I have a new (old) computer

Neildo_64 · Post by **Neildo_64** » Tue May 02, 2006 4:04 pm

I have computer parts galore. EVERYWHERE!! AHH! well anyway, I decided to get a computer running for my girlfriend, so I started digging. I used a power supply that I found laying around (looks BRAND NEW), an old Emachines T1840 mobo (fire damage, but works great, just a little dark in places) - Has 512MB ram (bought a couple years ago) and Intel Celeron processor, onld mouse an keyboard (both look brand new), some old Yamaha computer speakers (with power cord hard wired into speaker because I couldnt find an adapter with same plug. Oh yeah and they look BRAND NEW), a 32x CD burner (looks brand new), a DVD-ROM drive (looks brand new. Took out of fire damaged computer and replaced front casing), basic 3.5" floppy drive (looks BRAND NEW), misc cooling fans for inside of case - CPU and stuff (all look brand new), a 6GB HDD (small but works - have some 20GB and 40GB drives, but they wouldnt work), a 56k modem (looks crappy but works well) and a nice case ( which also looks new). Also, it is running Windows Server 2003 because I couldnt find my XP CDs, but that works.

Keep in mind that I had all this stuff in my room, along with probably 10 times that. So now my girlfriend gets a computer! I also pieced together a couple of old Lexmark z23-25 printers and made one that works, so she even has a printer. I also threw in a brand new PC microphone and an old monitor.

so how is that for a FREE computer?

I have pics but photobucket is being st00pid and my sever is down, so i might upload them later.

Post by **bicostp** » Tue May 02, 2006 4:52 pm

Not bad for a machine that was pulled out of a pile of scrap parts.

Here's my "junk PC" collection. When you do IT work for the school without pay, you get re-imbursed in other ways. (I get excused from essays every so often, plus I get a bunch of parts, mostly PCI modems which I bring to a small local tech shop to swap for more useful things) A lot of parts come from old corporate garbage PCs. I don't take any of their junk PCs because they are missing hard drives, and they're slower than what I have.

Digital Desktop 3000
256 MB RAM (from discarded work PCs)
366 mhz P2 MMX (With just a heatsink. I added a fan to the case to help keep things cool)
? HD (I swap them out a lot with this one, but usually I run Linux of some sort on it.)
SoundBlaster 16 PCI
Netgear GA302T Gigabit adapter

^ This was a parts machine the school recieved in a mixed lot of 12 or so 3000s and 5000s. All it had was the power supply, motherboard, and drive brackets. It's a desktop model, so expandability is limited.

"Whatever-box"
256 MB RAM (same source)
40 GB Western Digital HD (discarded corporate drive)
500mhz P3 (originally a 400mhz P2)
Yamaha 12x8x24 CD-RW drive
IDE ZIP 100 drive
nVidia 64 mb AGP card
Netgear GA302T gigabit adapter
random SoundBlaster compatible with game port
10 gig Western Digital HD in a swappable drive bay

^ This was my main PC for quite some time, from October '04 until this past January when I built this machine. It's running a Windows 2000 SP4 installation that stopped working on the Dell Optiplex GX1 it was in. I never had any problems with it, except I had to reinstall the LAN card every time I booted it up. I just outgrew its capabilities. (That happens when everything I needed to use took up all the avalible RAM and it increased the page file size every day.

)

Old random PC
133mhz Pentium
2 gig HD in 4 512 MB FAT16 partitions
ISA SoundBlaster compatible
S3 Verge something-or-other + graphics card
DOS 6.22 complete with Windows 3.11

^ My DOS game box. (The HD is partitioned to make the clusters smaller.) There's a thread about it around here somewhere.

The school's got an old eMachines eTower 366 I'm going to get my hands on. The hard drive died and the motherboard is cracked, but I'm thinking of taking it for the case and power supply. (I'd get a new motherboard for it, maybe make a machine for my sister so she doesn't tie up dad's work machine for internet use, games, and stuff like that.)

Post by **marshallh** » Tue May 02, 2006 5:01 pm

I've got literally way too many computer parts floating around my basement. Last time I checked I had 12 video cards, 9 hard drives, 5 network cards, 7 sound cards, 6 AT/ baby AT cases, 4 printers, 7 motherboards, 14 keyboards, 12 mice, 8 cdrom drives, and a huge box full of cables.

It's mostly older stuff though.
However, some stuff is pretty cool, like this Sound Blaster AWE32:

yes, those are two 30-pn SIMM memory slots

madc0w · Post by **madc0w** » Tue May 02, 2006 5:05 pm

I have the same thing marshall! Kick ass!

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Tue May 02, 2006 5:07 pm

I got a 1x DVD burner from school, it worked for a day or so then the disc door didn't open. It was cool having it though.

Post by **gannon** » Tue May 02, 2006 5:24 pm

Seeing your sig makes me think how long it's been since I"ve had onigiri

Anyways, that's not bad for just spare parts. Up untill a few months ago my fastest PC was 450MHz

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Tue May 02, 2006 8:33 pm

i used to have an old 300mhz PII with a cardboard case that i played worms armageddon on with lots of people. it worked great but then the 27" monitor i used with it died and my new one doesn't have a VGA plug so no more worms until i get an adapter

are there VGA>Composite adapters than can handle 1024x768 resolution? that would be sweet to play computer games on a 60" TV

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Wed May 03, 2006 4:14 am

marshallh wrote:I've got literally way too many computer parts floating around my basement. Last time I checked I had 12 video cards, 9 hard drives, 5 network cards, 7 sound cards, 6 AT/ baby AT cases, 4 printers, 7 motherboards, 14 keyboards, 12 mice, 8 cdrom drives, and a huge box full of cables.

It's mostly older stuff though.
However, some stuff is pretty cool, like this Sound Blaster AWE32:

yes, those are two 30-pn SIMM memory slots

LOL! That thing looks longer than my 7800GTX! XD

Post by **Sparkfist** » Wed May 03, 2006 7:18 am

Yeah I have a fair number of audio and network cards in my basement. Really uses now, about half are ISA slot type, and generally all the cards are about 8-10 years old. Brimming on vintage 32bit equipement.

Some times I wish I had the parts to make another computer, something that I could use as a server or just something I could screw around with and not worry. But hey many of my plans never see a start and even few see a finish.

gamefunatic · Post by **gamefunatic** » Wed May 03, 2006 9:39 am

me and metroid fan are putting a computer together from my old one and one from DI i think...

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:10 pm

sniper_spike wrote:
marshallh wrote:I've got literally way too many computer parts floating around my basement. Last time I checked I had 12 video cards, 9 hard drives, 5 network cards, 7 sound cards, 6 AT/ baby AT cases, 4 printers, 7 motherboards, 14 keyboards, 12 mice, 8 cdrom drives, and a huge box full of cables.

It's mostly older stuff though.
However, some stuff is pretty cool, like this Sound Blaster AWE32:

yes, those are two 30-pn SIMM memory slots
LOL! That thing looks longer than my 7800GTX! XD

Looks like something they made just before VL-Bus, lol. I have stuff like that too, including some oddball stuff like the earliest VGA to NTSC adapters (8-bit ISA with DOS drivers), Sound cards like that, VL-Bus IDE adapters with Expanded (not extended) memory slots and VL-Bus Video cards. I also have a 386SX-40 motherboard with 16-bit ISA slots that I may SETUP /nm to make it run 98 or NT4...if all else fails, I can stick 95 on the thing. Can't be sure 98 or NT4 works with an 3rd generation SX, but I'm going to try.

Neildo_64 · Post by **Neildo_64** » Wed May 03, 2006 7:53 pm

marshallh wrote:I've got literally way too many computer parts floating around my basement. Last time I checked I had 12 video cards, 9 hard drives, 5 network cards, 7 sound cards, 6 AT/ baby AT cases, 4 printers, 7 motherboards, 14 keyboards, 12 mice, 8 cdrom drives, and a huge box full of cables.

It's mostly older stuff though.
However, some stuff is pretty cool, like this Sound Blaster AWE32:

yes, those are two 30-pn SIMM memory slots

Hey, I have one of those too! Only the kewliest people have those.