best cheap/free scores 1.1

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

U got a few Sprague, Mallory and others between 30-50 years of age, most of that in use, all of them measure fine, some just seem to need reforming before next use. So I'd say they are damn good quality Your caps seem to be from around 1985.

+1

I find that most old caps like these, particularly the big can ones, tend to be built tougher.

A good slow reforming should be all they need to safely be restored properly.

What’s the typical use for these sort of caps? Automotive / amps etc

Also worth buying the rest?

Usually older power supplies and amplifiers.

Can't say if it's worth buying the rest or not. Being NOS, there probably isn't a big demand for these caps. But they will sell, nevertheless, as they are good quality parts. Just may take a while to get sold.

A blue Dell Latitude E4300 with a good (85% capacity) battery and charger for $21

Very nice laptop, especially for that price. I've been looking for one myself (though not very hard, I will admit), but most on eBay tend to sell for $30 or more and usually without batteries, HDD/caddy, and other stuff.

Kenwood KR-4400 27 Wpc Stereo Receiver (circa 1974) for $20. I didn't really "need" it, but my dad had one when I was a kid (which was unfortunately lost in a move many years ago) so I always wanted to get my hands on another one and couldn't pass it up for that price.

I like what I'm seeing in there: a discreet output stage and nicely a laid out unit. May not be the strongest amp at 27 W/ch. But for a small-medium room stereo setup, this could easily be enough. Also can drive 4 Ohm load too, which is always nice if one wants to hook two pairs of 8-Ohm speakers.

DFI Infinity NFII-M2 - nForce 4 SLI, Skt AM2

That's a nice board. DFI motherboards with SLI tend to hold a very good re-selling price on eBay.

ASUS M2NPV-VM - nF6150+430, AM2
...
ASUS M2N 1394 - nForce 430 MCP, Skt AM2
MSI K9N4 Ultra - nForce 550 Ultra, AM2 - dead chipset probably since it powers up as soon as I flip the switch on my PSU.

Bah. nVidia shitsets... sorry I mean *chipsets* always tend to be problematic after a while. Better mount small fans on the chipset heatsinks of the working boards if you want to keep them working (and even then it's not guaranteed, but it does help.)

Could try reflowing the MSI K9N4 to see if it comes back to life.

Jetway N2PAP-LITE - nForce 2, Skt 462 - I'm willing to bet this doesn't POST, looks like NOBODY replaced the GSCs and I suspect them being bad without any visible bulge.

Could be.
On mine, the GSC ME caps weren't visibly failed either, but some were starting to read close to 20% high on capacitance (i.e. upper tolerance limit). That means they were starting to become internally leaky. I stopped using that board in 2007 or so and had in in storage until I recapped it in 2014 or 2015.... though didn't post about it until 2017. Here is the thread from the recap, anyways:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?p=769918
Let me know if you need any help to get yours going. As I have the same motherboard, I could look up parts and compare voltage measurements. Hope you get yours fixed. This is a very good socket 462 motherboard with decent BIOS over-clocking options. Will run all Athlon XP CPUs.

ASUS P4C800 Rev2.00A - i875P, Skt 478
...
ASUS K8N - nForce 3 250, Skt 754
ASUS A7N8X-X - nForce 2, Skt. 462 - blown KZG yet it surprisingly did POST!!

Also pretty good boards.

PS3 fat, CECHH04 - dead (same cause), had an golden Playboy bunny on top

0.o
HDD still in there? Be careful! You might find some "naughty" content on there.

BTW, if you do try to revive the PS3s, remove the NEC/Tokin caps first and replace with tantalums, MLCCs, and/or electros/polymers. There's almost as much chance the NEC/Tokin caps are bad as the GPU being faulty... if not more. Just mentioning this before you try to "bake" the board for a reflow.

He also has a nice KME/K-Mex case I might ask him about since that case also has a handle and I quite like the design.

Back in the days of LAN parties, those cases with the handle were well-sought after. I bet more than half the youth today wouldn't have a clue why some old cases like that had handles. Heck, they probably wouldn't even know what LAN party is.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I dumped mine, after many, if not most of the KZG-series caps, did its version of a volcano in Italy...

At least two or three were leaking on mine. Replaced them with Sanyos and two OSTs (I had nothing else left on hand) and it works fine now.

Also replaced CPU caps on the Jetway N2PAP-LITE. It does POST now but I'll still have to replace the other Evercons (aka GSC ) but otherwise it looks like a nice little nF2 board. Maybe I can crossflash an Soltek BIOS on it or the A7N8X-X, will test later.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Back in the days of LAN parties, those cases with the handle were well-sought after. I bet more than half the youth today wouldn't have a clue why some old cases like that had handles. Heck, they probably wouldn't even know what LAN party is.

My Z800's have two handles molded into opposing ends of the cases. These are placed where they can be of most use. Otherwise, they'd be annoyingly heavy to lug around.

OTOH, my SB2000 doesn't even have "flat surfaces" that you can grab onto...

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Also replaced CPU caps on the Jetway N2PAP-LITE. It does POST now...

YAY!
It's a pretty neat board, I think. And I'm not saying that because it was my first build (and thus more special to me). It's just a good board.

Maybe I can crossflash an Soltek BIOS on it or the A7N8X-X, will test later.

Why? To enable more CPU/overclocking options in BIOS? I personally find it has enough. Then again, I never really overclocked my PCs back then, so maybe I wouldn't know better.

My Z800's have two handles molded into opposing ends of the cases. These are placed where they can be of most use. Otherwise, they'd be annoyingly heavy to lug around.

Built-in handles are always nice. But on most of my "junk builds" (which typically use crappy cases without many good features), I put the CD/DVD drive one slot below the top and then leave the top slot empty and without a cover. This sort of makes a nice handle on the front.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Z800 handles]

Built-in handles are always nice. But on most of my "junk builds" (which typically use crappy cases without many good features), I put the CD/DVD drive one slot below the top and then leave the top slot empty and without a cover. This sort of makes a nice handle on the front.

These are heavy boxes -- about 60 pounds. The SB2000 is 70. (the power supply for the SB2000 weighs 15 pounds)

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Bah. nVidia shitsets... sorry I mean *chipsets* always tend to be problematic after a while. Better mount small fans on the chipset heatsinks of the working boards if you want to keep them working (and even then it's not guaranteed, but it does help.)

Could try reflowing the MSI K9N4 to see if it comes back to life.

I didn't bother with the K9N4 as it's really crappy - two DDR2 slots on a chipset that could very well support 4 DDR2 sticks (see ABIT KN9S, on the same chipset) is just something I wouldn't use. The M2NPV-VM is dead as a brick - no beeps and chipset stays cold (same for CPU), only the southbridge warms up.

The M2N 1394 does POST successfully now after replacing 2 dented caps and a missing one in the CPU VRM high section.

Could be.
On mine, the GSC ME caps weren't visibly failed either, but some were starting to read close to 20% high on capacitance (i.e. upper tolerance limit). That means they were starting to become internally leaky. I stopped using that board in 2007 or so and had in in storage until I recapped it in 2014 or 2015.... though didn't post about it until 2017. Here is the thread from the recap, anyways:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?p=769918
Let me know if you need any help to get yours going. As I have the same motherboard, I could look up parts and compare voltage measurements. Hope you get yours fixed. This is a very good socket 462 motherboard with decent BIOS over-clocking options. Will run all Athlon XP CPUs.

It's probably just going to need some good caps, and I think I have a bag FULL of Rubycons extracted from a dead EPoX board (bad NB due to stupid heatsink design that uses literal adhesive tape instead of thermal tape) so it wouldn't be a problem to get it going.

I might see the BIOS OC options, though I might also consider having a spare BIOS chip with the MSI K7N2 BIOS on it, as I remember trying the N2PAP BIOS on my old K7N2 (which I should revive sometime) and it POST'd successfully, so it might as well work the other way round.

The CPU section did get a slight upgrade - replaced the BIG 2200uF 16v caps with 2x Rubycon ZLH 1500uF 16v and the 1500uF 6.3v were replaced with 3300uF 6.3v OSTs (not the best but way better than Evercon/GSC). The rest that is left to recap are all small buggers and shouldn't pose such a problem to replace, except a few 1500uF 6.3v where I might have to look for replacements. (D10 caps, I have a few on hand, will check how many are to replace in there.)

0.o
HDD still in there? Be careful! You might find some "naughty" content on there.

BTW, if you do try to revive the PS3s, remove the NEC/Tokin caps first and replace with tantalums, MLCCs, and/or electros/polymers. There's almost as much chance the NEC/Tokin caps are bad as the GPU being faulty... if not more. Just mentioning this before you try to "bake" the board for a reflow.

I have no idea, as each PS3 HDD is kinda "locked" to its respective console. It's gonna get formatted anyways.

As for the PS3s, I might just remove anything useful, and dump the rest (except that Playboy case, it's just to funny too dump it ) because they're 90nm RSX variants, and those are notorious for going bad.
Anything with 65nm and smaller is welcome in my house 65nm ones are much more reliable, just as the first slims are. (they still use 65nm RSX although the CPU is 45nm)

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's scores were a box full of scsi cdroms & cd recorders, all 50-pin. SOme panasonics, plextors, and a NEC.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

nice.
the real gem if you get one, is the scsi pioneer slotloader.
i have the cd-writer, but a friend has the dvd version!!!

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Made some thrift store scores today (Goodwill half-off everything day, which helped):

Salvation Army:

-Olympus SZ-14 with no battery or charger- $2.50. Normally I don't do these but it was too nice of a camera for too cheap to skip. Already ordered batteries and charger (I'm a gambling man on these things )

Goodwill (various stores):

Asus K202HQL 20" LED backlit monitor (made in 2016)- $7. Bought to be a mate to a similar v206HQL I had sitting (which was for a Dell E-series dock setup I never utilized). Sadly, I couldn't get it to run the advertized 1600x900 resolution (what my Latitude E6430 and V206 both run), stuck at 1336x768. But it does work... another big LCD for the spare shelf...

Planar dual VESA monitor stand- $12.50. Didn't "need" it, but I know how much such stands go for new ($100+, highway robbery! )... and this one was in perfect shape other than a couple loose set screws. If I don't use I'm sure somebody I know will (tradebait?)

New in box (factory sealed) Cisco RV082 8 Port 10/100 VPN: $15. Another "I don't need it, but it's probaby worth way more than $15!". No idea what it's good for (if anything) on my network, but I figure it's more tradebait. Tradebait is a consumable commodity, right?

Other than getting screwed on eBay, not a bad day for scores. This is only the tech scores too... I also scored some non-tech stuff (mainly, two suits that already fit and other virtually new condition dress clothes). But this isn't the thread for that.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

nice.
the real gem if you get one, is the scsi pioneer slotloader.

I've got 3 of those. 2 SCSI and 1 IDE.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I've got 3 of those. 2 SCSI and 1 IDE.

I have a plextor slot-load IDE DVD Burner. Doesn't work though

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored a MSI P45 Neo with badcaps, which otherwise POSTs.

Needs a good cleaning, two new RAM clips and of course a good set of caps as the caps on it are pure crap - OST RLA (blue nasty buggers) and Teapos.

[mikay786]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got some good buys at boot sale again today.

HP 640 G2 Laptop - i5 6200u, 8gb dddr4, 128gb m.2 sad, 1080p. Not exactly fitting for this thread as was £110 but still a bargain. All working

GameCube controller boxed - £4
Thrust master Ferrari steering wheel / pedals Xbox 360 £5
LG dvd hdd freeview recorder £3 - working just required F/W update
LG dvd freeview recorder - £8 again working just needed update
AMD 7770 ghz edition - untested and don’t have a pc to test in atm - £2
PSOne console only - £2
Ps1 Console only - £2
Humax scart freeview hdd 160gb - £3
PS4 controller - working - £17 mint new model too
ASUS adsl router WL-600g brand new sealed - £2
PS2 slim psu - £1
Uncharted collection PS4 game £3

Was -5 degrees in 5am in morning. Still great fun though!

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Update on one of the YLOD-ing PS3s I got earlier:

Got one to work! It's the CECHG04 model - used a generic heatgun that only has 2 settings - 350*C and 550*C. Went to town above the RSX with it and it took me about 3-4 minutes at 350*C.

Put it back all together (except the HDD caddy which I can't find for the life of me) and so far it works fine.

Not going to see much usage since it has a 90nm RSX, which delivers as much heat as a Prescott (YIKES!) but I figured I could at least prolong its life a bit by running the PSU without its cover. (a german repairman on youtube did this and it's well worth a shot)

Next up might be an CECH-3004 slim from the same guy. That one just kills the power on boot.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

chances are your heatgun actually fixed a proadalizer cap near the chip.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

chances are your heatgun actually fixed a proadalizer cap near the chip.

With a 90nm RSX that heats as much as a Prescott/Smithfield CPU, I'd go more towards the GPU itself, especially since it's based on the Geforce 7800GTX.

Also, up until Sony shifted to 65nm process for the RSX as well (i.e 65cpu/65gpu), the older 90nm chips were notorious for killing themselves.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Uncharted collection PS4 game £3

Good scores, but I like that one a lot. I played the Uncharted series on the PS3 (Uncharted 1 through 3) last year, and I think they were pretty fun (the first one had a few annoying parts, though). Anyways, still a good score, especially if that collection includes the 4th and 5th installments. The 4th one, they really made into a cool story. I've only watched it being played, though, as I don't have a PS4 (and might not get one either, unless I find it dirt-cheap, as I'm not a fan of consoles much.)

Got one to work! It's the CECHG04 model - used a generic heatgun that only has 2 settings - 350*C and 550*C. Went to town above the RSX with it and it took me about 3-4 minutes at 350*C.

Put it back all together (except the HDD caddy which I can't find for the life of me) and so far it works fine.

Enjoy it while it lasts, then. IME, reflows don't last forever. They could last longer with better cooling, though. If you mod the fan on your fixed PS3 to run faster, that should buy it some extra time.

Not going to see much usage since it has a 90nm RSX, which delivers as much heat as a Prescott (YIKES!)

Not quite. See below...

...I'd go more towards the GPU itself, especially since it's based on the Geforce 7800GTX.

It is based on the 7800 GTX, but is not quite the same. See the differences mentioned here
Namely, the 7800 GTX has 16 ROPs and the RSX has 8 ROPs. This alone lowers the RSX's TDP probably by a good 20-30% compared to the 7800 GTX. Also, the 7800 GTX is 110 nm. So I expect the RSX draws somewhere closer to 60W, tops... which is still considerable.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Picked up yet another Dell u3011. I have 4 now. Looking to eventually replace the 3x 27" monitors with 3 of the u3011's in my office.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Picked up yet another Dell u3011. I have 4 now. Looking to eventually replace the 3x 27" monitors with 3 of the u3011's in my office.

You might want to try a "dry run" before you go rearranging kit and cables.

I found that I had to do a lot of neck-twisting to see three 30's at a comfortable viewing distance -- old eyes don't refocus as readily to changes in distance between the monitor directly ahead and the monitors off to either side. So, I had to arrange the monitors in a semicircle around me to keep them all equidistant from my eyes. This meant turning my head from one side to the other to see whichever monitor I was interested in.

[If I moved them farther away to reduce the neck-twisting, then it was hard to focus on the smaller details in the images]

Even three 27's proved difficult. Though if I mounted 30's (or 27's) in portrait mode, the span from left to right was "doable" - but the monitors looked really funky in that orientation!

I found two 30's, side by side (landscape), was about the limit for that size monitor. But, I couldn't stack two more atop the first pair (for a 2x2 display) without having a similar problem with up-and-down head motion.

I finally settled on four 24's in a 2x2 configuration -- I can largely keep my head motionless and just move my eyes to take in what I want to see. And, can keep the monitors at a comfortable viewing distance.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Enjoy it while it lasts, then. IME, reflows don't last forever. They could last longer with better cooling, though. If you mod the fan on your fixed PS3 to run faster, that should buy it some extra time.

Well, I'm not sure what to say. The RSX (GPU) stays colder than the CPU after a check with the Rebug Toolbox (I modded the PS3) as far as I've seen and the fan doesn't seem to care about the CPU temperature.