Summary

• Instead of disposing of old PC parts, repurpose them for uses like a VPN server or ad-blocker.
• Create a playground for distro-hopping on an old PC to test and break obscure Linux distributions.
• Utilize spare PCs for projects like a self-hosted game server or home automation hub with Home Assistant.

With technological advances occurring at a breakneck pace in the computing sector, hardware tends to get outdated fairly quickly. What may be a thousand-dollar cutting-edge gaming system capable of running the most graphically-intensive titles today, could become obsolete in a few years.

However, there's no need to dump your slightly aged PC into the trash can just yet, as there's quite a lot you can do with an old system. So, I’ve put together a list of the more uncommon projects I built with my aged machine over the last few weeks.

8 VPN server

To safeguard the other devices on your network

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) can help maintain your digital anonymity by hiding your public IP address and encrypting all your incoming and outgoing traffic. However, the best third-party VPNs can get rather expensive, while subscribing to cheaper, unreliable VPN providers can compromise your online privacy.

But if you have a spare system with an Ethernet port, you can put it to good use by turning it into a VPN server for your home network. If you’re on Windows 11, you don’t even have to go through the trouble of installing apps or writing codes. That’s because Microsoft's flagship OS supports Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), and you can easily enable it by modifying a handful of settings in the Control Panel.

7 Full-blown remote PC

A PC that can be accessed from anywhere

Remote Desktop is a convenient facility that lets you access a Windows PC remotely from another device, thus eliminating the need to physically carry it wherever you go. Unfortunately, it’s not the most secure way to access your daily driver over the Internet, especially if you want a public-facing Remote Desktop server.

So, if you need a PC but aren’t willing to expose your primary system to security breaches, it’s a good idea to install Remote Desktop on a secondary machine instead. In case your workload involves a public-facing RDP server, it’s much better to use a spare rig that’s connected to a separate router instead of endangering the data on your primary PC.

6 Playground for distro-hopping

Why bother with dual-boot when you can just flash a new OS as often as you please?

For the uninitiated, distro hopping refers to constantly switching between multiple Linux distributions in search of the perfect OS for your needs. Most Linux users encounter this phase when they’re new to the ecosystem and can’t find the right distro that meets their expectations.

As someone who frequently transitions from one distro to another, I can’t overstate how convenient it is to have an old PC that I can tinker with when setting up an entirely new distribution. Plus, since Linux distros aren’t as demanding as their Windows counterparts, you can turn any machine released in the last decade into a playground where you can test (and break) obscure Linux distributions.

5 Ad-blocker

Great for extremely underpowered dinosaur PCs

Tired of intrusive ads constantly popping up on your favorite websites? Installing a centralized ad-blocker on your old system can filter out annoying advertisements on top of making your web pages load faster.

As with VPNs, there’s no need to rely on an extension or third-party provider to block your ads. Even the most outdated of machines can provide centralized ad-blocking for devices connected to your home network. Having tested most of the popular DNS-based self-hosting ad-blockers, I’d recommend giving AdGuard Home a shot as it provides solid features without having an eyesore of a UI.

4 Self-hosted server for games

Be mindful of the RAM, though

The official servers on most multiplayer games are pretty decent most of the time. But there are occasions when you might need a private server. Perhaps you wish to enable certain server-side mods and plugins. Or maybe you want low latency when competing against friends in a LAN setup.

Spare PCs come in handy during these situations, as you can convert them into dedicated servers for self-hosting all your multiplayer games. However, unlike the other projects on this list, you’ll need at least 16GB of memory on the spare PC if you want a crash-free experience.

3 Home automation hub

That can act as a central interface for all your smart appliances

If you have multiple smart devices powering your home, you might want to look into a home automation solution. Besides providing more flexibility when setting up your smart appliances, running a centralized home automation server lets you customize the functionality of each device to your liking.

I’ve used a handful of home automation apps and operating systems, and I found Home Assistant to be the best option on the market. While using a cheap SBC can work well if you don’t have too many smart devices, it’s better to dust off that old PC if you want to install powerful Home Assistant add-ons and plugins to unleash the full potential of your smart devices.

2 Local AI text and image generator

High TFLOPs are nice, but you don’t need powerful hardware for Ollama

Artificial Intelligence has become quite the buzzword in 2024, with every computing firm entering the AI arena to capitalize on this growing trend. Sure, the best AI PCs may offer unrivaled performance when it comes to AI workloads, but you can turn any PC into a decent server for generating AI text and images.

Setting up a local AI server isn’t all that difficult either. For an extremely basic yet efficient server, you can install any command-line OS and download the LLM platform Ollama with just a handful of terminal commands. Afterward, you can download a web UI to give your AI server some personality. If your system has a semi-decent GPU, you can even install Automatic1111’s Stable Diffusion web UI to give your old PC AI image generation capabilities.

1 Proxmox server

You can even run all the aforementioned projects using Proxmox

If you've always wanted to create a home lab but are frightened by the prospect of learning Kubernetes and Docker, then Proxmox is your best friend. I installed this virtualization platform a few weeks ago, and I’m beyond impressed with how powerful it truly is.

While it may take a while to get Proxmox up and running, it has the simplest UI out of every home lab OS or platform I’ve ever used. Setting up containers and virtual machines is just as easy. The best part? You can use Proxmox to create containers for every single project I’ve mentioned on this list. So long as your PC isn’t a dinosaur, you can run these projects simultaneously and still have enough resources to run an extra virtual machine or two.

Making the most of your aged hardware

Repurposing old systems is quite fun, and there is a lot more you could pull off with your aged machine before retiring it for good. For instance, you can go for more popular projects like a self-built NAS, media station, or retro gaming machine. Likewise, you can donate your PC’s processing power to large-scale research projects.

Interestingly, desktops aren’t the only hardware you can repurpose; if you’re as creative as XDA’s Brady Snyder, you can turn an outdated MacBook with a broken screen into a solid workstation!