best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Interesting flea bay scores:

- Athlon II X4 640 - theoretically unlockable Deneb but I'm not fully sure. Either way, it was a cheap quad, so why not - 30RON
- old P4 build w/ Epox EP-4PLAI-A, 512MB DDR400, Radeon 9550 "XT" (Gecube OEM), Delux PSU (yeah, y'all know these already!), BTC DVD-ROM, TEAC CDRW drive, some HDD rack missing the tray
- Toshiba-Dynabook TX-65J2B (aka Satellite A350) - nice C2D machine. No NEC-Tokin BS like on the A300, no discrete GPU though, and no webcam. Was missing screws and HDD, yet it had the RAM left there.
- HP G62-b30EO - works, HM55+HD5470. Needs a new Windows install and possibly a repaste, at which point I might drop a i5-430M.
- ABIT IP35 Pro XE + Q6700 + 8GB DDR2 Zeppelin - works fine although it's picky as to what cards will work in the x16 slot - I couldn't get anything older than HD7870 and 4870 to work on the x16 slot - both GTS250 and 9800GT will stop at POST 90 code in the x16 slot. Using the black x4 slot will POST all times.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

This post created from a HP Vectra 6/200 Dual Pentium Pro w/128mb RAM on Firefox 2.0.0.20. Amazing what people throw away!!

I did a little build with this....I'll stick it in my P-Pro thread at some point.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

A lot of good scores today.

Dell Inspiron One 2020 touch in mint shape. Working, but spinning HDD and not enough RAM. Easy fixes. Also pulled the weaksauce pentium G2030T and replaced it with an I5-2400 from the CPU bin. AIO's still sell well.

quite a few Optiplex 755's....

Another Nobilis N4051 (rebadged Pegatron A15A), has a gen2 I3 and a spinner which appears to be bad. Battery also seems to be bad. If I can't track down a battery for it, it'll be junk....can't very well sell a laptop with no portability properties.

Also got an old time BCN favorite from back in the day; the legendary GX270 full tower! I've recapped thousands of these back in their glory days....now they're pretty extinct. The P4 is at the threshold of retrodom!! This one has some kind of upgraded GPU and sound card in it and 2gb RAM (max it can take). I'll probably resto that just for old times.

[CapLeaker]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored a Dymo 450 label printer NOS in a factor taped shut box! Also got a small APC ES-550 for free. I passed on the dual core machines, I’ve already got tons of these.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

MS-serviced Xbox 360, Xenon mainboard w/ Elpis revision GPU. Came free with a Kinect stand (that of course can't be used thanks to the stupid plug it uses) and two OG Xbox AV cables, out of which I already modded one for HD output.

[BigTroll]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Was dropping chromebooks off at the dump, found a 2011 iMac and a killer laptop a Dell precision m4800, it had no battery or harddrive so I bought a used battery off ebay and a amazon returned 1tb samsung 870 evo for the drive. came with a core i7 4810 already had 16gb ram and a 2gb k2100 quadro. can't believe someone would throw away such a powerful machine.

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Was dropping chromebooks off at the dump, found a 2011 iMac and a killer laptop a Dell precision m4800, it had no battery or harddrive so I bought a used battery off ebay and a amazon returned 1tb samsung 870 evo for the drive. came with a core i7 4810 already had 16gb ram and a 2gb k2100 quadro. can't believe someone would throw away such a powerful machine.

Definitely a nice score, while by no means "cutting edge" at this point, the M4800s are still very solid machines and capable for most uses. They're also very serviceable, aside from the 4 ram slots (2 under the bottom cover and 2 under the keyboard, with a 32gb max capacity) and socketed CPU, even the GPU is an upgradable MXM card (though admittedly removing the palm rest to access the CPU and GPU is a bit of a pain). One note, all of these I've seen had rock-hard thermal-paste so replacing it is recommended (though it requires removing the palm rest as noted above, as well as the fans and both drives).

I've also seen many of these (and similar Lenovo workstations) lasted as "broken/for parts" because the seller used too small of a power adaptor (these require a 135w or 170w depending on how they are spec'd) and they generally won't boot with an undersized adaptor if the battery is dead/missing, which can lead to some pretty good deals if you're willing to take the risk (obviously occasionally a "broken" laptop will actually be broken).

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Nice haul on Sunday:

-4x Xbox 360 phat - 3 Xenons and a Falcon. One of the Xenons was stealthily MS serviced as both CPU and GPU had the standard glue applied around them. The other two are original X02056 parts, and one even had the bolt mod done for no reason, as it booted just fine after adding the standard X-clamps back.

-Toshiba A350D-203 - Turion RM-72, runs fairly cool despite being S1G2. Needs a screen and keyboard replacement though.

-2x WD Performance Black - one is a Apple iMac pull, the other came from some RAID array. Both are 100% health.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's dropoffs:

HP Z1 27" AIO workstation xeon CPU @ 3.3GHz 8gb RAM no HDD. Seems to work fine.

LG 60" Plasma TV, doesn't power up.... I've dealt with these before, not hard to fix.

box full of old home phones, they're already in the scrap gaylord.

[BigTroll]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Definitely a nice score, while by no means "cutting edge" at this point, the M4800s are still very solid machines and capable for most uses. They're also very serviceable, aside from the 4 ram slots (2 under the bottom cover and 2 under the keyboard, with a 32gb max capacity) and socketed CPU, even the GPU is an upgradable MXM card (though admittedly removing the palm rest to access the CPU and GPU is a bit of a pain). One note, all of these I've seen had rock-hard thermal-paste so replacing it is recommended (though it requires removing the palm rest as noted above, as well as the fans and both drives).

I've also seen many of these (and similar Lenovo workstations) lasted as "broken/for parts" because the seller used too small of a power adaptor (these require a 135w or 170w depending on how they are spec'd) and they generally won't boot with an undersized adaptor if the battery is dead/missing, which can lead to some pretty good deals if you're willing to take the risk (obviously occasionally a "broken" laptop will actually be broken).

Thanks for the video, that does seem involved I might do it in the future though.Also you are right about adapter size, it complained about my 130w ac adapter not being enough I ending up finding a dell 180w on ebay that works great. I tried GTA IV on it ran okay and beam.ng drive would only hit 30FPS on lowest settings.

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Thanks for the video, that does seem involved I might do it in the future though.Also you are right about adapter size, it complained about my 130w ac adapter not being enough I ending up finding a dell 180w on ebay that works great. I tried GTA IV on it ran okay and beam.ng drive would only hit 30FPS on lowest settings.

The Nvidia Quadro K2100M (essentially a de-tuned variant of the GTX 760M) while decent for its time (and much better than any integrated graphics from that time period) is only on-par with recent integrated graphics, so while fine for "everyday" tasks and potentially some photo/video editing and light gaming, isn't exactly a "gaming beast" by modern standards.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's dropoff was a GX200 in fine condition from a little old lady that said it belonged to her deceased brother. P3 @ 933 256mb ECC RDRAM. 8mb embedded TNT2 graphics with a SODIMM slot for a GPU RAM upgrade, and it actually has the upgraded RAM module in it! 16mb total! First time I've ever seen one. Has 2x IDE HDD's; an 8.5gb and a 20gb.

System would not POST. Process of elimination, I checked the CMOS battery, dead of course. Replaced it and it POST's fine now. I've seen that on a few systems of the past, they will not POST if the batt is dead. Ok, nothing overly sensational as far as a retro system goes....but worthy of an honorable mention.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Been prepping a old score I had from long ago, a 775i65G, for sale.

Anyone ever loved ripping their hair out installing 98SE not just on a P4, but a SATA drive no less?

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I have to say, this HP Z1 AIO workstation is nice. I up'd the RAM to 32gb from what I had in the bin, added a SSD and stuck 10 on it. It doesn't have the optional Quadro GPU in it, it's using the embedded Intel IGP....found the upgrade for ~75 OBO on ebay....but for now the stock one is doing ok. Only thing I've found that doesn't work is the optical. I heard it making some clicking noises, which is why I even tried it in the first place....unless it's something retro, I seldom ever use optical media anymore.

Anyway, a few pics:

POST screen as it was received.



Interior. This is the first clamshell style AIO I've ever seen that needed a hydraulic lift arm to open!





After RAM upgrade. HDD caddy is missing, and apparently not easy to find.....so I'll have to fabricate something....not really a big deal.



I was thinking about regifting this to my dad....but I think it's a bit much for his desk. This beast weighs a good 50lbs.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Two more Xbox 360 phats:

- Jasper BB 512MB - clean, white faceplate, no HDD but had a cover for it. Currently in process of doing RGH3 on it and adding a HDD afterwards.
- Falcon - pretty dusty, gotta open it up and check what's up with it. DVD drive barely ejects (though I got it once to open by smacking, got me a free copy of Fable - The Lost Chapters. Prolly gonna slap RGH3 on it as well since neither got JTAG-able bootloaders.

[Xenon-Codex]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

These two working things from the dump. Need to try to save the Salora speakers which were there. They are worth of at least $100.

[eccerr0r]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

oh boy, HP actually included the pneumatic spring to hold the clamshell up for servicing?
HP should get some points for that, design for repairability, I'd thought throwaway electronics one wouldn't bother with such conveniences?

The Z1 looks like a "workstation class" AIO versus a consumer class, perhaps that's why the pneumatic spring was included.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

oh boy, HP actually included the pneumatic spring to hold the clamshell up for servicing?
HP should get some points for that, design for repairability, I'd thought throwaway electronics one wouldn't bother with such conveniences?

The Z1 looks like a "workstation class" AIO versus a consumer class, perhaps that's why the pneumatic spring was included.

It's definitely workstation class as noted in my original post mentioning it. Entire body is metal; not sure if it's aluminum or magnesium....but it's a friggin tank!! Entire unit weighs 50+ pounds. The foot on the base is 18" deep. Has a MXM slot for GPU upgrades, socketed for 1155 CPU's, 2nd or 3rd gen I's or E3 v1 or v2 Xeons. Long DIMM's and ECC support. RAID support. The build quality of this is reminiscent of what HP used to be. I am going to do a little build with this just for the fun of it....so hang in there!!

[eccerr0r]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Then I wonder if consumer class AIOs have such, probably not...also probably a lot lighter.

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Then I wonder if consumer class AIOs have such, probably not...also probably a lot lighter.

Most just have backs held on with a few screws and plastic clips (like most newer laptop bottom covers), and the backs are often just thin plastic. In general most consumer AIOs are little more than a laptop motherboard tacked on to the back of a monitor.