best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I was given Precision M6300 # 4 today....this one would power up and run, but no video on the screen or on the DVI out....low & behold, it had a bad video board (quadro fx1600). Not sure if the underfill issue caused its demise, but it was bad for sure. I stuck the spare I had from the one I upgraded to the fx3600, and it runs great now.

I sold one the other day for $425....and 2 working ones left including the one billy badass one I took to the house....and I have one for parts. The one I sold more than covered what I spent on upgrades for the badass one, and it was a cash sale...

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I was given Precision M6300 # 4 today....this one would power up and run, but no video on the screen or on the DVI out....low & behold, it had a bad video board (quadro fx1600). Not sure if the underfill issue caused its demise, but it was bad for sure. I stuck the spare I had from the one I upgraded to the fx3600, and it runs great now.

I sold one the other day for $425....and 2 working ones left including the one billy badass one I took to the house....and I have one for parts. The one I sold more than covered what I spent on upgrades for the badass one, and it was a cash sale...

Might also be a BGA issue or it simply was overheated. Was the heatsink clogged?

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Might also be a BGA issue or it simply was overheated. Was the heatsink clogged?

Clogged, no....but it was pretty flunky.... I had to give the whole thing a blast with the air hose when I had it apart.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Clogged, no....but it was pretty flunky.... I had to give the whole thing a blast with the air hose when I had it apart.

That counts.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

^ Indeed. This post was created from m6300 # 4.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got a free Toshiba TS-L632 DVD+/-RW writer with DL support yesterday (it's a laptop drive). It was sitting at the recycling bin at work for over 2 weeks now. I remember one of the techs diagnosing it as "completely dead". Took me about only a minute to notice that the ribbon cable on the bottom that connects the drive's board with the spindle motor and laser was disconnected - * easy fix *. I put it in my laptop and XP picked it up right away. Seems to work good. I haven't tried writing discs with it yet, though.

Also got 2x 18.5V 3.5A genuine HP power adapters. One has a damaged cord and the other one just has an opened case. They both work fine, though.

[shovenose]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Well, IDK if things that cost $80 fit in this thread, but I can buy 2TB drives for $80 at work perfect for our servers!

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

sansui g5700 from the curb.
50+ new motorcycle batteries at a yardsale $2 ea.
missing acid packs in a few but thats easy to get.dry charged so shelf life is forever.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got a Targus SCL lock cord for $3. Brand new in stapled bulk bag with manual and accessories.

http://www.targus.com/us/productdeta...RlZ29yeUlkPTE5

Mine is the older style with no plastic and a top mound eject button:



(not my pic)

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got a Targus SCL lock cord for $3. Brand new in stapled bulk bag with manual and accessories.

I need to buy me a lock cord as well. There's a lot of shops in the area I can bike to rather than have to drive or walk.

By the way, the GeForce 7600 GS 512 MB AGP I got a few weeks ago turned out to be dead . Upon pressing the PC power button, the card would buzz and would make the PSU turn off immediately. (At least now I know that the SCP/OCP on my 430W Thermaltake TR2 works very well - no burning wires).

Fortunately, I found and fixed the problem - the upper MOSFET for GPU power was shorted. Not sure what rating it had cause I couldn't find any data sheets for it, but I replaced it with an 85A one, which is also slightly bigger (so most likely it's quite overspec-ed, but that's good). The card works great now . Just need to find/make/hack a better heat sink for it. The small motherboard NB heat sink I put on there was only good enough for testing for a minute or so, but it quickly became very hot.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I need to buy me a lock cord as well.

Got one. It wasn't a good deal, though. It does what I need it to, so that's all that matters.

However, I did get 1 GB DDR PC3200 (2x 512 MB) from Micro Center the other day for <$12, which I think is a pretty good deal. The RAM is Corsair Value Select and not cheap stuff. The cheap (and slower) stuff actually sells for 2x to 3x more than that price . Go figure.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got one. It wasn't a good deal, though. It does what I need it to, so that's all that matters.

However, I did get 1 GB DDR PC3200 (2x 512 MB) from Micro Center the other day for <$12, which I think is a pretty good deal. The RAM is Corsair Value Select and not cheap stuff. The cheap (and slower) stuff actually sells for 2x to 3x more than that price . Go figure.

if it's desktop, than yeah, good deal.

If it were laptop, then no shock, as stuff that can use pc3200 in a laptop is hard to find.

[ncovert]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got a vintage Zenith Supersport 286 laptop at a hamfest for $1. The thing was dirty and beat up, but hey, I'm only out a buck. Besides, it's collectible. So I open it up to have a peek inside, first thing I notice is there's two dead shield bugs, one under the keyboard, and one under the hard drive. I hastily extracted the HDD and put the cover back on without disturbing the dead six-legged menaces.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got a vintage Zenith Supersport 286 laptop at a hamfest for $1. The thing was dirty and beat up, but hey, I'm only out a buck. Besides, it's collectible. So I open it up to have a peek inside, first thing I notice is there's two dead shield bugs, one under the keyboard, and one under the hard drive. I hastily extracted the HDD and put the cover back on without disturbing the dead six-legged menaces.

I have one of those... I paid $2 for it. It also included the Zenith carry case and a burnt up and warped battery unit.

people swore it was dead due to no display... turns out in reality that the contrast slider was all the way to one side... easy fix

[Agent24]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Hey, you're lucky the bugs were dead!

I opened a printer once that was full of LIVE cockroaches.

[brethin]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Picked up a PNY 9800GTX+ video card in the box will all the accessories for $5 at a yard sale yesterday. After giving it a serious thrashing (testing) over night is seems to be fine. Now to find it a good home.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

if it's desktop, than yeah, good deal.

Yup, desktop.

Picked up a PNY 9800GTX+ video card in the box will all the accessories for $5 at a yard sale yesterday. After giving it a serious thrashing (testing) over night is seems to be fine. Now to find it a good home.

That's a damn fine deal.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

just a little precision m6300 update....the battery life is about 3hrs +/- 30 minutes...better than I expected.

[shovenose]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

just a little precision m6300 update....the battery life is about 3hrs +/- 30 minutes...better than I expected.

Wow! That's impressive for such a beast!

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Wow! That's impressive for such a beast!

My thought too....but I tested 3 different machines, all are the same. I was pleasantly surprised.