LOL @ PC donation drive

Minimum Hardware Requirements:

Processors: Original release date should be less than 6 years ago.
Motherboards: Original release date should be less than 4 years ago. ATX form factor or smaller derivatives (e.g. micro-ATX, mini-ATX)
Memory: DDR or newer. Each module should be 256MB or larger. No notebook modules (SO-DIMM) please.
Hard Disk Drive: Minimum size 40GB, IDE or SATA.
Graphics Card: AGP or PCIe bus
Network/Sound Card: PCI or PCIe bus
Optical Drive: At least CD-ROM, read speed 24x and above. CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW drives also welcome.
Monitor: At least 15", able to display 24/32-bit (true) color. DVI/VGA interface. Please also provide power and DVI/VGA cables.
Speakers: In pairs please. Nobody wants to receive just a subwoofer or one satellite.
Power Supply: Minimum 350w. Preferably with power cable.
Keyboard/Mouse: PS/2 or USB connector.
Casing: ATX form factor or smaller derivatives (e.g. micro-ATX, mini-ATX)
Software: We would greatly appreciate it if anyone is kind enough to donate Operating Systems, Productivity (office) or any other original software whose license is still valid for installation on another PC. Software should not have been released more than 4 years ago. See additional notes below.

Lets see...

My mom is using a Pentium 4 1.8A for her work - system bought in mid-2002, most likely released earlier - fail
Motherboard - bought with CPU almost 7 years ago - fail
Memory - SDRAM - fail
Power supply - 200+W - fail
Software - Windows 98 + Office 97 - uber fail

She's still freaking using it today. And it still functions as fast.

As for me...

Motherboard - came with Starhub promotion Compaq PC in 2005, mainboard series launched in early 2005 - fail
Graphics card - before I upgraded it to HD3850 2 months ago it was onboard - neither AGP nor PCIe - fail

And the TV rig before it was recently upgraded:

Processor - Athlon 800mhz - released since god knows when, probably 2000 - fail
Motherboard - the famous A7V133 - confirm fail
Memory - either 64 or 128MB, definitely not 256 - fail
Hard Disk Drive - 4GB - fail by a factor of 10
No optical drive, no monitor (uses TV), no keyboard (yes no KB), no casing (yes no casing) - fail
Win98 - you expect me to run slow XP? - fail

Even after the upgrade it still fails - because it uses the exact same motherboard + cpu in my current Starhub Compaq rig. And it uses the onboard graphics. Plus the PSU fails too.

Secondary com - used as dad's com, backup, botting com
Processor - Celeron D 2.4Ghz, may have passed the age requirement, but performance doesn't match that of the 1.8A
Motherboard - some wierd SIS or VIA chipset supporting up to 533MHz FSB - fail
Graphics - f-king slow on-board - fail

Then, at my new job, we're supposed to use laptops in our work. And I suspect the laptop uses Willamette core - fail

And I know of many friends who are still using Pentium 3's or have used it until now. Some of their parents use the same computer for work. And I also see lots of old systems still being used in workplaces.

Those systems with CPUs that fail, they're still being regularly used for real productive work (apart from my decommissioned TV rig (code name Revival) which was used for entertainment). Those systems with CPUs that pass, fail anyway in other requirements, but they are still being useful. My TV rig handles HD 720P H.264 decoding (with slight difficulty sometimes) which is still a CPU-demanding task today, and my main system (which specs are similar to the TV rig less the recent gfx card upgrade) has served me well for years and is going to continue so, and with a graphics card I play UT3 and F.E.A.R. and C&C3 etc with no lag. Even without one it can handle most MMO games with ease, and allow me to frag noobs in UT2K4 under the name of Higu. If you remember this name, yes you're right, you've been fragged by an on-board gfx.

All this fun and usefulness on "failed" systems. Wow cool.

Donating PC to low-income families is good. But the strict requirements makes this hypocritical. What is the use of a high-end computer for children anyway? Even DotA and Maple and CS don't require such specs; my mom's "failed" system, once equipped with a Ti4200, managed UT2k4 and C&C Generals with no lag. And the use of older computers for work illustrates the situation even better.

So lets just say we gave them the good specs to play games, this is the most reasonable explanation since games are the most demanding apps for a PC for a normal consumer.

Now that's just wierd. And you'd think that in low-income families the parents wouldn't want their children to study hard to break out of that poverty cycle.

And you cannot say that I'm too cynical and selfish. Remember, my main system failed the requirements. Even though my systems are all good enough for so many shitz lol.

The reason they want <4-year-old motherboards and <6-year-old processors might be reliability; it'd reflect badly on their image if the donated PC spoils. But hay, reliability and age isn't directly related. My com ran almost 24/7 since it came to me. My mom's rig used to belong to me, and it also ran 24/7 before for a good amount of time. Freak, the fact that all these coms are al still working says that they're reliable enough. Yet if you go on forums, you see lots of people with things dying here and there. I'm guessing if you don't like and respect your gadgets they die on you. My Creative 64MB MP3 player lasted me from 2002 to 2006, and the 2 pairs of NiMH battery I bought from it died first (Sony... good brand).
And if they want reliability, why 350W PSU? 350W suggests a generic PSU, you see PSUs below 500W outside, nobody goes by multiples of 50W anymore. Now imagine the thing has been used for 1 year already. Prepare for some fireworks.
Yay, the irony, the 200+W PSUs that came with the two Starhub systems I have along with the 300W FSP are heavier and better than those generic 350W. Ever tried running a 9800Pro on 300W?

Or, they might just want to give good coms so that they look good. Or because the beneficiary requested for that much. Either way...

I originally wanted to donate the Athlon away (my mom's idea, independant of this donation drive), I'll tell her about this and see what she thinks lol.

I think I'll just donate it to the salvation army. Even the old Pentium II would be faster than the watever OLPC project, because it can play Unreal Tournament. I'm sure it will be useful to them.

The bottom line...

Why bother donating if the people/group you're donating it do doesn't even use/appreciate it more than yourself?

Oh well, I do have a 2.8C and some AXPs lying around. I can donate those.