 and cosmetically in great shape!

with a low profile graphics card and a flex power supply, these cases would make great mid-range sleeper gaming pcs

26:42 Absolutely right. No one should update the BIOS unless there is CPU microcode update, etc... the things you said, or the laptop may stop working. I did perform many BIOS updates and I am well aware of the risks. Once I had here an ASUS A6Rp from a friend. The laptop was working "fine" but it was literally beaten. The screen plastics were kinda broken, with some alluminium tape at bottom left of the screen area. It was working fine, it booted to XP, it had 3 accounts, sluggish boot up. I started with a memtest86+ test, it passed but the cpu fan was always ramping up. The memtest86+ passed and I then checked the BIOS, typical AMIBIOS but kind old version. I downloaded the update, used the builtin flash utility from BIOS, it started updating with fan always full speed... when... the computer just froze... I waited few minutes... tried all keys.. I had to unplug the power from the back of the laptop.. and it never came back up. I teared it down the laptop... many different screw sizes, very tedious to disassemble... Close inspection... it was a very tiny black chip from the other side of the board where the 32 pin square CMOS chip was. The tiny chip gets very hot by just having the charger plugged in. I queried the laptop board online, I had at my disposal some similar boards from ASUS A6* but only GOD knows it would fit into the chassis with different connctors. With the plastics all beaten, I quickly put everything inside a cardboard box. So folks... listen to the man... don't update the BIOS of ancient laptops unless you want a door stop thing.

also those stickers that came with the intel boards were great, that was one thing I loved about them, now that all the computers have glass side panels they don't really do that anymore, but I would always apply those stickers to the inside of the cases of customer computers when building with intel boards

That feature of turning on right away after being connected is perfect for businesses

Solid content. You just earned a subscriber.

I would've assumed OEM by a "mom and pop" computer store. The local stores here back in the day sold a number of systems like this.

Since we all have so many computers, I would restore it and upgrade it a little bit, Install some programs and some games and give them away to a couple low income families that needs them.If you can find them, maybe through a church. There's a lot of people that can't afford them especially these days. I could be wrong. Maybe people don't need computers these days like they used to or maybe they do I don't know.

Dell keyboard, HP monitor, and MDG computer. True IT deversity, equity, & inclusion.

It was a time when Intel mobos came with a large sticker with jumper and connector positions which you could affix to the inside of the case. Maybe this mobo has been changed.

we had these at my school with Ergo badges slapped on them

Nice cases, but with a massiv design flaw using this board. The IDE connector / IDE Ribbon cable right on front of the power supply intake, omg 😅

I specifically bought a case like that for its compact design. quite usefull

Very strange that they are quite so long, almost office PC looks but with their length doesn't seem likely, Dell/HP/everyone would sell you a cheap compact desktop form factor PC back then for office use. Two slot covers missing suggests it had a GPU at one point, I'm guessing scientific/budget workstation use given they seem a lot better built than the average office PC at the time (or now).

If you're not a gamer and don't use any CPU intensive programs, like video editing for example, it's surprising how useful older machines are.

Always liked the flat cases

When I get an old used computer, I always test it and make sure everything is good before I do as much as wiping the dust off. If I am just going to pull it apart, there is no reason to clean it up and re-paste it. It isn't going to hurt it in the slightest running it with old paste for a few minutes, or at all really.

Chenbro PC711 computer case Intel motherboard (sticker for the rear layout was in the manual) Built 100s of these systems. Chenbro has a ton of front panel options, used this one PC711 in my own shop years ago. They were more expensive than In-Winn at the time, but were worth it for the customers that wanted that IBM desktop experience without the high price tag. edit: spelling

Wow sides and rear are identical to a brand called RM Education here in the UK.

Recommend adding appropriate vintage Ubuntu usb stick to your tool kit. Lon TV uses this as a go to for Linux compatibility but would work well if Knoppix wont boot to desktop.

Jokes aside, those seem like really good reliable server computers if you ever needed. I say this as somebody who has a server running 24/7 for games here at home. You don't need a lot to do right with it.

MDG still going they just don't seem to pump money into ads to be everywhere. looks like u can finance everything from computers/laptops gaming conses to appliances and Furniture. of course the amount the item ends up costing by the time u pay it off ends up costing 2 or 3 times what it would have costed to just buy the item out right from a normal retailer. like for example a 17 inch msi laptop at mdg would be like 3 grand paid at $122 a month. same laptop is sold at staples canada for 1300.

The case layout and fan placement reminds me of STONE pcs, I have 2 that have the same layout but different front plate

I haven't heard of MDG in decades. Tool-less cases are the bomb. My 2013 Lenovo M92 3227 (XP Pro x64) can be worked on without tools. Our family's first PC was a gift of a used NEC 386 in an all plastic case (possibly with a metal support for the motherboard.) Every component could be replaced without a Phillips screwdriver. If you have a fully functional 🖱🖥💽 it needs an OS. It's only purpose is to exist and maybe play era appropriate games 🙂

InWin lists a nearly identical BL631 MATX case on Amazon.

hi watching from Australia. these were used back in my primary school but they were branded "optima" and had optima branded LCD monitors that went with them. not sure if they were some kind of OEM or just a system builder.

I have one thats branded Mecer. My one has an 3.6ghz single core pentium 4. The mesh at the CPU side is for blower type coolers with a shroud.The older designs had that type before intel had its stock cooler.

"Really great ventilation" he said. While settling it on the side with the fan.😊

These are Whitebox Cases this one could have been made by Apex, Apevia, or InWin (I'm pointing more to InWin on these). They leave it blank for other small system builders/shops to slap their logo on it. InWin is currently the only one building/selling this type of cases (InWin BL040 & BL631 to be exact) they even comes with a 300W TFX PSU (though I'd rather use a different TFX PSU*). While not common the PSU is not proprietary they're just not a lot of companies that make them anymore. *I also would not rely on that PSU model used in the case cause they are prone to catastrophic failure, you can get a replacement from Silverstone, or Seasonic that is way more reliable.

@RetroRecall The first pc is actaully based on the Q35 chipset which was released around 2007 and 2008 respectively. As noted by the timestamp: 15:47 The second pc is also based on the Q35 chipset too stated in timestamp: 26:38. So this means that these two pcs aren't quite from 06. They were more likely produced around the year 2008 or 2009.

Nice computers, but I never heard of MDG

Very nice and really robust case. I don't know the brand personally, but that's probably because I live in Germany. These computers are also very easy to maintain. I'm already looking forward to the next video.

Good calls on the thermal paste and BIOS, first do no harm. In the second system the inlet fan was reporting 0 RPM, was it spinning? If not could the fact that it is on the left side which was against the desk be a factor? Almost all reviewers, including yourself, when doing the external examination look at five of the six sides of a system. If you don't look at the bottom how do we know that there isn't anything interesting there? Thanks for another fun video.

Honestly these would make for fine Linux or Windows 10 Business machines, all of the caps look good and the specs aren't bad at all. They still low-profile GPU and Wi-Fi cards as well so they could be decent kid's gaming computer as well for lower end e-sports games and Minecraft. This said I hope you're doing well and things are continuing to go well for ya.

hey dude, hope you are doing alright. thanks for another great video

Those two systems with dual core CPU's I would upgrade to a faster dual core CPU, and the one with 4GB RAM I would upgrade to 8GB. I would install an SSD in both. They would make great little Linux systems. You could even make a media server or NAS system from them. Another great video.

these are great cases, I love the drive tray toolless design, and the system isn't bad having 8GB on a core-2??? NICE!

These look like "jailcomputers", there is a OEM called Priminfo where i live, they don't always put their brand on these computers, sometimes they do, but they also used this exact case, a prisoner could "rent" a pc for courses that they follow where a pc is required, my grandpa was a guard. He hauled many of those computers, i have one of those OEM cases (without the guts) they use, and i actually like this case!

Nice! Give either system maximum amount of memory, graphics card, and an ssd and you could probably use it for something via a Linux distribution.

Those horizontal Desktop style cases have always intrigued me for years now as I just typically see tower style PC cases. I think the only Desktop style PCs that I got to use were HP ones back in school that ran 4th gen i5's. The Desktop style cases feel like a mix of being easy to work in like that flip up front bays, but also a pain with proprietary parts like the PSU (though what you shown could be TFX?) and limited cooling (unless high RPM fan noise is fine haha). Half height low profile PCIe cards can be a challenge for GPUs though. I've seen photos of people doing sort of hotrod mods on their Desktop PCs to add full height GPUs by either cutting up the side of the case or the GPU sits precariously mounted outside the case haha. Nice to see the Intel motherboard there uses standardized connectors and heatsinks that helps in servicability and reusing parts.

Great video, I didn't know about this OEM. Question: where do you get your systems from? In Quebec if you were to go to a recycling place where people drop off stuff, you can't take the computers.

I would've done the same thing i did to them like my mini pc use them for streaming content like music or movies

Those cases are nice! Though I think I'll stick to my 4000D Airflow 🤣

Just watching this thinking of how I'd upgrade them, lol.

SSD caddies... lol. I think these systems are a bit early to call them that. To be fair, I have, and probably would put an SSD in that era of system. I'm actually disappointed that many later OEM systems I've encountered from the 2010s didn't make more provision for 2.5" drives, yet this one does. As far as what to do with these? It would fascinate me to see these with the OS printed on their respective COAs. I'm glad you were able to identify the manufacturer.

3:37 The DVD RW drive was far from standard, that is a pretty high end option regular CD burner/RW would be standard but the DVD burner was quite a bit more money.

Decent 2007/2008 computers.

You could use These boards in standard matx , so a basic case could remove the low Profile issues

Uefi updates is apso for better power management and security i do them all the time and intel boards mostly enterprise have recovery uefi partition in the cmos drive

with this form factor, the cases are good for home theater systems. mATX build with an r5-5600G or close to for modern HTPC

"we're canadas computer, genuine value genuine MDG"

Sorry if it was mentioned & I missed it, but they strongly remind me of the low-profile Dell Optiplex models from the same era. I think these are actually more attractive.

The build quality looks good.

i hope flat desktop cases come back.

Throw in a quad core cpu and a gtx 750ti and you'll have a little cheap budget media/classic games pc.

I to really do not like to trash/waste hardware that still work and I tend to try to collect the parts that make them all they can be, aka top cpu, ram and GPU. OF cause I do most of my pc shopping in the recycling bin so it may take a while to get them done. Do you know if older pc´s are actually wanted by any one, like 3rd world schools or similar perhaps just local ones? I like the rescue and restoration/upgrade but then what, I´d hate to just put them back in the recycling again but can´t store to many in my apartment. Who do you give/sell yours to?

These units would run a nice Linux distro like PCLinuxOS or Mint quite easily. Consider an AMD graphics card for such use (compatibility and support are better).

Hello again 😊❤

Nice video. :)

They look like Super Nice BATOCERA Systems to Me...

I fixed my vinyl player (glue and some perkele)

23:14 Unless I missed something, that looks like a Flex ATX power supply. It probably isn't anything proprietary.

I remember MDG from way back when they used to sell stuff on The Shopping Channel on TV. This was back in the Pentium 3 and Pentium 4 days. I also thought they went out of business. The motherboard is Intel DQ35JO. It can take up to Core 2 Duo E8600 or Core 2 Quad Q9650.

My #1 youtuber ♥ 💖 request:can you restore the dell optiplex gx 1 from big computer hall? But if you complet my request:I will like all of your videos ❤

They look like ibm or hp idk

in my country they will sell them for money not donate them

The PSU deson't seem bespoke. It looks more like either TFX, SFX, or even FlexATX shaped.

thin client terminals from a PC recycler - it's a particular type of crapness

your voice is identical to LGR are you LGR but like a 2 channel?

Generic hp?