best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Heihachi_73]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Edited my previous post, as I just found a PSU.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored a few yesterday:

HP Laserjet 1020 w/toner: $3 (half off, shocked nobody took it sooner). Runs well... I already have 2 working HP 12a Laserjets and a 3rd that doesn't work (an all in one that blew a fuser).

Sony SDM-HS75 LCD monitor: $6. Seems to be the best 17" 5:4 LCD I;ve seen w/o DVI. Very nice... I wish I had two so I could use it for my main rig.

Tested both, both run great.

I also scored some other stuff I forgot to post that day:

$4- "450W" PSU... some weird brand, claims to have a "silent fan controller". I saw a controller board... has two fans, both clear globes (LED?). I have't opened it yet... it als had a Thermaltake fan controller kit with it (future tradebait?)

$4- LG Super-multi drive. Yet to test, I'll use it somewhere.

[Heihachi_73]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I just put power to HP for shits and giggles, and it seems to want to work, although it just beeps at me as there is no RAM. Additionally, it still had the hard drive and PCI-E graphics card inside it, just not the 4GB of RAM (why would someone strip it of RAM but not the HDD/graphics/CPU though?).

The Cooler Master PSU also worked without issues.

[Lobo]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I recently got an ipod touch 4th gen for $20. The girl that sold it to me had one of her friends replace the screen and when she turned it on, it was white. Anyone who has properly replaced a screen on these things knows that you have to do a reset afterwards.
And, yeah, this kid did a hack job of replacing the screen. it was ugly.
I didn't feel bad though, because she made her friend buy her a new one.

[luke10050]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

hardwaresecrets did a review of the ExtremePowerPlus 600W PSU from coolermaster, worth checking out... you really cant draw more than 450w from it... i think the 500W is the same

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got 2 CRT monitors last week - a 19" and a 21". The 19" is a Dell, but it's not Trinitron-based. The 21" is a Hitachi. Both are shadow mask, and both do not have "flat screens", unfortunately. But who cares.
Haven't been able to test them yet because I dropped them off at my friends shop for a temporary storage until I go back to my dorm again (which is where these monitors would go).
I think I also have that Sony E540 21" CRT coming my way soon, too.

In the spring, I was looking for just 1 CRT monitor to replace my 21" Sony CRT, and I found none. Now I wasn't looking, and I got like 3.

[Heihachi_73]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Found a HP Pavilion P6140A on the side of the road last month...

I have installed 512MB DDR2 as a test and the PC booted OK. The original hard drive actually was still inside too, and is a 500GB Seagate ST3500418AS.

The board itself is an MS-7525 and is top to toe with Chemi-Con KZGs, with the exception of half a dozen Panasonics. The CPU fan is a standard 80mm "case fan" type.

The power supply is a Bestec (typical HP) ATX-250-12Z, HP P/N #5188-2624.

The PCI-E graphics card is an MSI V161 Ver 2.1 (ATI Radeon HD4350), HP P/N #533237-001, PCB date code 0922. Just like the mainboard, the caps are mostly crap (3x KZGs and 1 Teapo) but with a single 820uF/2.5V Chemi-Con poly at EC321 (nearby EC323 is not populated).

The first thing I noticed actually is that the screen output completely lacked red. Things didn't improve after reseating it either, despite everything looking like new (this PC looks like it has barely been used; if I can boot into Windows with only 512MB of RAM I will post a SMART readout from the HDD).

On the plus side, whoever owned it didn't have a password, which is pretty dumb on their behalf. System 0wn3d before I could even get out the USB keyboard! The OS installed was 32-bit Windows Vista Home Premium SP2.

[thesloc]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Jumping in on the poverty wagon here, copped this today (given, actually) by a friend of mine.




Optical drive doesn't eject though.

[Mrx3750]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

I have two best finds, a Fender Vibrasonic amplifier, and a set of Cerwin Vega D-7 speakers.

I still have the CV speakers, with Sony woofers in them, but I sold the Vibrasonic not long after I found it. One condition was that the guy I sold it to send me pics of the rebuild. I still have one of them, see attached. (Ugh didn't realize the filesize until I uploaded it, sorry.)

The Vibrasonic turned out to be a pretty early model and according to the guy who bought it off me, was in pretty good shape all things considered.


Other notable finds are various TV's back when CRT TV's were still worth something, a few rear projection behemoths, and a few back breaking Sony Trinitrons that I usually regretted carrying home.

Of note last week I found a Samsung Syncmaster 740n LCD monitor. Replaced the bad caps in it and jury rigged the fuse for the backlight by shorting the contacts. The LCD has a vertical line in it, but I plan to use it as a personal test monitor. I don't trust selling it with my rigged up fuse.

[Topcat]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

was given an Asus ROG Maximus Formula motherboard with a C2Q CPU and 4gb RAM in it, in working order with the addon sound card. IO shield is missing....but free, I can't complain.

[Sparkey55]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

was given an Asus ROG Maximus Formula motherboard with a C2Q CPU and 4gb RAM in it, in working order with the addon sound card. IO shield is missing....but free, I can't complain.

With enough time and patients I have made I/O shields out of aluminum pie trays and also using cardboard stock with aluminum foil tape the type used on HVAC ducts and a sharp Xacto blade.

[momaka]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Jumping in on the poverty wagon here

Not really. What you got there is a classic laptop, not a poverty rig . In 10 years, this thing might actually be worth a good amount of money (or if not, then at least gold ).

I have two best finds, a Fender Vibrasonic amplifier, and a set of Cerwin Vega D-7 speakers.

Very nice speakers! I've been looking for an older amplifier on the local Craigslist here, but there's nothing decent under $50. Mostly modern surround sound "theater" systems and 2.1/5.1 PC speakers, but hardly any classic stuff (and when there are a few, they're in the $100s range - I guess people in my area here know the prices of these old amplifiers quite well ).

[Mrx3750]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Not really. What you got there is a classic laptop, not a poverty rig . In 10 years, this thing might actually be worth a good amount of money (or if not, then at least gold ).


Very nice speakers! I've been looking for an older amplifier on the local Craigslist here, but there's nothing decent under $50. Mostly modern surround sound "theater" systems and 2.1/5.1 PC speakers, but hardly any classic stuff (and when there are a few, they're in the $100s range - I guess people in my area here know the prices of these old amplifiers quite well ).

Years ago I was given an HK 690i. It had sat in storage for a long time and is in near mint condition. It just needed some deoxit to clean some dirty pots and switches.

I love it. That thing will shake the house if I allowed it to.

[Hondaman]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Last week, my neighbor was disappointed. The garbage collector didn't take his 24-inch 4x3 "Symphonic" tube television, made in 2003-04 (no remote). (Ratdude and I do NOT have very good hazmat/computer waste disposal in our county.)

(My neighbor received it free some years ago because the owner before him couldn't get it to work.)

I took it, set up a universal remote, plugged it in, and the TV worked fine! The picture is not great, and I will always need a converter box for it, and it isn't nearly as good a find as other finds here, but it's bigger than the 13-inch TV I was using. I like it.

[Mrx3750]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Symphonic... FUNAI!!!

Glad it works, just well don't be surprised if it stops working, or catches fire, or blows up and embeds glass shards in a 100 foot area surrounding it.

For analog TV's I once found a 1991 RCA Colortrak 2000. There's something about the Colortrak 2000's made in this era. I think the CRT's have a finer dot pitch or something, because on S-Video they have the clearest picture of any standard def TV I've owned. I consider them to be the best of the Thomson built RCA's.

[ben7]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Last week, my neighbor was disappointed. The garbage collector didn't take his 24-inch 4x3 "Symphonic" tube television, made in 2003-04 (no remote). (Ratdude and I do NOT have very good hazmat/computer waste disposal in our county.)

(My neighbor received it free some years ago because the owner before him couldn't get it to work.)

I took it, set up a universal remote, plugged it in, and the TV worked fine! The picture is not great, and I will always need a converter box for it, and it isn't nearly as good a find as other finds here, but it's bigger than the 13-inch TV I was using. I like it.

You can get a better picture by changing some of its image adjustments.

[DJduck]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Some good stuff i got:
Aiwa NSX-R17 stereo without speakers. Paid €10 for it, works just fine.
Two dead Fujitsu-Siemens laptops: Pi 3525 and 3540 and a charger for €10.
Thinkpad 600 with a missing optical drive €2.50
vintage AST Pentium 1 laptop without a charger and unknown condition €2.50
Pair of nice small computer speakers that needed a recap for the amp €2.00
Small Sony bookshelf speakers €5
A working HP DV6000 with a missing HDD and a stripe on the screen (video issue, but doesn't bother me, doesn't get hot so it's not going to die). I traded it for my old AM2 board, 2x1gb ddr667 ram and an old Athlon 64 x2 5k+
Two nice power supplies: a Newton power 230w and an old Enlight for €2.50 each

[thesloc]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Vintage Compaq Aero Contura Series 2830. Has Windoze 95 loaded. Anyone know how much I can get for it???? For sale here if anybody wants it. Make me an offer (shipping is $13 flat regardless).

[kaboom]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Vintage Compaq Aero Contura Series 2830. Has Windoze 95 loaded. Anyone know how much I can get for it???? For sale here if anybody wants it. Make me an offer (shipping is $13 flat regardless).

I know exactly how much ya got it for: nothing. "If ya know what I mean."

Nice try. If you had it, why are those ebay pix?

Gonna use the forum to commit larceny now? And "soliciting" others to aid, abet, and receive stolen property?

What a clown...

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Compaq-Aero-...item3cd3f048cd
ROFLOL! at the username!
horsepsychologist