best cheap/free scores 1.1

[omendata]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

5 Epson 850 Stylus Colour printers - clogged heads and jammed paper sensors - easy fixes.
Various scanners and monitors - all easy fixes
500 copies of windows ntv4.0
100 copies of powerdvd 4.0 - im still selling em on ebay 20 years later lol
100 copies of Ability office

Companies industrial unuts closing down or the rear dumpers of offices in town centres are like gold mines.

The number of swivel chairs , office desks and general office gear just thrown out is simply disgraceful and astounding at the same time!

[stj]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

The number of swivel chairs , office desks and general office gear just thrown out is simply disgraceful and astounding at the same time!

it's not like they can sell most of it.
too much dumb paperwork for the tax parasites - for the buyer & seller.

[Behemot]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Yes. Artifical employment for milions of unemployable idiots. Imagine what would happen if those harmfull bureaus would be closed…burreaucrats would have to WORK!

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

nexus 7 with ransomware.easy fix.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

got a working wii for free -

[mikay786]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

got a working wii for free -

That's because you have to give em away these days!!

Bought quite big haul of electronics for spares / repairs from gumtree from a guy who cleared out some uni student flats.

Apple PowerMac G4 computer x 2
Apple Power Mac G3 computer
4 x Sky HD 3D 500GB Boxes (All working)
1 x Dell computer (Spares/Components)
Sony dvd/cd player amp + Bass speaker / 2 x floor speaker (just a crap unit)
1 x 42" LG TV (spares repair does not power up)
1 x Phillips 14" CRT TV (Threw in bin lol_
1 x Sony 21" TV (Did not take)
1 x 300 CD Sony Multi changer + 300 original CD albums Works as well
1 x Sony Mini Disc player
1 x Skytec Pro 600 Amp (Works)
1 x Prosound 1600 Amp (Not tested yet)
2 x Prosound PA 15" 500w Speakers Pair (One works other barely any sound comes out of it)

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

nexus 7 with ransomware.easy fix.

Sledgehammer?

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Apple Power Mac G3 computer

nice - great shell for a pc conversion.
btw, the psu is NOT ATX, you need to move some wires around, dont blow up your motherboard / psu tester!!!

dont bin it, it's a very good psu with copper heatsinks and ALL nippon-chemicon caps!

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

fastboot oem unlock
fastboot flash cm12.img
more effective.

Sledgehammer?

[caper]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

My wife... I have never once found anything good in a dumpster. It's quite sad when other people fin really nice things in the trash and you got nothing.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got a PCI-E VisionTek Radeon HD3870 today for $8 shipped. Was advertised as not working, but it's actually fine. I'm not really surprised, though. It's a dual-slot card with ATI's reference cooler and not a single-slot like some of the cheaper variants. Thus, I only cleaned the dust from its heatsink vents. Will probably use it like that. It runs around 40C idle at 18-19C room temperature. Also, it's the exact same card as a Diamond HD3870 I bought a while back, so I could run these in crossfire... if I had a motherboard that supported that, of course (which I don't) .

I need to put one of these video card in a PC so that maybe I can try some of the games I missed in the last... 10 years?

[jakdedert]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

HP WJ676A 20" LCD monitor at the thrift store the other day. They had three or four LCD monitors in 16x9. It was between this one and a Dell...each priced the same at $11. I plugged in the Dell, which seemed a much nicer unit only to find it had a cracked screen.

Not expecting much from the ridiculously dirty HP, I plugged it in, got a menu. Paid my money, got it home (feeling like a bandit) and started cleaning. There were a few spots on the bezel and screen that looked like paint transfer scuffs (like it had rubbed against a painted surface).

They didn't come off with alcohol so I resorted to a trick I've used before to remove CA glue residue from screens: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It took off the paint and even buffed out a few light scratches on the screen and bezel.

As I said, I stumbled on this trick when I bought a laptop that had been 'repaired' by a previous owner. He had tried to reattach lifted keys with the superglue, and closed the lid before it cured. That didn't work so well, the keys were still borked, and now the screen was as well. While I was waiting for a replacement keyboard, I turned my attention to general cleaning. The superglue had gotten on the screen in a couple of spots and there was residue on the palm pad. After trying several different products, I wasn't making any progress, until my eyes lit on the Magic Eraser (You know, this stuff is an accidental product--originally developed as insulation for spacecraft, right?) I pinched just a corner of it and went to work on the worst spot. I figured it couldn't be worse than it was.

It worked perfectly. You can't see where the glue was, and there is absolutely no degradation in the viewing surface either. It worked so well, I buffed the entire screen with it, as I did the HP monitor.

I'm not endorsing it as a fix-all or item to use for periodic cleaning. It may not work on your monitor, but it did on both of these...the only ones I've ever tried it on. It's not great for shiny black plastic, as it tends to dull the finish somewhat, but it was perfect for the shiny silver plastic of the palm pad.

One caveat: I used the sponge dry...brand new piece, and no water at all.

[jakdedert]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Looking for a new desk computer couple of months ago...tried all the usual haunts--looked into building something--and finally resorted to intensive pawn shopping. Came upon a Dell Inspiron 660s in a SFF box, almost exactly what I was looking for. It has an i3 3340 running at 3.4 gigs, which when I looked it up, has a higher processor score than many i5's. Aside from that, it included a terrabyte hd and 4 gigs of RAM; plus DVD R/W. Also included: 20" monitor, keyboard and mouse. Manufacture date was 2/14.

The only sticking point was the price: $250 for the package.

Not expecting much, since the tag indicated they'd gotten it only a few weeks before, I inquired as to their 'rock-bottom price'. Surprisingly, they came back with $200 cash, out the door, for the complete system. Sweet.

Upon booting, I learned there was no software beyond the OS (perfect) and bloatware, just as it had come from Dell. Sweeter still. I jacked up the memory to 8 gigs and used it for a couple of months with no problem. Great machine.

It occurred to me that the monitor was somewhat heavy for a modern LED-lit unit, and the bezel was also rather wide. I was thinking about replacing it with something more desk-friendly, so I looked up the spec's. This was after using the system for at least a couple months.

Imagine my surprise, when I plugged in the numbers, to find it was a touch-enabled screen! That makes very little difference in my daily computing habits, but it sweetened the deal even further. All I had to do was plug in a USB cable.....

[nstevens]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I am about to score a desktop computer for my gaming, It's a CybertronPC Unleashed 2 with AMD FX 6300 3.50GHz 6-Core, 8GB DDR3 and 1TB HDD. A friend of mine is selling this unit for $500, not sure though if that's a good deal, the computer is in good condition and no history of repairs. I am still comparing online on some websites for the price. I found on consumertop.com that this is still listed above the $600 category. I am still trying to decide. I like the computer, but I'm just not sure if the price is right for a second hand unit. Any thoughts on this PC?

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I am about to score a desktop computer for my gaming, It's a CybertronPC Unleashed 2 with AMD FX 6300 3.50GHz 6-Core, 8GB DDR3 and 1TB HDD. A friend of mine is selling this unit for $500...
I like the computer, but I'm just not sure if the price is right for a second hand unit. Any thoughts on this PC?

I'm not an expert when it comes to new hardware, but that does seem a bit pricey. I guess it all depends on the video card and PSU that are in there. Better not be some onboard video, or you're getting ripped-off major time.

Just FYI, Microcenter has that same CPU that's in your friend's PC for $106 bundled with a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 motherboard *new*. Working with that, I think you can build a better PC for $500.

[xelectech]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

The local Goodwill had a deal on barebone 'puters - I got two Optiplex 755's for $5 a piece. Both came with a dvd burner and a C2D processor, pretty decent little machines, mostly rubycon caps (they're the desktop-sized version.

Nothing obviously wrong, visually speaking, but on one the burner wouldn't read and the other would do nothing when I tried to turn it on. The burner was fixed by swapping in a control board from a non working unit on the spare parts pile, and the other one turned out to have some messed up pins in the cpu socket, just had to realign the pins using a couple llitte bits of plastic.

Best value for $10 that I've had in awhile 8^):

[Compgeke]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

4x 4 GB Reg ECC DDR3 for $15 shipped.

[Compgeke]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Been having fun the last couple weeks.

Got four Mac SEs for $42 ($31 for 'em then $11 to get them to me). Link (since no attachments yet): http://imgur.com/a/Z3FGF

Also got a Sanyo PLC-XE40 short throw projector for $30 shipped. Not 1080p and no HDMI but it syncs fine to old computer stuff (on composite and VGA). http://i.imgur.com/5mlcTlz.jpg

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got some free speaker drivers last week on Craigslist:
- four 10-inch Cerwin Vega VSW-10
- two 8-inch Cerwin Vega VSW-8
All have manufacturer date stamps that vary from the early to mid 90's.

Now, anyone that knows vintage Cerwin Vega stuff, you probably have an idea why I got these speakers for free - rotten foam surrounds (very common for older CV speakers). Actually, the foam surrounds on the 8" drivers is still good and strong. But on the 10" drivers, it's all falling apart and even completely gone on two of the drivers.

Only question I have here: does anyone know the power rating of these speaker drivers or any other specs? Again, model numbers are VSW-10 and VSW-8. I can't find anything in particular on the net. All I can tell you about them is both the 8" and 10" drivers have the same size motor (same size magnets and same size 1.25" voice coil), and same impedance (3.3-3.6 Ohms when measured with multimeter, so I am guessing they are 4-Ohm drivers).

Already tested the 8" drivers, and they work great. Made a test paper foam surround for one of the 10" drivers as well, and that works too. Now I just need to think of a project where I can use them... after finding some specs about them, of course.

[xelectech]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Excellent score at the scrapyard yesterday - found laying in the mud a 'puter with an Asus P5n-e SLI, 4 gigs ram, dvd burner, c2d e6750, 500 watt Antec psu; cost 3 bucks, had only been run over once (just kidding). It also had 2 320 Gb WD hdds, but they wouldn't let me have those...