Hello,

I recently got a PC with an AM3 motherboard for basically nothing. The motherboard in question is a H-APRICOT-RS780L-uATX with an Athlon II x2 260 CPU, paired with 3 GB of DDR3 RAM (2GB + 1 GB sticks).

I've been thinking about upgrading the CPU to a Phenom II x6 (I think that's the best it can go, not sure though) and maybe find an old graphics card to get a bit more performance out of the thing. I know it's been more than a decade and it won't be able to run many applications because of the missing CPU instructions, but most of my work involves web development and productivity using Linux with mostly compatible tools. I already have a machine where I can game and work, so it would be more like a back-up in case of emergencies (also, a fun experiment maybe).

I already tried a few programs on the little Athlon and it seems to do the job most of the time, although it isn't the snappiest of experiences.

Do you think this is worth trying out? Most benchmarks I've seen are focused on gaming so it seems to be a bit underwhelming and not worth the effort. Also, energy here is pretty cheap and I won't be using the machine 24/7, so power draw isn't really a concern for me.