best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Cheap ebay score, Supermicro X7DCA-3. This isn't the mATX (X7DCA-L), this is an eATX. Unusual for the fact its a workstation board with an onboard SAS controller (Broadcom/LSI 1068E chipset, which is very solid). Those are usually the server versions. It was cheap, seller didn't know what he had....has 2x CPU's and 4 memory modules that he had no clue what they were....but for the price (a lowball offer that was accepted), I'll gamble the 'mystery CPU's & RAM'.... I have a SM eATX for this, or I wouldn't have bought it.

Finally got around to checking this one out. The mystery RAM was 8gb PC2-5300P, 4x 1gb sticks, and 2x 2gb sticks. CPU's are e5450, 3ghz/1333.

I set up a test bed to make sure it all worked, and to do some SAS testing with the onboard. Went well.







That's all for today....I don't have an eATX case readily available for this system, so it'll get mothballed until I come across something.

[jwillifixit]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

I know it's an old post but just ran into it. Selling that?

Sure... what did you have in mind? I haven't even begun to work on it. Just dusted it off and it's sitting on a shelf. It's pretty big and heavy... I've got to believe that shipping would cost even more than it's worth.

[jwillifixit]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Among other stuff I picked up a Lenovo Thinkpad T510.
It didn't have the battery in it, the cover for the ram bay was gone as was the cover for the hdd. I dug around a bit and there was the battery, and the two covers!

I put some RAM and a hard drive in it and it's working just fine!!!

[goontron]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

For over a year now there is nothing in the dumpster that hasn't been gutted. It sux so bad I have given up on it. Only thing I find are old tube TV's and microwaves.

Hey, i would love those finds!

[retiredcaps]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Hey, i would love those finds!

No need to dumpster dive. Old tube CRT TVs are regularly given away free on my local kijiji. Even what used to be high end Sony Wegas are given away for free.

That and projection TVs in the 60 to 70 inch size are given away. Some might need a new lamp which costs around $150.

Check your local craigslist or equivalent if you want old working CRT TVs.

[momaka]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

My local Craigslist is also filled with CRT and projection TVs - at least several posted every day. And once or twice a month, I also see those high-end widescreen Sony Wega and Panasonic TVs - but those do actually get taken. I asked a few posters, and they said they often manage to give them away in no more than a few days. Same goes with newer and/or larger CRT monitors - looks like I'm not the only one that takes those anymore. What's even more funny, some people have now started to list CRT monitors for sale for a good chunk of money due to their "vintage" value.

As for microwaves... I see those on CL here too, but they are usually broken. Still, people do seem to take them once in a while. The working microwaves definitely get snatched quickly.

[stj]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

people want the transformers, now there are sites showing how to make battery-tab welders.

[retiredcaps]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

What's even more funny, some people have now started to list CRT monitors for sale for a good chunk of money due to their "vintage" value.

I'll take my 50 inch plasma anyday over my old vintage Sony 32 inch CRT.

I dread the day the plasma dies and I can't fix it. I already pre-ordered the mostly like components to die in my plasma.

[goontron]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

people want the transformers, now there are sites showing how to make battery-tab welders.

Good thing no sites show how to drive one resonantly and get 2-3x the voltage out of it...

[dmill89]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

No need to dumpster dive. Old tube CRT TVs are regularly given away free on my local kijiji. Even what used to be high end Sony Wegas are given away for free.

Similar around here. A few years ago PA banned disposal of electronics in regular garbage (and if you try putting it out on the curb the garbage men won't pick it up), but left it up to the individual counties to set up e-waste collection rather than setting up a statewide program. In some counties it is "free" (obviously paid for by taxes or fees on new electronics, but no charge for disposal) for residents, but in the county I live in (and several others) they charge $0.50/lb. for disposal so as a result people would rather give something away than pay to dispose of it (especially heavy things like large CRTs and projection sets). Of course there has also been a massive rise in illegal dumping as a result to the point that you'll find old TVs and other e-waste in just about any wooded/secluded area (of course the law was passed for "environmental reasons", yah that worked out real well, now instead of going to the landfill e-waste is piling up in the woods and on the roadsides).

[Vitam]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Probably a fuckton of server equipment. These people were throwing out an entire hosting company. Of course, all the servers were old, so I only kept one IBM server and all the rest of the firewall/NAS/switch stuff went to scrap (couldn't be sold). Even throwing out the rack mount. I kept about 3 tiny HP desktops they were throwing out as well. Later on, they asked for our phone number because they had more, and when they called us, they had 3 matching monitors for the desktops, and a few laptops. Back in 2012, some dude down the street threw out a ton of desktops, monitors, VCRs, and printers. I took some of the desktops, but what was special to me is the Toshiba TIMM monitor... a 20" CRT TV with VGA, tuner, composite in and GREAT BOOMING SOUND! I still own it to this day. Now, next is not really a curb find, but it was free. One of my dad's facebook friends was giving away their late 2013 iMac. They said it got slow, then would not work at all, they're sick of it and already bought a new one. My dad went and got it (90 people replied to it saying YEAH I WANT IT!) and brought it home for me! Came with the keyboard, mouse, and power cord. Reinstalled High Sierra on it, and voila, new computer. It is now my main computer, and I am actually typing this on it!

[Curious.George]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Logitech SqueezeBox (bad wall wart). I'll see if I should replace one of the Chumbys with this (smaller, less hokey looking).

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

PS2 SCPH-39003 PAL. Came with a few dead bugs inside, otherwise it works fine. Cleaned up and replaced heatsinks and it's working fine, aside from a dead CMOS battery.

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

APC Smart-UPS 1000- Needed batteries
Samsung ML-3750ND- Needs toner ($$$$$)
Advantech UNO-3072LA Industrial Computer- Needed a hard drive and a power supply
Dell Inspiron B130 Laptop- just old

That's all for now.

[tmcw]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

PS2 SCPH-39003 PAL. Came with a few dead bugs inside, otherwise it works fine. Cleaned up and replaced heatsinks and it's working fine, aside from a dead CMOS battery.

SNAP!

I got one too a couple of weeks ago. Was actually in a electronic waste cage, so technically it was a dumpster find I suppose.

Mine was a bit dirty on the outside, but cleaned up nice. A small part of the AV port is also broken, it's a plastic bit in the middle of the port that stops the metal pins from moving when the AV cable is inserted, don't know what it's called, it's like a tongue I suppose. About a quarter of the "tongue" is broken, but it seems to be displaying through a SCART cable ok.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

SNAP!

I got one too a couple of weeks ago. Was actually in a electronic waste cage, so technically it was a dumpster find I suppose.

Mine was a bit dirty on the outside, but cleaned up nice. A small part of the AV port is also broken, it's a plastic bit in the middle of the port that stops the metal pins from moving when the AV cable is inserted, don't know what it's called, it's like a tongue I suppose. About a quarter of the "tongue" is broken, but it seems to be displaying through a SCART cable ok.

Meh, I got a lot of my PS2s cheap and in varying states of functionality.

The worst one (next to this "bugged" v7 39003) was a version 4 SCPH-35004, which literally had its case broken in pieces and the PSU PCB was broken. You'd be amazed to know that the 35004 that was broken to hell and back is now working perfectly. I chuckled out the case and the PSU and reused some parts from a defunct 30004R (failed modchip install, I need a new soldering iron) along with a new 400C laser.

It came out pretty nice, and aside a few hiccups at the beginning of spinning the disc (which apparently are normal.), it runs all the games I have perfectly. Original laser was a god knows how old Sony KHS-400B that couldn't read anything. Luckily I had three PS2s to work with, with two being in working order. Here's what I did:

1. Swapped 400C from a unmodded 50003 into a modded (Modbo 4.0) 50003 silver
2. Moved the leftover 400C into the v4 and reprogrammed MECHACON EEPROM (it stores info about what type of laser it has to use)
3. Installed a spare working Sanyo SF-HD7 laser into the unmodded 50003 - looks kinda weird in there since it's the older open faced variant with metal frame as opposed to the newer closed face variant that uses a plastic frame.

Now all machines work and load games fine. As for the 39003, I managed to bring it to a better state - threw away a lot of stuff from it (crappy cube-shaped heatsink, original fan (IIRC it was a NMB fan) and metal plates (basically anything that had to do with metal) and whatever I was left I used medical spirit to wipe off bug crap from. It worked, although there's still a small bit of stench left (which I may cover with some deodorant, it's better that way and smells nicer.) but otherwise it's pretty clean now.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Just bought a FastFame 8VTAA with a Duron 1GHz and of course a myriad of dead caps. Unsurprisingly, they were Canicon caps.

For some reason though, all SD-RAM boards I had lately were pretty picky about RAM, including this one. I eventually got it to POST with its original sticks for a total of 256MB RAM and a old trusty GF2 MX400 64MB GPU after I recapped the MB.

As for recapping the board, I used various caps I had around, as for a board like this it doesn't really matter what I use. Most of these caps were 3x UCC KZE, 2x Nichicon HM (0545 datecode - flip a coin.), 2x AsiaX caps (2014 datecode, not that bad), 1x Yang Chun (Saturn logo), 1x OST, 1x Sanyo WG and 2x G-Luxon near the AGP slot.

Probably not the best choices of caps but as long as it doesn't die and works fine with Windows 98 SE I'm more than happy. Will probably use it as a Voodoo 3 rig since it has a universal 4x slot.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

For some reason though, all SD-RAM boards I had lately were pretty picky about RAM, including this one.

Oxidized contacts in the RAM slots most likely. Could use some brushing and your favorite plastic-friendly solvent.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

picked up a supermicro SC743TQ-865B-SQ 4U eATX case cheap on ebay....what can I say, I just find system building to be quite therapeutic... I'll eventually sell some of these off....and its become a cheap hobby compared to what it used to be.

This isn't the actual, but its identical.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Premier LC-B400ATX 400W - 2005 datecode w/ 2002 caps.

Woah, WTF?