PROMETHEUS
Coppermine class, 2000
Current Status of unit: Scrapped
Prometheus [a Titan in Greek mythology] was designed to replace Orion as Primary System in 2000. Mr. M. Twomey and Mr. J. Meade advised on it's design and construction was completed by PCPRO distribution through PFH Computers on 3rd Aug 2000.
Prometheus featured the second edition of Intel's new Pentium III class processor but on a VIA Apollo Pro 133 chipset mainboard rather than on an Intel one. It featured twice the SDRAM of Orion and a 32MB GeForce2 GTS GPU.
Prometheus functioned as VerTecX21's Primary System from 3rd Aug 2000 until 1st Mar 2002 when it was replaced by Hyperion becoming the Secondary System. On 28th Nov 2004 it was replaced again by Hyperion and redesignated Tertiary System.
It was often pressed into service for various tasks until 30th Aug 2007 when it was permanently decommissioned after more than 7 years of service before being permanently scrapped.
Specification for Prometheus, finalised: August 3rd 2000
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT: Intel "Coppermine" Pentium III 800MHz, Socket 1, with L2 Cache - 256Kb
MOTHERBOARD: MSI MS-6153VA
RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY: PC100 SDRAM, 256MB (2x 128MB)
GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT: Creative Labs GeForce 2 GTS 32MB AGP
AUDIO PROCESSING UNIT: Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! Player 1024 PCI
HARD DISK DRIVES: Western Digital 30GB IDE Hard Drive
OPTICAL DRIVE: Raite RDR-108H 8x DVD-ROM
NETWORK ADAPTER: 3COM Etherlink III ISA NIC
CASING: PCPro OEM Midi Tower (2000)
OPERATING SYSTEM: Microsoft Windows '98 2nd Edition
Peripheral Devices
DISPLAY: ADI Microscan 5P 17" CRT
Significant changes to original specification:
XX/03/02 - Installed 36x CD-ROM drive (Optical drive downgrade)
XX/03/02 - Installed Western Digital 8.4GB Hard Drive (Storage capacity downgrade)
XX/03/02 - Installed Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! Value PCI (Sound Card downgrade)
XX/03/02 - Installed Compex RL2000 PCI NIC (Network Interface upgrade)
XX/03/02 - Installed 36K Internal Modem (Communications installation)
Date Unknown - Installed Samsung VG36483A 6.4Gb (Storage capacity upgrade)
Date Unknown - Installed Phillips PCRW2412 CD-RW (Optical Drive upgrade)
Date Unknown - Installed Western Digital 30GB IDE Hard Drive (Storage capacity upgrade)
Current status of parts:
3COM Etherlink III ISA NIC: Scrapped 01/03/02
ADI 17" CRT: Disposed
Raite RDR-108H 8x DVD-ROM: Installed in Hyperion 01/03/02
Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! Player 1024 PCI: Installed in Hyperion 01/03/02
Western Digital 8.4GB Hard Drive: Destroyed
Samsung VG36483A 6.4GB: Destroyed
Western Digital 30GB IDE Hard Drive: Destroyed
Phillips PCRW2412 CD-RW: Disposed 20/02/22
36K Internal Modem: Disposed
PCPro OEM Midi Tower (2000): Disposed
Costing:
The total cost of all new components for the Prometheus system was IE£1528.93 (€1941.34) (UK£1178.39) (US$1752.64) [Exchange rate as of 03/08/00]