[Poll|Discussion] Spectre/Meltdown impact on legacy HW - what to do with it?

What will you do with old (unsupported) HW that is affected by Spectre/Meltdown

  • Replace with newer hardware

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Virtualize

    Votes: 3 30.0%
  • Ignore issues and just continue using them (inc applying OS patches if avail)

    Votes: 7 70.0%

  • Total voters
    10
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Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
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Just wondering what you guys will be doing with your older/unsupported HW.

I run a bunch of legacy boxes that just had no need to get updated (consumer level Haswell's usually) that most likely will not see bios updates.

Now I wonder whether patching OS might be enough (unlikely) and what to do with them... obviously not keen on replacing them when they are totally fine for the intended workload...

I more or less ignored previous security issues since i usually was not directly affected or could turn off the function (Intel ME) but this one...
Especially since a few of the boxes are not fire & forget but will have users on it...

Happy to add further responses if you want to diversify.
 

wildpig1234

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2016
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I only use my xeon to calculate pi and run cinebench ;).... was hoping for more discounts but hasn't happened.

well intel stock got discounted a bit but was still hoping for more on that too....lol...
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
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If it only were Xeons I wouldnt worry too much either ... but tablets, phones, laptops and old pc's ...?

Maybe partially not easily exploited but still vulnerable - and yes, probably just one more bug that does not get fixed but nevertheless ... :(
 
Last edited:

Evan

Well-Known Member
Jan 6, 2016
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Unless it’s doing shared hosting or your doing web browsing on it then probably not worry much , question is with the OS updates but no supported firmware updates will it just slow down a lot and you want to move it along anyway ?

Thankfully I am getting out of anything more than a generation or 2 old so all will have updates.
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
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Web browsing is likely on all end user devices ;)
To a lesser extent (but not *never*) on the infrastructure boxes ...

And as of now I didn't want to replace them, even with the potential impact as most devices are not cpu bound...
 

K D

Well-Known Member
Dec 24, 2016
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In process of refreshing my lab hardware with X11 and X10 systems. I don't plan to update for a couple of months till the dust settles down and the updates are relatively stable.

My primary workstation is a haswell i7 which is probably the most at risk. I will probably just repurpose it for a low risk role and build a new one. Good opportunity to get a Ryzen or TR system.
 
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