best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Same thing with the Q6000's..... Strange something that recent in a scrap bin...

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Ah, OK. Good point.

But, will a "failure" manifest as some sort of NOTICEABLE visual artifact(s) or an outright crash?

probably vectors or blocks being drawn randomly, or pixels / lines flickering.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Same thing with the Q6000's..... Strange something that recent in a scrap bin...

Lots of folks who just are in continuous upgrade cycles (I inherited my iPhone 6S from a guy who went and bought an iPhone 7).

Local university is particularly ripe place to pick up reasonably new kit. Some professor gets a grant to do <whatever>. Grant runs out after a year or two. Or the grad student working on it finishes his PhD and moves on. Kit has to be disposed of "at public auction" -- to make room for the NEXT professor's (or next project's) kit.

Same thing with local hospitals. I routinely come across kit that's never been unpacked from its original boxes but gets scrapped because someone changed their mind about how to proceed on a particular project.

I have to forcefully limit how much "stuff" I'll let into the house lest I spend all my time just tinkering and upgrading my own kit -- and not getting any work done. Now looking at a TDS754 that came in with this latest batch of goodies...

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I'll take a pair of those Q6000's.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

GTX 960's? Those are actually quite recent... If they do work (power up, no artifacts after 30 mins of use), you'd probably be able to sell them pretty easily. If they're a matched pair, then that would be good for an SLI rig. I've been sorta looking for a pair, actually; from what I've seen even the 960's still go for a pretty penny.

One of the reasons I get so much free stuff is because folks know that I won't sell it. I'll either use it or find a way to convert it into some charitable gift. (IME, people have a very different attitude about "giving" if they think you're just going to turn it into a quick profit!)

E.g., I will often trade things for laptops or small desktop systems that I can give to local schools or underprivileged kids. I invest the time to "build" those systems (get licenses, etc.) and use the donated items to barter for items that I can use to address those needs.

I would normally be doing that, now, in preparation for this coming school year (starts in a week or so) but I've been busy designing a hardware/software system to track DME (durable medical equipment) for another non-profit.

There's only so many hours in a day -- and I still have my own goals to meet!

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

One of the reasons I get so much free stuff is because folks know that I won't sell it. I'll either use it or find a way to convert it into some charitable gift. (IME, people have a very different attitude about "giving" if they think you're just going to turn it into a quick profit!)

E.g., I will often trade things for laptops or small desktop systems that I can give to local schools or underprivileged kids. I invest the time to "build" those systems (get licenses, etc.) and use the donated items to barter for items that I can use to address those needs.

I would normally be doing that, now, in preparation for this coming school year (starts in a week or so) but I've been busy designing a hardware/software system to track DME (durable medical equipment) for another non-profit.

There's only so many hours in a day -- and I still have my own goals to meet!

I see, and I'm with you. I don't sell stuff that was given like that... I missed that part of your first post. I'll trade and donate, but never sell at market value. People have b*tched at me about that policy (mainly in regards to workstation builds that started as freebie gifted parts, there's many threads on that). Good on you, and here's to finding proper homes as needed.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I see, and I'm with you. I don't sell stuff that was given like that... I missed that part of your first post. I'll trade and donate, but never sell at market value.

If I buy something at a public auction (or retail -- gasp!), it's MINE -- to do with as I please. Most often, that is to satisfy one of my own needs (or, just to satisfy my curiosity about how something works).

Anything gifted to me with the expectation that it will be used (by me) or converted to something "for a good cause" has more constraints placed on it. E.g., if I end up using it and then decide to rid myself of it at some later date, it either finds its way back to the original donor (who usually is NOT interested in seeing it, again) or goes on to some "worthy cause". I make a point of keeping folks informed as to what happened to "their" kit. This reminds them of my practices -- and often acts as a prompt for them to suggest some other kit that I might want

[I don't have time to screw around with selling things. When I decide that I want to be rid of something, I want that to happen TODAY!]

If I rescue something (usually for its "recycle value" -- often pennies per pound), the item has to go back to be recycled when I no longer want it.

E.g., when I rescue a UPS (typ $5 regardless of size/capacity/technology), I pull the existing batteries and bring them to a local non-profit who will "sell" them to a recycler to reclaim the lead.

This doesn't really cost me anything as the batteries are often of dubious quality -- I sure don't want to be forced to replace them in two weeks time. So, plan on replacing them to begin with! And, it buys me good-will with those organizations (the one from which I rescued the device and the non-profit who will "profit" from their sale).

When I've decided to rid myself of it (I'm discarding three 1500VA units this week), they'll similarly be recycled.

And the circle completes... :>

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

If I buy something at a public auction (or retail -- gasp!), it's MINE -- to do with as I please. Most often, that is to satisfy one of my own needs (or, just to satisfy my curiosity about how something works).

Anything gifted to me with the expectation that it will be used (by me) or converted to something "for a good cause" has more constraints placed on it. E.g., if I end up using it and then decide to rid myself of it at some later date, it either finds its way back to the original donor (who usually is NOT interested in seeing it, again) or goes on to some "worthy cause". I make a point of keeping folks informed as to what happened to "their" kit. This reminds them of my practices -- and often acts as a prompt for them to suggest some other kit that I might want

[I don't have time to screw around with selling things. When I decide that I want to be rid of something, I want that to happen TODAY!]

If I rescue something (usually for its "recycle value" -- often pennies per pound), the item has to go back to be recycled when I no longer want it.

E.g., when I rescue a UPS (typ $5 regardless of size/capacity/technology), I pull the existing batteries and bring them to a local non-profit who will "sell" them to a recycler to reclaim the lead.

This doesn't really cost me anything as the batteries are often of dubious quality -- I sure don't want to be forced to replace them in two weeks time. So, plan on replacing them to begin with! And, it buys me good-will with those organizations (the one from which I rescued the device and the non-profit who will "profit" from their sale).

When I've decided to rid myself of it (I'm discarding three 1500VA units this week), they'll similarly be recycled.

And the circle completes... :>

I'm not so good about getting rid of gifted stuff. Most of it eventually gets built up or rehomed, but a good chunk of stuff I still have floating around. Then again, it sounds like I come into a different sort of stuff, mostly laptops and PC hardware. UPS's... no. I wish. Around here there are no recyclers that will pay for stuff (IIRC you pay them for disposal, no thanks), so that's not an option.

It's to the point where even for stuff I'm buying outright (auction, ebay, thrift store, etc.), unless it is a mega killer score (very rare), I won't buy with the intent to resell, because I know I won't get around to it. Reselling crap is not my career. I want to spend the little free time I have at home working on my hobbies as much as possible, excluding house maintenance and keeping my wife happy. My time is worth more than the profit I'd see.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I'm not so good about getting rid of gifted stuff.

I have been "on a mission" to get rid of stuff -- gifted or otherwise. Computers, test equipment, pinball machines, arcade games, etc. I make a tour of the house once a month with an eye towards making a pile of stuff to be rid of.

Some of the decisions are easy: do I really need a dozen 15 ft "parallel printer cables"? (I don't think I own a parallel printer!) So, keep a short one and a long one and bring the rest to be recycled (as "wire").

Others are a lot harder: should I hold onto this TDS754 or just part out the things that are likely to be of use to me and shitcan the rest? What about these digitally programmable triple output lab supplies? Yeah, it's convenient to be able to just type in Vset and Iset parameters and not bother with manual adjustments and checking with a multimeter... but, they're big and heavy! What other use could I have for that space??

Most of it eventually gets built up or rehomed, but a good chunk of stuff I still have floating around. Then again, it sounds like I come into a different sort of stuff, mostly laptops and PC hardware. UPS's... no. I wish. Around here there are no recyclers that will pay for stuff (IIRC you pay them for disposal, no thanks), so that's not an option.

School districts, town/city/county governments, universities, large employers, tech firms, etc. all tend to have public auctions. The trick is finding out when and where they are as well as the terms for participation. The sorts of items I've come across are widely varied. Half of the fun is looking through the stuff and trying to figure out what it might be!

UPSs are discarded, here, with such frequency that you can be assured a varied selection. I passed up on a 3KW unit some years ago because it was simply too big. And, another that was the size of a refrigerator with a stack of "car batteries" powering it.

Or, the CD/DVD changer that handled 1000 discs.

But, these are all "one time" deals. E.g., I rescued a box of Cisco APs a while ago so that I could gut them and use the cases for something I'm currently designing (much easier to repurpose someone else's case than to contract for a custom mold to make one of your own!). Had the idea of repurposing them not come to me while I was looking at them, they would have been gone before I could have made that decision.

Reselling crap is not my career. I want to spend the little free time I have at home working on my hobbies as much as possible, excluding house maintenance and keeping my wife happy. My time is worth more than the profit I'd see.

Exactly. I can afford to buy new -- if I wanted to buy new! On the other hand, buying new also presupposes doing research into that purchase. The appeal of the rescues and gifts is the fact that they are unplanned "surprises". No preplanning/research involved. The appeal of the auctions is wandering around looking at stuff and playing touchy-feely as you try to imagine a use for <whatever>.

E.g., I just repurposed a pair of "shock panels" (restart a person's heart) to use the nice coiled leads in place of the boring straight wires on my car battery charger. Every time I look at it, I will chuckle and remember where the coiled cables came from!

There are scant few "businesses" where you can wander around looking at "assorted stuff" with that same attitude. When I was (much!) younger, there was a place, back East, called Eli Hefron's & Sons that had piles of junk^H^H^H really cool stuff that you could spend an afternoon just wading through! Now, too much is just tossed out (or, disposed of in these hard-to-find auctions)

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got more freebies today:
Syntax SV400A (ECS) - looks okay

and a pack consisting of:

Intel D865PERL
Pentium 4 2.8GHz HT Northwood - a few bent pins, should be fixable
MSI FX5200 128MB - mistook it as a 6200
V-Stream VS-TV878RF TV Tuner
Intel(?) PCI Modem
Realtek RTL8139D NIC

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I can't edit my old post anymore so I'll just say this - apparently the MSI card IS NOT a FX5200. It's a MX4000 128MB.

Just how good is a MX4000?

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

never heard of it,
maybe it's an MX440 with more ram.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I can't edit my old post anymore so I'll just say this - apparently the MSI card IS NOT a FX5200. It's a MX4000 128MB.

Just how good is a MX4000?

It's almost the same thing as the MX440, but more likely to use 128-bit memory. Just count the # of memory chips: if 8, it's probably 128-bit bus for the RAM. Otherwise, it should be pretty much equivalent to a MX440. In terms of features, it's a DX7 card, IIRC. Or maybe DX8-compliant. Still a pretty low-end GPU, though. Maybe on par with the FX5200 in DX7 games, maybe a tiny bit better.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...6&postcount=19

Just a windows .exe updater. It's in Japanese but the firmware is the same. Took some digging to find it back in the day, but now it's uploaded here for all eternity.

Worked like a charm!

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

i checked wikipedia's video card list and it appears that the mx4000 is simply an agp 8x version of the mx420 crippled with a 64-bit mem bus. check the list here.

not sure why nvidia would call it "mx4000" when its slower than the mx440 and not any faster than the mx420 and crippled with a 64-bit bus. perhaps the employee doing the marketing lineup for nvidia had butter fingers and added an extra zero to mx400 and it ended up as mx4000 instead.

this misleading model numbering probably fooled many people into getting the mx4000 instead of the mx440 when there isnt any real world difference between agp 4x and 8x. so the bottom line is always to do your research first before buying!

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

i checked wikipedia's video card list and it appears that the mx4000 is simply an agp 8x version of the mx420 crippled with a 64-bit mem bus. check the list here.

You're right!
Looks like my memory went corrupt again. I wish there was a memtest software for human brains.

That aside, I do like to use this website when looking up GPUs... and in this case you can see the specs of the MX4000:
http://www.gpureview.com/GeForce-MX4000-card-130.html

____________

By the way, as some recent scores, I got several stuff off of Craigslist about a week ago.

- 5 old PC PSUs - one is a Dell P3-era custom jobbie with Jap caps, one is some weird case ATX, two are really big AT-style, and one looks like some kind of frame PSU - all really old ancient stuff. All supposedly non-working too, but we will see about that.

- a pair of JVC SP-75BK tower speakers with 12" woofers in working condition (all drivers work, but the mid range cones are all ripped near the suspensions). These are supposedly 125 Watt speakers rated for up to 210-something Watts "music" power . But when I removed the woofer driver, I was greeted with a cheapo steel basket and a really small magnet with a 1" voice-coil. So no way these can do 210 Watts. Even 125 Watts is unrealistic. They might just do 30-40W RMS *max* at lower frequencies with lots of cone movement (to help cool the voice coils). Otherwise, I don't see them making it without frying. That aside, they do sound okay on the low-end. Really surprised me for woofers with such small voice-coil/ceramic magnet combo. I guess the (ported) boxes do a good deal of the work here, as they are nice and big. They do look quite beat up on the outside, though. And possibly re-painted too?? I also can't find any good tech info on these speakers either. Or much in the way of reviews for that matter. Maybe just one on AK (AudioKarma).

- Also got a single Boston Acousitc HD8 speaker and a turntable from the same person as the JVC speakers. The turntable supposedly doesn't work either, but I doubt I'll have any problems getting it going. The HD8 needs new foam on the woofer/full range driver. Otherwise seems to work.

Anyways, pictures to come another day. Gotta clear the camera memory and also move them to a better place to take a picture - that is, after I clean them too.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

A little VHF transceiver -- no display (so I'll have to figure out what channels its programmed to use).

And, a motorized "leg exerciser" (imagine a bicycle that "pumps your feet" instead of you pumping its pedals). This will make a handy, emergency, portable, person-powered ~40W generator! (sure beats trying to hack one together with the guts from a battery-powered appliance!)

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

this misleading model numbering probably fooled many people into getting the mx4000 instead of the mx440 when there isnt any real world difference between agp 4x and 8x. so the bottom line is always to do your research first before buying!

It came with the motherboard. (it was a pack consisting of the board w/ a P4 HT 2.8GHz (Northwood, woohoo!), a V-Stream BT878 TV Tuner, some crappy Intel 56k modem and a Realtek RTL8139D NIC)

Not a big loss overall. I'm more concerned now what am I going to do with this board, as Intel Desktop Boards of that era kinda suck compared to an ASUS P4P800 (and even its Deluxe variant, which I both own), as in no OC features and a pretty primitive BIOS.

Will probably just save the GPU for a older SktA or beefy Pentium 3 machine and the rest will go into some 2003-ish build.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

i'm pretty sure AGPx8 uses lower bus voltage.
i know you cant mix them fully

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

i'm pretty sure AGPx8 uses lower bus voltage.
i know you cant mix them fully

It's notched for universal AGP, so it will work on 2x and 8x slots as well. (4x too but we all know 4x is the universal slot)