Intellistation Z Pro as every-day computer?

[leoblob]

I can get an Intellistation Z Pro (6221 series) computer for $290. http://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/system ... MIGR-61119

It has a 2.66 Xeon processor (533MHz, 512kB), 512 MB ECC registered DDR266 RAM, NVidia Quadro 980 GXL graphics card, 40 GB IDE drive, CD burner, WIN2K... has one AGP slot, one PCI, four 64-bit PCI-X (not "express"), Ultra SCSI 320 and 2 dual-channel IDE controllers, max of 8GB RAM, max of 2 Xeon processors.

Any opinions on this for 'regular" desktop chores (no gaming)? I'm thinking about treating myself to a faster computer, and this one looks interesting (it's a bit out of the ordinary and has lots of cool stuff). I know that DDR266 RAM is pretty slow by today's standards, but any other negatives?? (I don't care about the small-ish hard drive)

[gator]

We have one of these at school ... great machines. One caveat for using as a everyday computer - you have to be really careful buying parts for it. It runs great as a solid linux workstation in my lab.

[leoblob]

From what I've read, it seems that it would be picky about memory, but are there other 'compatibility' issues as well?

[gator]

From what I've read, it seems that it would be picky about memory, but are there other 'compatibility' issues as well?

You are spot on ... We found the wrong way about memory after trying 2-3 modules we got from the IT dept, we finally decided buying memory from IBM will be the best option to upgrade, and it cost us a bit at time (1 year back I think). One good thing about this machine (like all IBM ones) is that you can rip the machine apart pretty easily ... it also comes with on-site warranty (though it might be different for schools, I dont know about retail). We initially got the machine with Windows Server 2003 on it, and then we installed Linux (enterprise red hat). I don't remeber this machine being switched off, ever, in the last one year.