best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

momaka - here's the case.

As for the Frontier, I managed to fix it with stuff from a dead 200W Delta (from the trash) and a dead 150W Hipro.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

MB: ASRock K8Upgrade-NF3 (quite a unusual board, I know)

GPU: Chaintech SA5500T4-256D-MC85 - GF 5500 256MB

HDD: some Hitachi drive on IDE, 80GB

ODD: HL-DT-ST GSA-4167B IDE

CPU: Sempron 3000+

Looks like that system was made before Core 2s came out and probably before AM2 came out. Looking at 2004, 2005 or earlier-to-mid-2006.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Looks like that system was made before Core 2s came out and probably before AM2 came out. Looking at 2004, 2005 or earlier-to-mid-2006.

GPU points to 2005, PSU from 2004, the DVD drive is from 2005. Haven't checked the HDD and the caps from the MB (although ASRock uses fairly good caps (post-2004 OST caps. Rarely had them fail!) but will do so once I get home.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Uhm... not sure from how long ago you dug out that message/quote. But if I am not mistaken, it's from really really far back when I was talking about a Samsung SyncMaster 19" CRT monitor that I picked up for free back then. (close to 10 years ago - holy ancient quote revival, batman! )

CRT=The kind of tech where I don't have to freak out when I crank the brightness, and when the temps get toasty. That's even better than the LCD stuff, when it comes to temp. tolerances! And even 10 years ago, CRT production was mostly dead, if not completely dead already, LOL. And the pink color thing reminds me of out-of-tune CRT TVs, LOL. RIP, CRT...

And 10 years ago, was the "dead-LCD-pixel-scare-era", where getting any LCD monitor was a major gamble, compared to even today, IIRC!

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Thanks, but I've got a bunch of those. Infact I used a pair of them in the x8dal to test the spectre firmware patch from supermicro for their 5500/5600 series xeon boards (microcode update for the processors)....and I didn't brick them....if I had, it wouldn't have been any loss, they're probably worth more dead than alive anyway.

Yeah, I figured you probably do. But still, it didn't hurt to ask - free CPU is free!
Not much use to me now, unless I find a board that can take it. I think I read that certain desktop X58 chipset 1366 boards do, IIRC. So if I ever stumble onto one of these (ha, yeah right!), I might just find a use for it. But otherwise... fancy paperweight, I suppose.

Funny thing is, part of the reason I got that CPU lot with this CPU is because it looked like an i5 or i7 CPU from the pictures. Give that those still sell for decent prices, I figured I'd get my money back just from that. Alas, no luck.

momaka - here's the case.

Thanks! And... oh my... why did I even ask for this?!


Actually, aside from the tacky blue color, the case doesn't look bad. A can of silver and/or white spray paint and a bit of masking work could get you a nice looking case. IMO, it would look best in glossy white. Black could work too, but I just find it too overused of a color nowadays.

At one point they were practically giving those away (when 939 had been out for awhile, but 754 was still in production for "budget" boards), I remember when they were selling for around $20 new (and often "free" with the purchase of a motherboard). This made them very common in low-end "budget" systems.

Makes me feel lucky then. I got two socket 754 mobos off of eBay, and one of them came with an Athlon 64 3200+, the other with 3400+. Despite being only 130 nm tech and single core, they under-volt very well for low-power consumption rigs.

CRT=The kind of tech where I don't have to freak out when I crank the brightness, and when the temps get toasty. That's even better than the LCD stuff, when it comes to temp. tolerances!

Yup.
It was 30°C / 86°F at the top floor of my house yesterday, as it regularly is every summer. My CRTs didn't see to care though, as usual.

And even 10 years ago, CRT production was mostly dead, if not completely dead already, LOL.

Yessir!
Which is what made your comment above even more out of place than ever!

But hey, on the other hand... or at least if anyone is still wondering... I still use all those free CRTs I found - especially for games. I just set up another temporary PC in a different room 2 days ago with an LCD monitor, and games and videos just look super-choppy on it. Meanwhile, I also temporarily tested a better video card in another PC that I use for CS Source, and when I V-sync'ed it at 85 FPS to that Samsung SyncMaster 19" CRT with the contrast turned all the way up... holy moly it was smoooooooth!

That's why I still can't give up on CRT technology just yet. Not even the 120/144 Hz "fast response" gaming LCD monitors can touch that level of smoothness - and I've tested a few really high end ones last year while refurbishing returned gear. They do offer much higher resolution and sharper still image, though.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Yup.
It was 30°C / 86°F at the top floor of my house yesterday, as it regularly is every summer. My CRTs didn't see to care though, as usual.


Yessir!
Which is what made your comment above even more out of place than ever!

But hey, on the other hand... or at least if anyone is still wondering... I still use all those free CRTs I found - especially for games. I just set up another temporary PC in a different room 2 days ago with an LCD monitor, and games and videos just look super-choppy on it. Meanwhile, I also temporarily tested a better video card in another PC that I use for CS Source, and when I V-sync'ed it at 85 FPS to that Samsung SyncMaster 19" CRT with the contrast turned all the way up... holy moly it was smoooooooth!

That's why I still can't give up on CRT technology just yet. Not even the 120/144 Hz "fast response" gaming LCD monitors can touch that level of smoothness - and I've tested a few really high end ones last year while refurbishing returned gear. They do offer much higher resolution and sharper still image, though.

Oh shit! I now wished I still have at least one of my CRT monitors, at least the Dell one that I had... I last used a CRT monitor in 2015, IIRC.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Three Dell 3007's. These are a PITA to use. But, I'll probably keep one as a spare and pull the electronics from the others before sh*tcanning the display portion (too damn big to keep on hand).

Whaaaa? So you can't resell those like the HDDs?

I don't resell anything. This is why I can take home SSDs (instead of shredding them) or FC-AL/SCA/SCSI drives (no facilities to easily wipe them) without fear of the "data" ever getting past me. And, the knowledge that I won't go poking around (esp for fear of finding something that I really don't want to have seen!) makes "me" the equivalent of The Shredder (when I no longer have a use for any of that rescued kit, it will be "returned" for the shredding it would have previously received).

Anyone purchasing a HDD is reasonably aware of the sort of drive (interface) he is purchasing and whether or not he can make use of it. HDDs are easy to understand. Few folks would walk home with an FC-AL drive if they'd not already recognized the interface as such!

OTOH, a display seems easy to understand and, for most modern units, that's the case -- they're all multisync over a wide range of resolutions/operating frequencies, etc.

"Hmmm... this one has that 'white' connector instead of the 'blue' one. I'm pretty sure I have one of those cables at home..."

The 3007's are odd ducks in that they only operate in two resolutions: 1280x800 and 2560x1600. Additionally, they only sport a single DVI connector and require a dual-link interface to get the 2560x1600 resolution. There are no "on screen (configuration) menus", etc. Even the "+/-" front panel buttons are "special". Drive it with anything other than those two resolutions and you get a blank display -- no "out of range" message, etc.

Most folks drool over them, rush to buy them -- then wonder why they "don't work":

• Do you have a dual-link capable video card?
• Do you have a dual-link DVI cable?
• While the cable appears to have all of the pins for dual-link, are you sure there are actually conductors behind those pins?
• Did you install the correct driver?
• etc.

So, the "sale" either leaves the purchaser with a problem that he's not capable of resolving or draws on the seller's resources in a way that makes the sale far less profitable (how many minutes of "support" do you factor into these sales?). With thousands of pounds of kit coming in the door every day, there's no time to screw around with some odd-ball displays ("There are forty 24 inch monitors in that Gaylord that need to be processed and 100 laptops stacked up beneath them...")

Easier to just trash the "odd-ball display" and concentrate on the kit that is more of a commodity nature.

[Or, offer it to someone like me as a way to gain favor! ]

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Been a good week for vintage stuff.... I picked up the following:

1x VP6 (works but needs a recapping of course) for $30 shipped

1x voodoo 3500 with the breakout dongle (TV tuner) for $5

2x SB16's, free

A box of random ISA and PCI NIC's, free

several U2 & U160 scsi raid cards (great for vintage builds), free

1x dell 2709W 27" monitor for $34 shipped. Has a few vertical stripes. These panels are prone to that, they have tab bonds issues. Usually some well-placed silicon strips between the tab bonds and the bezel fixes them.

[goontron]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Came with Windows XP, and had lots of music (including our trademark "manele" music) but other than that was pretty empty. Also stupidly divided in 3 partitions for no reason. God I hate that partition scheme.

Huh? How is 3 partitions abnormal?

EDIT: Right, thats abnormal for Windows. No separate root, home, and swap.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Huh? How is 3 partitions abnormal?

EDIT: Right, thats abnormal for Windows. No separate root, home, and swap.

Not to mention that partitions 2 and 3 were similar file-wise. Almost the same stuff that was on D:\ (part.2) was also on E:\ (part.3).

Anyways, I am having high hopes of getting both a AMD K6-2 500MHz w/ LuckyStar 5MVP3 board and a Pentium 3 500MHz (Katmai core) machine w/ a MSI MS-6163VA mobo. Not sure about the latter (I am not the one that buys it, my friend does it for me since it's in Italy) but the former I might be able to get it myself in within a week or so (or even faster) since it's located in Bucharest.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

...I think I read that certain desktop X58 chipset 1366 boards do, IIRC...

I stuck an X5690 hex-core @ 3.46 in that board (fastest LGA1366 hex-core Xeon), should be a good little system. I only have 1x 4gb memory module in it, I've got a case of 'the shorts' when it comes to DDR3, I can't seem to keep it on hand....I need to order some I suppose, this board supprts 24gb, 6x 4gb sticks. That won't cost much.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

The supermicro tree dropped another X8SAX and another X8DAL-i on me. I sold the last X8SAX for $175 bucks, I guess they thought I needed another one. The X8DAL is now the 3rd. I sold one, and still had one left....so now I have 2. Been seeing a lot of the recyclers getting LGA1366 stuff.... It boggles my mind why, still an awesome platform.

Yeah. My X8DAH absolutely kicks ass and I'd totally build another one, funds permitting (which they ain't ).

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Yeah. My X8DAH absolutely kicks ass and I'd totally build another one, funds permitting (which they ain't ).

This is the first X8DAL that came with heatsinks...finally some that fit these boards right. The CPU's are so close together, most heatsinks are hitting eachother, blowing hot air into eachother, or just don't fit at all. These heatsinks on these are 'CoolJag', but no model. They can be found on ebay pretty cheap though. Processors are 2x e5520's (4-core 2.26GHz).



The X8SAX came with yet another 'CoolJag' heatsink, different style though. No CPU under it though. They did atleast clean the goop off the mating surface of the heatsink....nothing worse than people removing the CPU and putting the sink back on (thinking it'll protect the socket) with goop all over it, and then having to so very carefully clean the goop crumbs & slop out of the socket...but I digress. I stuck an X5690 (6-core 3.46GHz Xeon) in this one.



The $34 shipped 27" monitor. Has one small nick on the screen and a vertical stripe (tab bond issue) on the right side of the screen. I have 3 identical monitors to this one on my office machine. This one will be a perfect # 4 for monitoring surveillance cameras, so the image doesn't need to be perfect.



The curbside TV....works but has a familiar face in the power supply...



The Money shot!!

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I've got a case of 'the shorts' when it comes to DDR3, I can't seem to keep it on hand....

Same here. But I still don't have that many DDR3 boards so it's okay. Where I worked last year, though, we had tons of random sticks in the shop left over from upgrades that no one ever used (and occasionally techs threw in the trash... but I tried to save as many of them as possible in a box for testing, including 2x 8 GB modules that retailed for high $$ each ).

At least I finally caught up on my DDR and DDR2 stock, though (enough RAM to fill all my spare boards if I ever wanted to build PCs with them).

The curbside TV....works but has a familiar face in the power supply...

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1530981834

Oh what the HEC!

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I stuck an X5690 hex-core @ 3.46 in that board (fastest LGA1366 hex-core Xeon), should be a good little system. I only have 1x 4gb memory module in it, I've got a case of 'the shorts' when it comes to DDR3, I can't seem to keep it on hand....I need to order some I suppose, this board supprts 24gb, 6x 4gb sticks. That won't cost much.

But, can it encode without the CPU throwing an internal timer error?

And the DDR3 thing, sounds just like the boat I was on, in 2014, and much of 2015, L O L

I have a problem, which I hopefully worked around, even at factory clocks, my Core i7 "Bloomfield" 965 decided to rage quit on me during video encoding, with an internal timer error, (via a machine check exception) (via machine check architecture) but only once, and I was able to have a completed video encode, after I disabled turbo core, and possibly after manually setting the Vcore in the BIOS.
That was a while ago, before I moved.

Was way before I Corsair TX'ed the socket 1366 monster!
After wondering if the Matty wet electrolytic caps are quietly taking a shit in the Antec High Current Pro 1200W PSU...

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

^
never had such an issue with any Westmere processor on a Tylersburg or x58 chipset. Any graphics encoding I've ever done that was intense was Adobe Premiere HD renders. Never had a problem.

I've got a goofy sleeper build in mind for this X8DAL, if I don't sell it. DDR3 platform is still very mainstream....hell, DDR2 is still a workhorse and very usable.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

DDR2 is still a workhorse and very usable.

QFT, my ROG socket 775 P45 chipset motherboard (Asus Maximus II Gene)is known to be solid with 8 GB of DDR2, even with mixed sticks!
(at 333 Mhz)

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

QFT, my ROG socket 775 P45 chipset motherboard (Asus Maximus II Gene)is known to be solid with 8 GB of DDR2, even with mixed sticks!
(at 333 Mhz)

My home office system is a RoG Maximus Formula, the original. 8gb (maxed) and a C2Q 9650 (3GHz/1333). Runs 24/7/365. It's an x38 chipset, can't do a 5400-series Harpertown Xeon (3.4GHz/1600) mod with it, it doesn't work. The x38 can take a 3xxx series Xeon, but thats kind of pointless, the Q9650 is better than any of those.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...94&postcount=1

Oh what the HEC!

I see what you did there!

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

^
never had such an issue with any Westmere processor on a Tylersburg or x58 chipset. Any graphics encoding I've ever done that was intense was Adobe Premiere HD renders. Never had a problem.

I've got a goofy sleeper build in mind for this X8DAL, if I don't sell it. DDR3 platform is still very mainstream....hell, DDR2 is still a workhorse and very usable.

My socket 1366 monster is an Alienware Area 51, known for its unique case, and Alienware apparently, installed an Asus P6T Deluxe, which has the X58 chipset.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today was 50% off day at GW... Nothing too interesting here (mostly scored records, some 78 Shellac's and a big box of 45's, which had 15 or so good 70's - 80's rock singles that I didn't have in vinyl).

However, I did score a lightly used Nyko Air Flow EX Xbox (original) controller for $2. I also grabbed a 7' USB cable ($0.50), and swapped that for the old cable (and resoldered some crappy joints while I was at it). My personal favorite PC gaming controller has been cable swapped Xbox controllers, and I've been on the lookout for an Air Flow. For those who don't know, it's an aftermarket controller with a dual-speed cooling fan added. Back when I had a Gamecube as a kid, I always wanted one (but never had the spare money), and now that I do some PC gaming, I've wanted one for that. They didn't sell all that well, and finding one that hasn't been trashed has been a needle in a haystack. That said, the swap went well- it works and other than a green controller having a blue cable, it looks stock (no splices, reused the old flex grommet). Win!