best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

As for OC'ing - I think 4.5-4.7 GHz is where those APUs will max-out on stock cooling... but TBH, I don't think it's worth it. Like RJARRRPCGP mentioned, these APUs are kind of like Intel's P4 - high clocks, but IPC is rather poor. So probably best not to OC and keep the temperatures as low as possible - especially under full/high load. The built-in GPU in these APUs actually does make them quite failure-prone. If you don't believe me, I can send you my dead A8-6600k. I also have an A8-7600k. Both were obtained dead from an eBay junk parts lot... and surprisingly were the only two dead CPUs from the bunch.

That socket FM2 system, I see, uses a Richland CPU! The Richlands, are AMD's version of Pentium 4! Those will need at least close to 5 GHz to compete with most 3.6 GHz processors!

Is the A10-6800K @ 4.1GHz any better; (same core apparently)? I am not really up to speed on the A-series from AMD...it's the fastest the board can take. If I can make a decent performer of this, I have a home for it... It would not be a gaming rig...

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Is the A10-6800K @ 4.1GHz any better; (same core apparently)? I am not really up to speed on the A-series from AMD...it's the fastest the board can take. If I can make a decent performer of this, I have a home for it... It would not be a gaming rig...

I'm not that well-versed in the AMD APUs either, but from my limited experience with A4 APUs and what I've read online, the entire lineup of the AMD APUs were targeted towards the lowest-budget gaming sector... and overall, they did OK back when they came out. At least compared to Intel's integrated solutions at the time, these were light years ahead. Though also compared to just about any stand-alone cheap GPU of the time (when GPU prices weren't insane), they were often out-classed too (e.g. even an old HD4670 has 20-50% better performance.) But the GPU portion aside, the CPU portion of these APUs were never great performers, regardless of whether you got the "2-core" or "4-core" variants.

So in regards to A8-6600k vs A10-6800k... Unless you already have an A10 chip, I don't suggest shelling out the money for one. Seems like asking prices are around $50 for the A10's right now and about $20-30 for the A8. IMO, neither of these are worth that much, especially the A10. Given the poor IPC, the extra 200 MHz of the A10 vs. the A8 probably won't even be noticeable in any application. The fact that a low-end Athlon II X4 CPUs like the 620 beats these APUs in performance should tell you something. The only real difference between the two is that the A10-6800k carries the Radeon HD8670d, which has 384 shader cores compared to the 256 shader cores in the HD8570d of the A8-6600... which will (or used to) only matter in some games. If you want best bang-4-buck on FM2 system, an Athlon X4 760k runs about $10-11 and has about the same performance as the A8-6600... though note that the 760k is 100 MHz slower than the A8 you already have, so no point in down-grading (unless you can sell the A8 APU as standalone for a good price, and then use the funds to grab a cheap X4 760k with a low-end spare GPU, since the 760k has none built in.)

Oh, and one last thing: check the temperature of the chipset/SB on that FM2 motherboard. Run it for about 20-3 minutes with the case closed in a normal warm room, the check it - if you can't keep your fingers on it or feels really warm, add active cooling. At some point, there were a lot of dead FM2 boards floating around on eBay. Most were probably chipset issues. I got one that works, but the chipset runs mighty mighty hot... and that's one reason I haven't played too much with my A8 to see how it will perform. Need to upgrade the cooling before that mobo bites the dust.

When I pull it, I'll pack it away safely....it's not going anywhere. If you find a use, just let me know! It's too good to doom to the shredder.

Cool! Much appreciated.
Do you know what chipset it has, BTW? Or at least what FSB it supports? Given you said it takes Xeon X5xxx series, I imagine it can do 1333 MHz FSB.

I'm sure I've encountered them before....I just really don't recall. I mean really, I can't even begin to imagine how many capacitors I've encountered in the 19yrs of BCN!

Heh, I was just messing with you.
I'm pretty sure you've seem then before, even if you don't remember the thread(s). (At least I certainly don't remember most every thread I've read on here.)

My dad actually makes those.

Awesome!
My dad also used to like/try making some stuff some years ago... but not so much anymore. Now he just enjoys cooking (and eating) more.

[eccerr0r]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Hmm... Now I wonder...

Is the i3-4160 faster than a Xeon X3360? (if they both have the same amount of RAM, and assuming running 4 threads worth of content)

Is the GPU in the i3-4160 faster than a RadeonHD 6450?

Hmm... decisions, decisions, nothing is an outright winner...

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Welp, finally got and cleaned the dv7-2135eo.

This reminds me how much I can hate gypsies that sell these. Goodness gracious, you ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY don't want to know how disgusting it was. It's a surprise wet wipes and lens glasses wipes have cleaned it pretty good. The CPU cooler had enough dust to make a blanket out of it.

Anyways, quick specs as it is. I will have to unfortunately replace the keyboard, as while it does work, it's just missing pieces to repair about three important keys (arrow left, down and right) and I remember seeing three tiny worms (about the size of a phone screw.) crawl out of the keyboard. IIRC I have a spare Italian keyboard that's pretty clean that got left when I rebuilt my dv7-3140sf since I wanted to use an UK keyboard for that one.

Quick specs for now by the way:

Core 2 Duo P7350 2GHz - will upgrade this to a P8400 or 8700, whichever I can find through my big stash o' mobile CPUs.

ATI Radeon HD4650 1GB - should pair nicely with a newer 1066FSB C2D, though I'm not ashamed of the 9600M GT from the silver dv7-1080es I have either.

250GB WD2500BEVS - out of a old Acer 7730ZG I have to fix as well (needs a new keyboard, will probably get either a eMachines G720 keyboard since they share the same platform, or just go with a Travelmate 7530 keyboard) since as I said, the original 500GB Toshiba it had is pretty much done for, and restoring it would take about 4-5 hours, according to AOMEI Backupper Pro.

4GB Samsung PC2-6400 - nothing special, 800MHz DDR2 sticks that HP uses, they're pretty good in quality usually, and actually much better than the Hynix sticks they used on the 1000 series.

Hitachi/LG GT20L DVD-RW Lightscribe - generic Hitachi drive I used because the original Sony/Optiarc AD-7561S was not only of garbage quality but dirty as well and just downright disgusting.

Currently has Win7 Ultimate x64 but I might upgrade it to 10 LTSC 1809 once I replace the CPU and keyboard.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's dropoff was a Gateway ESX-500X, complete with tower, monitor, KB & mouse, and the manuals.



The GPU appears to be a LeadTek GeForce 6800 128mb. The heatsink on this thing is a solid copper monster!



It would not POST....this is why. Piece of junk power supply someone added. The brand name on it is "COLORSIT", I've never heard of it. The original obviously went bad, hence this....





Has an 'alienware-ish' look with the fold-up door....kind of neat actually.



The rest of it...



The motehrboard is bad, partially. Caps are ok. NIC doesn't work, and it's not stable for some reason. RAM and GPU have been tested in another board, they're fine. The board is an Intel OEM; 845G/GL with a P4 @ 2.66/533 in it. I'll do a freebie resto on this, I have an Intel D865GLC which works, full featured BIOS, has 2gb RAM + P4 3GHz/800 Prescott in it, and best of all it fits the IO area of this case. The IO area of this case is not removable.....and I just don't want to cut this one out..... The untrained eye would never know this isn't the original board anyway.....ohh, and it came with an upgraded Audigy sound card....

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Colorsit PSU... I remember seeing the innards of one from Shroomie.

IIRC their OEM was supposedly "Unitek Electronic Co.", but from what the PCB looked like, I'd go towards HEC being the OEM.

A recap and some spare parts to complete the filtering and it should be good for 250W, if the heatsinks aren't absolute garbage, I guess.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Colorsit PSU... I remember seeing the innards of one from Shroomie.

IIRC their OEM was supposedly "Unitek Electronic Co.", but from what the PCB looked like, I'd go towards HEC being the OEM.

A recap and some spare parts to complete the filtering and it should be good for 250W, if the heatsinks aren't absolute garbage, I guess.

I don't think I'm really going to mess with it. It weighs less than a happy meal....I have far better here. I'll probably scavenge the 120mm fan out of it and pitch the rest in the scrap bin.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I'd save the sleeving on the main cable if possible then. Could come handy sometime?

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Hmm... Now I wonder...

Is the i3-4160 faster than a Xeon X3360? (if they both have the same amount of RAM, and assuming running 4 threads worth of content)

More than likely, yes.
I don't know how accurate CPUBoss website is, but I do see a Passmark score for the 2 CPUs on there...
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-X...l-Core-i3-4150
... and that's actually with the slightly weaker i3-4150 vs. the X3360, since I couldn't find a benchmark with the 4160.

Looks like the i3-4160 is slightly faster, despite only being a 2-core CPU. It has almost 2x the IPC of the Xeon, though. So probably because of that and more efficient HT, it still manages to outperform the X3360.

Is the GPU in the i3-4160 faster than a RadeonHD 6450?

Sadly, yes... well, more or less.

For this one, I use Techpowerup to compare.
Haswell GT2 can do about 300 GFLOPS
Radeon HD6450 can do only about 200 GFLOPS

The real weak point of the HD6450 is that 64-bit memory bus and overall lower TMU count, which significantly reduces the texture rate (important to 3D applications.) However, the HD6450 does have 2 extra ROPs, so when not memory or texture constricted, it should be able to give better performance at higher resolutions. But in reality, that doesn't really happen. All in all, the two are pretty bottom-end cards.

But like I said in my previous post - what am I complaining about when I'm still using integrated i865 chipset graphics from nearly two decades ago.

Today's dropoff was a Gateway ESX-500X, complete with tower, monitor, KB & mouse, and the manuals.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1645491409
...
Has an 'alienware-ish' look with the fold-up door....kind of neat actually.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1645491409

The rest of it...

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1645491409

Super!

I saved one of those as well. It really is a neat-looking machine, like you said. IDK why, but I too agree that the case definitely looks "classy" with the front door closed.

And you got all of the original hardware and peripherals?! That's awesome!
Looks like top-of-the-line build too, with that 2.66 GHz P4. IIRC, that's one of the highest 533 MHz FSB CPUs this motherboard supports. Mine only came with a 2 GHz P4, but I swapped it for a 2.66 GHz from my ECS P4VXASD2+, which can also do 533 MHz FSB with Northwood cores only... but being a cheapo ECS mobo with a single-ended VRM that powers the CPU from the 5V rail, it ran miserably hot around the CPU. So giving it the 2 GHz from the Gateway seemed more appropriate, even if the difference in TDP is only 10-15 Watts.

The motehrboard is bad, partially. Caps are ok. NIC doesn't work, and it's not stable for some reason. RAM and GPU have been tested in another board, they're fine. The board is an Intel OEM; 845G/GL with a P4 @ 2.66/533 in it.

Funny. Mine also came with an extra NIC inside, which suggests the original one was giving problems. However, when testing that, I found it to be OK. What I found was NOT OK were the caps around the CPU. Mine came with Nichicon HM from the defective period. None looked bad, but all were showing out-of-tolerance capacitance. Replacing those got the board stable and onboard NIC working too. I see your board has KZG caps (likely 6.3V, 3300 uF ones?) If so, I suspect they may be bad or on the way out... hence the stability issues. Or it could be some of the small caps elsewhere on the board. But of course, IDK if it's worth doing that kind of work on such old board. Perhaps in a decade from now when AGP systems get even more rare, it might be? I say, stash it somewhere for a decade... and if anything has changed, fix and sell it then... or dispose of it then. These motherboards are nothing special indeed, since they can only do 400 & 533 MHz FSB with Willamate or Northwood CPUs. But they are made by Intel and quite well-made too.

I'll do a freebie resto on this, I have an Intel D865GLC which works, full featured BIOS, has 2gb RAM + P4 3GHz/800 Prescott in it, and best of all it fits the IO area of this case. The IO area of this case is not removable.....and I just don't want to cut this one out.....

Excellent.
Make sure to add the extra 80 mm fan on the rear of the case then. The Prescott will kick out significantly more heat than that 2.66 GHz Northwood. On top of that, you also have the GeForce 6800 inside, which runs significantly hot and they are known to fail from too much heat. It might be a good idea to use a PSU with a 120 mm fan too, to move more air.

The GPU appears to be a LeadTek GeForce 6800 128mb. The heatsink on this thing is a solid copper monster!

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1645491409

That's probably one of the top-10 best AGP GPUs out there, if not top 5. This one alone is at least $50 on eBay (selling prices, not bogus asking prices) - your's probably more with that cool heatsink and not some stock crap.

It would not POST....this is why. Piece of junk power supply someone added. The brand name on it is "COLORSIT", I've never heard of it. The original obviously went bad, hence this....

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1645491409

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1645491409

Could they make the ATX power cable any shorter on that PSU?

At least mine came with the original PSU - still in working condition too. It's a 200 Watt Delta, IIRC, and not a whole lot of Amps on the 12V rail (maybe 10A or so.) I caught mine just as the 5VSB "critical" cap was starting to go high ESR, but not failed yet. The 5VSB was within spec, but I imagine it wouldn't have been for long. I replaced only that cap and it's on my to-do list to recap the rest of the PSU. It's full of Ltec, though none are bad it looks like. The older Ltec seem to do better in the older Delta PSUs. The one thing that worried/worries me the most about that PSU is the 12V rail rectifier - only a 12 Amp part, IIRC. Not sure how they (Delta) are rating the 12V rail for 10 Amps with that, given the PSU is a single-transistor forward design. But hey, it took my 2.66 GHz CPU just fine. In fact, remember those old full-height HDDs I sent you last year? I formatted those on this machine, along with all of the other SCSI stuff. It's a nice solid machine overall.

Thus, upgrading the 12V rectifier on my PSU is another item on my to-do list for it, as I plan on restoring the whole PC too.
Now it makes me curious: what kind of rectifier(s) that ColorsIt PSU has on the output.

I don't think I'm really going to mess with it. It weighs less than a happy meal....I have far better here. I'll probably scavenge the 120mm fan out of it and pitch the rest in the scrap bin.

Well, perhaps consider posting it in the gutless, bloated, and fried PSU thread before it hit e-waste heaven?

At least I'm curious to see what such cheapo units of today still look like on the inside. I'm sure I know, really... but sometimes these cheap PSUs find "interesting" and "innovative" ways to cut corners that I haven't seen before, and I always find that part amusing.

I'd also save more than the fan... but that's my master hoarder self talking here.
No, I likely wouldn't try to fix it either. I already did that with this KDMPower MIPC MI-X8775CD piece of crap and consider it enough.
However, if you do take it apart, grab the BJTs, secondary-side rectifiers, and output toroids. The output toroids are actually worth ~$1 or 2. Same with the output rectifiers. For the 5-10 or so minutes it takes to get them out, considering how easy these cheapo PSUs are to open, I never skip that chance. The ATX cable sleeving looks cool too (probably UV-reactive. )

I don't see any PCI-E power cables on this one (thankfully)... but if you do see any on other cheapo PSUs, save them for sure! A good number of modular PSUs usually use 6-pin PCI-E connectors for the modular stuff - from PCI-E power to peripherals. It doesn't take much effort to reconfigure one if you have a pin-extraction tool. I don't, and I still do it without too much effort.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Super!

I saved one of those as well. It really is a neat-looking machine, like you said. IDK why, but I too agree that the case definitely looks "classy" with the front door closed.

What's even funnier, in the paperwork for this system was the paperwork for some late 90's era IBM Pentium2 system....hand written in the notes was 'slot 3 - monster 3d card'. I called and asked if he still had it (this guy drops off pretty regularly)....he says he thinks it's in his basement....he'll try and find it!! YAY! 3DFX!!

And you got all of the original hardware and peripherals?! That's awesome!

This guy is ex military, keeps everything, and in pristine condition....they've been downsizing and cleaning out the last 6 months. Everything he's brought in has been complete!

Funny. Mine also came with an extra NIC inside, which suggests the original one was giving problems. However, when testing that, I found it to be OK. What I found was NOT OK were the caps around the CPU. Mine came with Nichicon HM from the defective period. None looked bad, but all were showing out-of-tolerance capacitance. Replacing those got the board stable and onboard NIC working too. I see your board has KZG caps (likely 6.3V, 3300 uF ones?) If so, I suspect they may be bad or on the way out... hence the stability issues. Or it could be some of the small caps elsewhere on the board. But of course, IDK if it's worth doing that kind of work on such old board. Perhaps in a decade from now when AGP systems get even more rare, it might be? I say, stash it somewhere for a decade... and if anything has changed, fix and sell it then... or dispose of it then. These motherboards are nothing special indeed, since they can only do 400 & 533 MHz FSB with Willamate or Northwood CPUs. But they are made by Intel and quite well-made too.

I won't pitch it as long as I still have the system....just incase I ever want to go back.

Excellent.
Make sure to add the extra 80 mm fan on the rear of the case then.

Already done. Here's the build post for this.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...7&postcount=59

That's probably one of the top-10 best AGP GPUs out there, if not top 5. This one alone is at least $50 on eBay (selling prices, not bogus asking prices) - your's probably more with that cool heatsink and not some stock crap.

I played some Q3A and UT in 1280x1024 with all the candy on, played flawlessly smooth!

Now it makes me curious: what kind of rectifier(s) that ColorsIt PSU has on the output.

Well, perhaps consider posting it in the gutless, bloated, and fried PSU thread before it hit e-waste heaven?

I tossed it out in the garage, but it hasn't made it to the bin yet. I will scalp the fan and autopsy it for you...and add it to the 'gutless PSU' thread if it qualifies....and I think it will.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

It would not POST....this is why. Piece of junk power supply someone added. The brand name on it is "COLORSIT", I've never heard of it. The original obviously went bad, hence this....

I wouldn't be surprised if the OEM PSUs are normally better PSUs at the time that PC was made. Looks like another case of an OEM PSU being replaced with a super cheapo PSU. Like a PC that I saw, with what looked like one of the cheapest Coolmax PSUs!

[captainKKK]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I want to build a new puter. Not the best but the most value, no games. Thinking about Ryzen 5600G / 5700G or Alder Lake i5-12600. Anyone got any absolute deal breakers with either of these?

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I want to build a new puter. Not the best but the most value, no games. Thinking about Ryzen 5600G / 5700G or Alder Lake i5-12600. Anyone got any absolute deal breakers with either of these?

For a non-gaming system, you probably don't even need that recent. It's all in the accessorizing.....IE plenty of RAM and a SSD.

[captainKKK]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

For a non-gaming system, you probably don't even need that recent. It's all in the accessorizing.....IE plenty of RAM and a SSD.

Well since none of my 4 systems have a motherboard with a built-in NvMe connector, I just want one. I have "made ready" new systems, most recently a Dell i9 Alien for a customer and therefore I have first hand knowledge of the horsepower and speed vs mine. None of my own computers have the necessary components to support W11, not that its anything special. Its not that I "need", rather "want"... I am too busy to investigate all the compatabilities, like the required DDR5, CPU sockets, required PCI-E 16x, 8x, 4x 2x, 1x slots.....P-cores and E-cores (wtf?) and on and on..... should I get two NvMe connectors? Will the MB be MSI, Gigabyte,ASUS or ? I guess the bottom line might be to forget self built and go for a production unit.... we have a MicroCenter locally

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Well since none of my 4 systems have a motherboard with a built-in NvMe connector, I just want one. I have "made ready" hundreds of new systems, most recently a Dell i9 Alien for a customer and therefore I have first hand knowledge of the horsepower and speed. None of my own computers have the necessary components to support W11, not that its anything special. Its not that I "need", rather "want"... I am too busy to investigate all the compatabilities, like the required DDR5, CPU sockets, required PCI-E 16x, 8x, 4x 2x, 1x slots.....and on and on..... should I get two NvMe connectors? or more? Will the MB be MSI, Gigabyte,ASUS or ? I guess the bottom line might be to forget self built and go for a production unit.... we have a MicroCenter locally

I read you.... I just did a Ryzen / RTX3080 system for someone; but none of my stuff was that capable. We did 10 on his though, not 11....

[tmcw]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Dunno if it was a good score or not, but it was free...

A Dell Wyse 5040 (W11B), nice clean screen, I only tested it with a VGA output from a laptop, looked decent enough.

Does anyone know if it's possible to use anything from inside, SSD, RAM, or is it all soldered on, and if you remove anything, will it still work as a monitor?

Can anything useful be done with it as a standalone PC? (not as a thin client).

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored some rather nice stuff:

- Acer Aspire 5742G (GT540M) mobo - needs repairs as it will not power on
- Gigabyte 8IG1000 Pro retro mobo - needs a full recap, does POST otherwise
- 640GB Hitachi 5K750-640 HDD

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Cool! Much appreciated.
Do you know what chipset it has, BTW? Or at least what FSB it supports? Given you said it takes Xeon X5xxx series, I imagine it can do 1333 MHz FSB.

1066FSB is as fast as it goes, supporting 3200-series Xeons. I rehomed it this morning, a guy needed something to make a small NAS with....and this fit the bill. I gave it away, I was just happy to see it put back to use. This guy is one of my regulars; retired prison guard. He's full of interesting stories!

The Intel® Server Boards S3000AHLX, S3000AH, and S3000AHV are monolithic printed circuit
boards (PCBs) with features designed to support the entry server market.
2.1 Server Board Feature Set
The server board supports the following feature set:
ƒ Processor and Front Side Bus (FSB) support
- Supports Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 3000 series, Dual-Core Intel® Xeon®
processor 3200 series, Intel® Pentium® processor Extreme Edition (S3000AHLX and
S3000AH only), Intel® Pentium® D processors, Intel® Pentium® 4 processors, and
Intel® Celeron® D processors in the Intel® LGA775 package
- Supports Intel® dual-core technology
- Supports Hyper-Threading Technology
- Supports Intel® Extended Memory System 64 Technology (Intel® EM64T)
ƒ Intel® 3000 Chipset components
- Intel® 3000 MCH Memory Controller Hub
- Intel® ICH7R I/O Controller
- Intel® 6702 PXH-V PCI-X* Hub (S3000AHLX SKU only)
- 12-deep In-order Queue
ƒ Memory System
- Four DIMM sockets supporting DDR2 533/667MHz DIMMs
- Data bandwidth per channel of 4.2 GB/s or 8.4 GB/s in dual channel when using
DDR2 667MHz
- Support for up to two DDR2 channels for a total of four DIMMs (two DIMMs /
Channel) providing up to 8 GB max memory capacity
- Support for 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, and 2 GB DRAM modules

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Small update on the free R7 265 I got from my dad: it works, though first time I tried to boot I got a video BSOD right away. Turns out my P5E-VM DO doesn't like to run both the R7 and the IGP together. Booted fine after disabling the IGP from BIOS.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Friday's freebie is an absolute stunning one; I had some free time today (Sunday) to see what it was.... Someone called and asked if I wanted an old Pentium4 system.....naturally, I told them to bring it by.... Half expecting some old junk Dell system (the most common ones I get), I got this!!

Some gamer rig in what looks like a Lian Li & Antec clone case....the case looks to be a Chieftec; solid aluminum construction. Naturally, the front door is missing....bummer....but we're not done yet!









The guy said if I didn't want it, he was going to throw it in a dumpsite on his farm and bury it.

Now, lets get inside it!! I counted 6 hard drives....no clue as to their sizes. Whoever assembled this would be fired if they worked for me....total rats nest and no attempt to manage cabling....



A power supply with a clear case, I've never seen one....



Motherboard is a Gigabyte P4 Titan submodel GA-8PENXP. This was actually a very high-end gaming board in it's day; sporting the heftier external VRM with fan and the 6 DDR1 slots; albeit 2 on each bank are shared, so it's still obviously only dual channel....but a neat idea for the time.



I powered it up, on for half a second and immediately off. Given the PSU of this era, I didn't fire it again.....you know as well as I do what's likely wrong with it.

Tested with a known good test supply.



Now we're talking!!







Now lets have a closer look at this "aspire" 500w PSU:



Now for why the clear shell PSU is good....much like an oven door window, watching for your bread to rise...I'm sure they made this one so you can see when your cap vents rise!! It's a bit of an unusual looking PSU, I'm going to try and fix it.....





...but now we come to the true jewel of this thing.....the GPU! an eVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra AGP 256mb!! Wow, just wow! All polymer caps too!









THis thing is definitely worthy of a restoration. Bummer that the case door is missing.....but given the rest of the system, a trivial detail!