What is the best use for this stuff?

[jshamlet at comcast.net]

Ok, I have a lot of "older" computer equipment - and I've been feeling the need to clean up again. On that thought, I've also been thinking about the best way to divvy up what I have based on the task. I'm hoping a few folks here might have an opinion on the best way to put this stuff to use:

What I have:
My current router is based around an old ECS P6IWP-Fe board with an 850MHz PIII and 1x128MB of RAM. Due to the chassis, it has a 2.5" HDD. This board *sucks* as a router, primarily because of the onboard ethernet.  I'm not entirely sure WHY I chose this board for the router in retrospect, and this board is a likely candidate for eBay. The case is a heavily modified Travla C137 - the original HDD/PSU tray was removed, and the powersupply rotated (and screwed down directly), a 2.5"HDD installed, and mounting posts were added to support a true FlexATX board. The back was modified to allow for two PCI boards in separate risers. Thankfully, any true FlexATX board will fit.

My file server is a dual proc SuperMicro/ServerWorks LE board with 2x 1.0GHz PIII's and 1GB (4x256MB) of ECC RAM. It was originally intended to be an application server for a network of X terminals (which is why it was so beefy), but has since become little more than a file server. It is a nice system, though - and has built-in U160 SCSI. It presently serves 72GB (2x36GB) over SMB and NFS, and is the primary FTP server. It is sitting in a gigantic SuperMicro chassis (full height ATX) and sounds like a jet engine idling. The case, and probably mainboard, are overkill for the current usage.

My FreeBSD/devel workstation is an Intel D815EFV mainboard with a 1.2GHz PIII, (2x256MB) 512MB of RAM, and an Adaptec 29160 controller with an 18GB U160 drive. It is a dual head system, using both the onboard video and a 3Dfx Voodoo4 adapter. It's housed in a fairly non-descript Enlight micro-atx chassis. (fits nicely, not much personality)

I have a couple of WindowsXP stations, one of which is very custom - built around a Tyan S2425 board with a 1.2GHz PIII, 512MB (2x256MB)  of RAM, a 40GB 2.5" HDD, and a sound card mounted in a PCI riser - all stuffed in an old IBM NetVista case. I like this machine very much - as it took a lot of work to get everything to fit (involved a dremel tool, a file, and a drill). It also has a very custom wiring harness.  This machine will probably stay as is - it's just right. Amazingly, it runs cool and quiet - even at night. (it's currently sitting by the bed - and is probably the second most used PC in the house)

The other is a D815EFV board stuffed into an old HP Pavilion XE746 chassis with a 850MHz PIII, 1x256 MB of RAM, and a 30GB HDD. It is also dual head, and uses the onboard video and an ATI Rage Pro video card. This machine is currently unused - my wife got tired of a PC in every room... :)

Lastly, my sole Pentium IV system, has a Abit BL7-R(raid) mainboard with a 1.5GHz P4, 1x256MB of RAM, a Creative SB Audigy and a couple of TV tuner cards. It's (eventually) going to become a PVR, with a couple of 120GB HDD's in it.

To round things out, I also have an old Intel dot.station with a 667MHz Celeron and two loose mainboards - another Tyan S2425 (minus a video connector), the original mainboard from the HP (Trigem Cognac+) in a bag - along with a Celeron 300A.

I also have 2 Creative/Ensoniq sound cards, 3 3Com 3c905C NIC's, a couple of dual port NICS (Compaq) that don't seem to work terribly well in FreeBSD 4.x, and a variety of other odds and ends. An ISA digiboard Xe/8, that I would love to use instead of that crappy 4-port SIIG board, with breakout cable.

Too old to really be of use, but I'll mention them - I have an Adaptec 2940AU (narrow) SCSI controller, and three 2GB narrow SCSI drives (old Seagate drives) I use when I want to test out new versions of FreeBSD without trashing my current configuration. It's beginning to get to the point where 6GB is cutting it, though.

All of the RAM is PC133 - most of it is Crucial CAS2, but there are a couple of Buffalo sticks that are CAS3, and have questional SPD EEPROMs.

The wife is not pleased, as this menagerie consumes a great deal of space. So, it's time to consolidate - but I'm at a loss as to what the best combinations of parts are.

So, with all these parts, I need to outfit:
1 router/HA controller (or terminal server)
1 file server (& workstation?)
1 FreeBSD workstation for development.
1 Windows workstation (for the wife)
1 digital video recorder.

I can't combine the router and the file server easily - the router is in a small closet, and the ambient temp is ~83degF with the current router, which is one of the most power-thrifty machines I own. The last time I attempted to put the server in the closet, the temperature was getting to nearly 95degF ambient, and the thermal alarm kept going off. (not good)

The router really needs to run the HA software - as the wiring closet is fairly small, and all the house wiring terminates there. (all phone, ethernet, cable, sensor, etc.) This machine must have at least 4 serial ports (1 for the thermostat network, 1 for the X10 controller, 1 for the UPS, and 1 for the HVAC/zone control relay) I also use a 5th port for caller ID at the moment.

The current file server runs entirely off of SCSI - so all my files are on one of two 36GB U160 SCSI drives. The boot drive is an 8GB U160 SCSI drive.

I like to write software for home automation. So far I haven't trashed my development machine, or even had to reboot it, but it's not out of the question. This is why I would like it to be a separate machine from the file server. 

I would like to trim down to just (!) 5 machines, and either donate or sell the rest. Anyone have any ideas on the best way, using the above parts, to do that? Obviously, I plan to keep the fastest processors, best mainboards, etc - but I'd like to know how others would divvy up these parts.

Think of it as Legos for computer geeks! (there will be a spring cleaning at some point as well)

Thanks,
Seth Henry