best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored today:

Voodoo 2 PCI 8MB - needs passthrough as far as I could find, won't work otherwise
ASUS X5DAF - works, needed a reflow on IGP.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored an Packard Bell Easynote MB65.

Old specs:

Core 2 Duo "Merom" T5250
2GB DDR2-667
160GB HDD
Geforce 8400M G 128MB
Windows 7 Home Premium x86

New specs:

Core 2 Duo T6600 "Penryn"
4GB DDR2-800
320GB WD Blue HDD
same GPU
Windows 7 Ultimate x64

[BigTroll]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored today:

Voodoo 2 PCI 8MB - needs passthrough as far as I could find, won't work otherwise
ASUS X5DAF - works, needed a reflow on IGP.

nice voodoo 2 is awesome

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Picked up a Supermicro P6DBS for peanuts....had to be recapped of course....but stellar foundation for a retro build later on.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

My latest/last free score was a Supermicro P8SCT with 2 GB of DDR2 RAM.
https://www.supermicro.com/products/...7221/P8SCT.cfm
Gifted by a former workmate who got it from his other job in a used PC store. Said they were stripping down a few old servers and this mobo was headed for the trash/recycle bin.

It's nothing to write home about, in terms of specs: LGA775 that only supports Pentium 4 5x0 and 6x0 series. Has 4 RAM slots. Also, no PCI-E slot. Only 5x PCI and 1x PCI-X. Really boring mobo, but probably reliable as hell. Has dual Gbit LAN. Might set it up as a bench mobo for testing HDDs, since it has SATA and IDE, and with the PCI-X can make it take 68-pin SCSI LVDS and 50-pin SCSI through another PCI card I have. That should allow me to clone/format just about any HDD I encounter (minus SAS and FC) all on the same PC.

The CPU HS is also weird and probably meant only for the server it came in. So on that note, I could also use this mobo for testing various CPU and GPU heatsinks/cooling solutions in terms of performance. The Pentium 4 Press-hot 5x0 and 6x0 series should output about 100 Watts, which is good enough to test most heatsinks.

Can also use the mobo for testing PSUs too... though I honestly rather not commit the blasphemy of connecting a Deer or other equally gutless PSU to a Supermicro. I suspect such matters may even get me banned from here.

rescued a makita 9inch angle grinder from a skip.

Awesome!
Free tools are always a win in my book.
While working at my last job, I found several small flat heat screws drivers on the side of the road (was supporting a local toll road and doing quite a bit of driving every day.) All were better than what I was using before that, so they instantly became part of my tool set. Even had other techs prefer to use them over theirs, because they were better.

Picked up an EVGA GTX460 1gb GPU for $15.99 on ebay. $0.99 opening bid and nobody bid against me....and $15 to ship it.... Not stellar, but certainly not terrible.

Yup, $15 is on the cheaper side for a GTX460/560 level card. Usually they go for around $20-25ish shipped. I've seen them go for very cheap too, though (around ~$10) but those opportunities are a lot more "rare". I was able to get all three of my GTX 560 cards for $10 each, locally (2x on CL, and one through a random yard sale I happened to pass by while biking.)

Picked up another voodoo3500 on ebay for $15 shipped. Some surface mount components missing....so a little gamble.....but my success rate is at 100% so far repairing these.

That is sooo lucky
Usually the better VooDoo cards go for $50 minimum in just about any condition.
Glad you rescued it, though.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Nothing yesterday! I'm now wondering if all the stores will magically have mostly nothing. Now I'm forced back to online stuff! More likely going to hop on eBay, next time!
We're in trouble again, I suspect it's non-directly-virus-related, as there's now a major product-stock crisis! Now, it feels like people are going to get ripped off!

Someone did a good job of wrecking the local economy, enough to make a slew of people order online!

Are the NH and Vermont governors going to make all local businesses halt?

Ironically, despite a bit over my budget, I saw a Thermaltake Toughpower! I didn't expect to see high-end models from them, as they seemed rare, usually it would be Corsair and eVGA, IIRC.
Those are the only PSUs from them that are not banned by me on sight.

I hope the stock improves, because I feel like the store is headed the way of Competitive Computers, which was famous in July, 2003 and then it turned into major BS by 2006! Unlike Adelphia, (cable TV and cable ISP) they didn't deserve to halt operations. OTOH, IIRC, Adelphia executives were convicted of corruption. Before Comcast took over their assets by 2006, most likely.

[brethin]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Rented a 20 x 8 x 4 dumpster and filled it full of my 40 year collection. I was sad to see it all go but it was time and now I have my house back.

[Topcat]

Re: Post your system.......

Today's haul....couple i5 & i7 systems, couple color laser AIO printers, and other crap....

I got this laser All-In-One going today (larger gray one). Low voltage power supply bad. 3 bad silicon diodes, a zener diode, and a fuse....and away she went. Print fast & clear. Networkable. excellent copier too!

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Rented a 20 x 8 x 4 dumpster and filled it full of my 40 year collection. I was sad to see it all go but it was time and now I have my house back.

You have to start earlier (in life) and keep remembering that anything coming in has to be offset by something going out!

I've managed to find new homes for all of my pinball machines (save one that she wants to hold onto), video (arcade) games, most of my test equipment (time is too short to waste fixing things that can be more easily replaced), collection of pen plotters, almost all of my recreational book collection (80 xerox paper boxes of paperbacks), my Imperials, all of my HiFi kit (except the 4 Naks), video tape collection, etc. And, almost all of the "singleton" PCs (in favor of standardizing on a single make/model to cut down on "spares").

Lately, pruning the cable collection (how many VHDCI cables do I really need?) and power supplies.

Despite all that, it would still piss her off if she had to deal with what's "left" if something happens to me! :< (Do I really need two dozen identical spare monitors?)

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Rented a 20 x 8 x 4 dumpster and filled it full of my 40 year collection. I was sad to see it all go but it was time and now I have my house back.

Had I known you were going to trash it all, I'd have likely made the trek. All well that ends well though. Glad you've got your diggs back!

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Rented a 20 x 8 x 4 dumpster and filled it full of my 40 year collection. I was sad to see it all go but it was time and now I have my house back.

finally decided to do a marie kondo and spark joy into your life by decluttering huh? well im happy for u!

Despite all that, it would still piss her off if she had to deal with what's "left" if something happens to me! :< (Do I really need two dozen identical spare monitors?)

just will everything to topcat or ratdude and let them deal with it and your worldly possessions left behind! the point is to bring them to a better home since their current owner is indisposed permanently!

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

More classy scores!!!

PCChips M577 - a lot of missing stuff (CMOS holder, two coils, AT socket, LPT header, lotsa jumpers and caps) but hopefully I can get it to work and POST! Of course, every cap will be japanese, hopefully (Rubycon, Nichicon, UCC, Panasonic)

Sound Blaster CT5803 SB PCI 128 - should be a good replacement for that crappy HT1869V+ (which AFAIK is a rebadged C-Media 8330 chipset)

WD Caviar AC 2700 - spins up fine, haven't checked contents yet.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

just will everything to topcat or ratdude and let them deal with it and your worldly possessions left behind! the point is to bring them to a better home since their current owner is indisposed permanently!

Everything goes to a trusted colleague -- even if my other half is still alive -- to ensure all of the data is scrubbed and prototypes preserved (patent proofs). What he does with the remaining hardware, after that, will be his sole discretion.

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

More classy scores!!!

PCChips M577 - a lot of missing stuff (CMOS holder, two coils, AT socket, LPT header, lotsa jumpers and caps) but hopefully I can get it to work and POST! Of course, every cap will be japanese, hopefully (Rubycon, Nichicon, UCC, Panasonic)

Sound Blaster CT5803 SB PCI 128 - should be a good replacement for that crappy HT1869V+ (which AFAIK is a rebadged C-Media 8330 chipset)

WD Caviar AC 2700 - spins up fine, haven't checked contents yet.

Oh my, that's an old drive! I'm going to guess it's from the early 1990s, has very basic SMART capability, it's a Series 2 drive and it's roughly 700MB in size.


(I have an AC14300R that's 4300MB in size, WD may have changed the naming convention between 1990 and 1999.)

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Oh my, that's an old drive! I'm going to guess it's from the early 1990s, has very basic SMART capability, it's a Series 2 drive and it's roughly 700MB in size.


(I have an AC14300R that's 4300MB in size, WD may have changed the naming convention between 1990 and 1999.)

Yeah, apparently WD did a weird thing. This actually identifies and measures succsessfully as a 850MB WD Caviar 2850.

It had a 2850 sticker at first, which came off to show a 2700 label. Strange.

Anyhow, it has Ontrack installed and I don't have any Ontrack floppy to boot the drive with. Thankfully, a live XP disk (BartPE) showed the contents, and I concluded it has Windows 95 + DOS 6.22.

What I'd like to know is this: How can I remove Ontrack and make the drive bootable and recognizable in MS-DOS/9x, WITHOUT erasing the drive?

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Yeah, apparently WD did a weird thing. This actually identifies and measures succsessfully as a 850MB WD Caviar 2850.

It had a 2850 sticker at first, which came off to show a 2700 label. Strange.

Anyhow, it has Ontrack installed and I don't have any Ontrack floppy to boot the drive with. Thankfully, a live XP disk (BartPE) showed the contents, and I concluded it has Windows 95 + DOS 6.22.

What I'd like to know is this: How can I remove Ontrack and make the drive bootable and recognizable in MS-DOS/9x, WITHOUT erasing the drive?

Could it be that it was accidentally mislabeled as a 700MB drive and subsequently relabeled after testing showed it was an 850MB drive?


Regarding the Ontrack stuff, could you make boot floppies to boot off of it?

And is this the Ontrack system you're talking about?
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ont...k-manager.html

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Could it be that it was accidentally mislabeled as a 700MB drive and subsequently relabeled after testing showed it was an 850MB drive?


Regarding the Ontrack stuff, could you make boot floppies to boot off of it?

And is this the Ontrack system you're talking about?
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ont...k-manager.html

Could be they had a lot of 700MB casings left and reused them on 850MB drives? I've seen such practice done - Lenovo did this with a 100GB Apple drive. First glance revealed nothing out of the ordinary, even had a IBM P\N. But if you took a closer look you could see a faint Apple logo through the sticker. Peeling off that sticker revealed the drive was from an Apple.

As for Ontrack, yeah that might be the one. Mind you, I never worked with it so idk what it looked like until now. I was aware of what it does (kinda like a software XT-IDE) but nothing else past that.

As for floppies, providing I can get my Zida LX98-AT to read the Sony floppy drive I have normally (and not throw errors at me with known good floppies), yes, I could create the boot disk it asks for.

Maybe I'll give it a shot (either on that P2 or a P3 650 I have) and see if it's not a machine-specific (as in it requiring the exact system it was on) thing and if I can use any PC to remove Ontrack.

[mikay786]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Been a while since I’ve beeen to a Carboot with all the corona stuff shutting everything down. But was a good day back. Picked up

11x Surface Pro 3 Tablets - i5 / 128Gb - 256gb (£350 For the lot) all have cracked digitisers but lcds are fine and all have loaded windows fine. Just had to disable touchscreen in device manager to allow them to be usable. Can get complete screens for sub £100 but is a bit grind. Speaking of a grind I think you can get just the digitisers which should be a lot cheaper but seems like a right pain in the ass to replace and quite difficult.

Humax HDR-1100s 1TB sat box - free just box on own. All working tested, had psu and spare remotes at home. Bargain of the day

Loads of retro gaming stuff, fair prices but nothing amazing. GameCube, OG xboxes, Wii’s. 360s, PS2s etc so not proper retro

Tascam US-42 mixer and a Rode NT1A mic with stand and condenser £40.

PS4 with controller - £10 - but is in bits. Guy said it had red light not investigated yet. It’s all there lol just in pieces.

Got a pc which had a 650ti in it, i5 cpu not checked model yet but £40

Spent £800 quid over weekend at Carboot’s, shattered and spent most of today just de coronaing everything with dettol.

Got another one to go to Tuesday

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Given a box of goodies today. The 'pick of the litter' is a Asus KFN5-D SLI with a pair of Opteron 2.5GHz 2360 quad core CPU's, copper sinks, and 64gb RAM. I even found the IO shield in the bottom of the box. Has several bad UCC KZG caps. I haven't tested it yet....but odds are it'll be fine after recapping. I've never tinkered with an AMD system this recent (940 was my last AMD experience). Kinda looking forward to it. 940-era stuff was rather fickle with quirky chipsets...

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I even found the IO shield in the bottom of the box.

did you check that it was for that board?