best cheap/free scores 1.1

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Netgear mr814 is a good router. I had a v3 a few years back, it was rock solid.

That's good to know. I really don't feel like investing in a new router anytime soon anyways .

a friend just gave me an asus am2 board with a dualcore in it... this was his excuse to go to a quad.

Nice score. I like your friends .
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Yesterday I got a free 19" CRT monitor (I know that's nothing for some of you here). It's a Samsung SyncMaster 955DF. Apparently some office was upgrading, and this nice girl that works there decided to post the two old monitors they had on Craigslist (how kind of her). Now I can finally put a decent resolution and refresh rate on one of my main computers. Not that 800x600 is bad but the fact that my old (circa 1997) 17" Dell UltraScan 1000 D1025HTX squeals when put it over 60Hz really annoys me (I'd rather take the blinking at 60Hz than have a high pitched noise all the time from the higher frequency).

So, I took only one of these 19" monitors because I don't really have the space on my desk or in my room and I don't want my parents to notice that I now have 3 monitors. They hate it when I bring "trash" in the house. One is hidden in the closet now and covered with other junk untill I fix it while the Dell is taking it's place in one of the corners in my room .
But what do you all think, should I just get the other one? Save it from the trash, make a nice dual monitor setup or something ?
If I have to, I'll make room somehow .

[Wizard]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Make sure the picture is nice and sharp, color correct. This is one of WORST samsung put out for 19" CRT, 19" CRT goes out of balance so quickly that you are greeted with purplish picture (common) while still in warranty.

I rather take 17" CRT samsung as long as CRT not worn out, I had 17" flat CRT (753MB model) in 2003 (bought new) tube was dim by mid 2007 but color not too far off, used it 6 hours plus daily. Other than that, LCD monitors by samsung is preferred as they are far more repairable, many still have parts available if necessary. I just fixed a 2004 171N LCD for 9.99 (non-working price) and about 25 in parts.

BTW, Samsung monitors are 3 years warranty.

Cheers, Wizard

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Junk Parts isn't mad over a CPU cooler. Junk Parts is mad because his new alternater can only put ot 12.2 volts. It should be up around 14.3. Going to load test the battery today just to see if a cell has failed.

don't worry, i got another fan so you get it after all. i will pm you after i run a test on my parts.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Thanks for the heads up Wizard.
So far I've only tested the monitor by powering it without connecting the vga cable to the computer. The "No signal" box did have the right colors, though they were a bit bright. Black wasn't as dark as I would expect from a CRT either. Still, I think it was allright.
I'll make sure to reset the factory settings tomorrow and check again, this time with the computer.
The monitor looks really nice otherwise. Would be a shame if it was bad.

By the way, what do you think causes these monitors to go out of balance like you said? Cold solder joints? Bad tube?

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Make sure the picture is nice and sharp, color correct. This is one of WORST samsung put out for 19" CRT, 19" CRT goes out of balance so quickly that you are greeted with purplish picture (common) while still in warranty.

I rather take 17" CRT samsung as long as CRT not worn out, I had 17" flat CRT (753MB model) in 2003 (bought new) tube was dim by mid 2007 but color not too far off, used it 6 hours plus daily. Other than that, LCD monitors by samsung is preferred as they are far more repairable, many still have parts available if necessary. I just fixed a 2004 171N LCD for 9.99 (non-working price) and about 25 in parts.

BTW, Samsung monitors are 3 years warranty.

Cheers, Wizard

my mom has that samsung. it gets tan lines all the time. she refuses to let me get her another (i have a better one in my closet) because she sees no issues. i think it's annoying.

and thats why i strongly dislike samsung crt mnitors. more repairable, but it uses that a lot. all my other stuff still runs. i have a sony trinitron 256 colors 800x600 max monitor that still runs great.

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

samsung never did make a crt (picture tube) that was any good.
any good crt monitors from them had a hitachi,panasonic,phillips,toshiba,or mitsubishi tube in it.

[Junk Parts]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Don't know much about my monitor other than it says Gateway VX900 on it. Its not great but it still works. The buttons on the front are starting to go bad. It just may be time for another one. I think I'll get an LCD unit of some sort this time.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

my friend game me his old CTS crt monitor. 19 inch, i paid 5 bucks. works great.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

^ That's not a bad deal either.
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I just tried the Samsung monitor yesterday (all lights turned off in the room), and it was very bright. This is actually the first monitor for which I had to turn the brightness all the way down to zero in order to make it look properly. Before that, black was just gray, and all other colors were diluted. Now it's a lot better, though it's still a bit too bright for my tastes. And like the cnet reviews pointed out, the red is a bit pinkish. Another negative thing is that there is an underglow on the monitor; the icons look like they're being reflected off of a foggy mirror. Kind of hard to explain, but I believe that's just the design of the monitor.
On the positive side, the monitor works great and takes no more than a second to warm up (vs 5-10 seconds for my Dell). Higher refresh rates work well too. I'm currently testing it at 800x600, 75Hz and everything is so big that I can read posts on this forum from my bed all the way across the room .
Overall, I still think this monitor is a good deal (would definitely have been better if the colors were right, but that's my fault and I should've read reviews before getting it).
----
By the way, I got another great deal a few months ago on a Swiftech MXC159-CU all-copper chipset cooler (link to the item is here). Original price on the box was $39.99, but I got it from the bargain bin at Micro Center for a whopping $0.96. Box came with heatsink (bent pins), a fan (working but missing connector), and two bent screws . The rest of the hardware was missing. After straightening the heatsink pins for a few minutes, it looked like new.
I was thinking about making it a cooler for a Radeon 9500/9700. Just have to fabricate my own brackets/retainers.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

is cts a good brand?

[Wizard]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Ratdude747,

That's common fault, easily fixable, you need to do a almost no-mod fix. It was a bulletin (tighten the clamp but that wasn't perfect solution) but I slightly modified this procedure by removing the gum which solved 100%.
This bulletin also involved replacing ferrite bead jumper (upper near the 18 or 20 pin narrow DIP IIRC) with a wire jumper as well, not all have this bead, just a wire.

Remove tin RF shield from CRT board (only 5 tabs) and 2 screws then unsolder and remove heatsink with IC attached.

The problem is gum on the metal tape wrapped around the CRT board's driver IC is insulating the IC from heatsink electrically and causing brown lines due to unwanted ground loops (bad design in the IC itself for some reason (TDAxxxx), not samsung part btw.
Fix was peel back the tape and clean all the gum (sticky stuff) and IC's heat spreader completely off (that means acetone. Or remove the tape completely and clean the heatspeader pad on the IC. Apply heatsink grease and loosely clamp the IC, reinstall the heatsink and solder it. Then clamp the IC to the heatsink, then solder IC pins. Reinstall everything including tin shield and solder.

That was LAST generation of CRT samsung ever manufactured after that no more CRT onwards. Unmistakeable design is idiotic side round buttons on lower right side on painted silver bezel, back cover black.

No, CTS is generic monitor. Treat it like any junk.

Cheers, Wizard

[Wizard]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

This bad ground loop is very obsverable with DMM on one of two "ground pins" with respect to metal shield. Both ground pins had to be unsoldered before doing this lesson yourself to see what I mean. It is in middle of IC zigzag pins and easily seen where ground trace goes through two pins.

Cheers, Wizard

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

well, the cts was used a lot before i got it, not used much now but when i do it has great colors... doesnt seem too crappy to me

as for my mom's monitor, she refuses to let me touch it. oddly, the ibm crt's at my school (bubble, not flat screen) seem to fail a lot, often with the tan lines. also will turn purple as did one of my two 16"-17" emachines monitors (bought both in like-new condition at goodwill, one still works very well, the other will either always be resetting, turning the screen purple-pink, or showing static-is wavy lines on screen). my friend had one but it had a short lifespan as well. are emachines monitors worth fixing and are crt's safe to repair?

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

dont want to mess with mom's samsung. sounds like a lot of work when my solder sucker is waiting on new o-rings.

[Phaihn]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

A while back i got a free motherboard from one of the local computer shops and that HP with 3 GHZ CPU in exchange for my 2.8 and 40 bucks.

[Wizard]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

it is not lot of work. I don't desolder the tin box, I just pull one corner at a time till all four is seperated then heat the center tab in middle then pull cover off.

Then desolder heatsink and IC pins. That pretty much it. Took about 1/2 hour to do.

Cheers, Wizard

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

no, its a lot of work getting my mom to let me. she has no problem with the monitor, so i am not allowed to fix it. she win me lose. and the mama hen pecks my eyes out again...

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

do you mean ctx?
most were at least decent.unless they were built with a blue label samsung crt!

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

yeah, ctx. plug seems o have one pin shoved in. still works though. if need be ill solder in a new connector

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

i got 2 nvidia 5\geforce fx 5500 128mb pci vid cards. they had 4 avaiable. 2 had for caps:

1 poly
1 16v 1000uf panny
3 sam young 10v 1000uf

the oyher 2

1 poly
2 sacon fz 1000uf 16v (one spot had holes for 2 cap sizes)
2sacon fz 1000uf 6.3v

i took one of each since one of the sam youngs had a fan that was all slow and stuck. they have a dvi (ang/dig) and s-video out.

i paid 5 bucks for both cards. they also had 5 zillion pci express cards, but i needed none.