best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Per Hansson]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Oh, and don't forget about that Antec PSU

I got around to it today. It was loaded with capxon and fukkyou caps. None bloated, but all way out of tolerance.
<snip>
Just a refresher, this was something Ratdude picked up at the goodwill store.

Awesomesauce!

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Been looking for parts for a i3 build.

So far, I did some replacements to the i3 540 combo - I replaced the MOSFETs with P70N02LDG (original burnt ones were NTD4906).

While at it, I've found three Samsung drives - a 320GB, a 500GB one, a 160GB one, and a 80GB one.

For the PSU - I'm currently doing a Franken-PSU - it consists of a CWT ISO PCB using a Yate Loon fan, all thrown together in a Frontier DR-8460BTX casing. Also added a fan controller from a scrapped 315W FSP.

More pictures coming in a separate thread.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored a Winfast K8M890M2MA-RS2H mobo w/ Sempron 3000+ AM2 and about 768MB of RAM (1x256 and 1x512 DDR2 sticks).

Posts fine, but the VRM low caps are probably kaput (Samyoung NXC - aren't these crappier than KZG/KZJ?) as they get fiery hot, something that shouldn't even happen with a Sempron 3000+.

[Wester547]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored a Winfast K8M890M2MA-RS2H mobo w/ Sempron 3000+ AM2 and about 768MB of RAM (1x256 and 1x512 DDR2 sticks).

Posts fine, but the VRM low caps are probably kaput (Samyoung NXC - aren't these crappier than KZG/KZJ?) as they get fiery hot, something that shouldn't even happen with a Sempron 3000+.

I’d say they’re equally bad, but the lower voltage parts on the VRM output (2200uF 6.3V, 1500uF 6.3V, and 3300uF 6.3V, etc) or those scattered amongst the board (1000uF 6.3V in NXC’s case and 820uF 6.3V in the case of KZG) seem to be at a greater risk of failure than the higher voltage parts (1500uF 16V, 1000uF 16V, 1800uF 16V, etc). The higher voltage parts seem to do better so long as they’re not under thermal duress.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I'd say they're equally bad, but the lower voltage parts on the VRM output (2200uF 6.3V, 1500uF 6.3V, and 3300uF 6.3V, etc) or those scattered amongst the board (1000uF 6.3V in NXC's case and 820uF 6.3V in the case of KZG) seem to be at a greater risk of failure than the higher voltage parts (1500uF 16V, 1000uF 16V, 1800uF 16V, etc). The higher voltage parts seem to do better so long as they're not under thermal duress.

They're the only NXC on that board. Rest is OST RLX for the 1000uF and Rubycon amBZ for the VRM high.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's freebie was a custom-built P4 system @ 3.8GHz (Pentium 670), 2gb RAM, NVS 280 GPU, 80GB HDD on an Intel D915GAG in a mint condition beige mATX case. I coulnt seem to figure out who made the case, but its built like a tank. Heavy gauge steel, no sharp edges, very nicely made. System works. It was a controller for a plotter from the county recorders office. The plotter died and they bought a new one.... Whoever did the plotter replacement took the old plotter, but left this PC....so the called me to come get it.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

16 pieces of 8G PC3-10600 ECC. And, 14 2T SAS drives.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's freebie was a custom-built P4 system @ 3.8GHz (Pentium 670), 2gb RAM, NVS 280 GPU, 80GB HDD on an Intel D915GAG in a mint condition beige mATX case. I coulnt seem to figure out who made the case, but its built like a tank. Heavy gauge steel, no sharp edges, very nicely made. System works.

wow thats nice. pretty astonishing the fastest and also the hottest single core p4 chip ever made is still working on the board its installed on. i guess intel must have used good caps on their boards. what caps are on the intel d915gag board anyway? must be really good jap caps to last 15 years!

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Recapped the Winfast K8M890M2MA-RS2H board today. Replaced the Samyoung NXC 3300uF 6.3v caps it had with Rubycon MBZ pulls. VRM section is cold, board POSTs fine as opposed to when it had the Samyoung caps.

Works fine, and is pretty fast in my experience.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

wow thats nice. pretty astonishing the fastest and also the hottest single core p4 chip ever made is still working on the board its installed on. i guess intel must have used good caps on their boards. what caps are on the intel d915gag board anyway? must be really good jap caps to last 15 years!

They're Nichicon HM and Rubycon MBZ. They could probably stand to be replaced, although they visibly appear ok.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

thats an interesting dilemma then. because if the hm have the faulty datecodes which im sure u know so i wont repeat them, then they should probably be replaced if the system is to be put back into service.

but on the other hand, if the hm can survive 15 years being cooked by a 115w tdp cpu, then its probably fine and they arent affected by the issue. if they were affected, they'd probably have failed within a few years and wouldnt have lasted 15 years, so interesting dilemma then like i said...

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

thats an interesting dilemma then. because if the hm have the faulty datecodes which im sure u know so i wont repeat them, then they should probably be replaced if the system is to be put back into service.

but on the other hand, if the hm can survive 15 years being cooked by a 115w tdp cpu, then its probably fine and they arent affected by the issue. if they were affected, they'd probably have failed within a few years and wouldnt have lasted 15 years, so interesting dilemma then like i said...

The datecodes are all 2005. The only reason I think they're still alive is that the system probably wasn't used all that much. This post was created from it.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

what caps are on the intel d915gag board anyway? must be really good jap caps to last 15 years!

I have plenty of boards with 15+ year old caps that are fine.
It's down to the brand, but also a bit of luck.

Japanese caps typically have no problems making it that long at all (granted they are not some of the affected/known bad series.)
The CN/TW brands can make it to 15+ years, but that's the "with a bit of luck" part - some of them will be fine, some will not. Still have a Pentium III motherboard with original OST RLX caps (for CPU VRM) and Choyo (25V 330 uF GP caps scattered on the board) - all good to this day. That board puts no stress on these caps, though, so probably that's why.

Any board with a Pentium 4 I find tends to bake those cheaper cap brands over time (especially in a case with poor ventilation). So I suppose the load matters too.

They're Nichicon HM and Rubycon MBZ. They could probably stand to be replaced, although they visibly appear ok.

Probably still quite fine.
Though IMO, any Nichicon HM/HN/HZ caps with 2005 datecode and 6.3V rating can be iffy. Not sure about the 10V caps, but the 16V ones rarely give problems (have plenty of socket 939 mobos with those.)

Recapped the Winfast K8M890M2MA-RS2H board today. Replaced the Samyoung NXC 3300uF 6.3v caps it had with Rubycon MBZ pulls. VRM section is cold, board POSTs fine as opposed to when it had the Samyoung caps.

Works fine, and is pretty fast in my experience.

Thanks for posting this.
I have a Jetway mobo with those Sanyoung caps and a low-power X2 4800+ CPU. Been wondering whether or not to recap it, seeing that it hasn't generally had any problems. But probably I will now. It's a socket AM2 mobo with a through-hole socket! Haven't seen many of those, really.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got a free Western Digital WD1001FALS Black 1TB (Mac) that doesn't spin up - first inspection shows no burnt components other than a chipped capacitor which I might replace.

Also got a 2GB DDR3-1333 Apacer stick - in reality it might be OEM'd by Crucial - I have noticed that it looks awfully similar to a 2GB Crucial stick I have. I installed the heat shielding on the Apacer stick from a dead Mushkin 2GB stick that uses the same PCB.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got a free Western Digital WD1001FALS Black 1TB (Mac) that doesn't spin up

sounds familiar - do a search for the last 2 months of posts with "mac" in them.
i suspect the firmware is waiting for a command before spinning up the drive.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

sounds familiar - do a search for the last 2 months of posts with "mac" in them.
i suspect the firmware is waiting for a command before spinning up the drive.

Nothing is heating up on the PCB.

Using a PCB from a WD1600AVJS will spin the drive up but will click like it's dead because of the different families both drives come from.

At least I know the drive IS good, and the PCB may be dud.

What would be harder is tracing down a replacement PCB, as the model I found isn't really easy to find on the market.

BTW, the drive is dated 19th April 2010, so it's before Apple started locking their drives.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got a free Western Digital WD1001FALS Black 1TB (Mac) that doesn't spin up - first inspection shows no burnt components other than a chipped capacitor which I might replace.

Also got a 2GB DDR3-1333 Apacer stick - in reality it might be OEM'd by Crucial - I have noticed that it looks awfully similar to a 2GB Crucial stick I have. I installed the heat shielding on the Apacer stick from a dead Mushkin 2GB stick that uses the same PCB.

heads stuck to platter?

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

heads stuck to platter?

Drive will spin with another PCB from a WD1600AVJS, so it's not that.

It will click with that one though because of mismatched chipsets (both are Marvell, but one is much older than the 1TB) and amount of cache (8MB on the 160GB drive and 32MB on the 1TB drive), not to mention the AVJS is a 2008 drive while the 1TB is a 2010 drive.

I will try finding a donor PCB and finally see if it's worth something. It's a Mac drive after all, I wouldn't be the slightest surprised if the drive would work fine with a PCB swap and even go as far as getting recognized by Windows.

Being a freebie, I won't lose much.

[Per Hansson]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

That drive supports PUIS, make sure it's not enabled:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/958

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5330

P.S: Board swaps almost never work on modern drives, drive specific data is stored in an eeprom on the PCB.

[goontron]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

That drive supports PUIS, make sure it's not enabled:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/958

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5330

P.S: Board swaps almost never work on modern drives, drive specific data is stored in an eeprom on the PCB.

But swapping EEPROMS is easy. Especially on high capacity WD. My 4tb drive uses an 8pin EEPROM.