best cheap/free scores 1.1

[shovenose]

Nope 5A. For all that power consumption the range isn't even as good as my old WNDR3700! keep in mind it has a USB port to share an external hard drive so that's probably a 5v 0.5a port. But still I do agree it is ridiculous!

[Agent24]

Pfft.. that's nothing!

My 17" Widescreen Pentium 4 HT Laptop uses a 19v @ 6.3A adapter.

And yes, it's got a huge heatsink and 2 fans to match... ;D

[momaka]

Originally Posted by momaka

I bought two broken socket 939 boards from this seller (needed something broken to play with).

... and I got both of them working last weekend.
One is an MSI MS-7184. Had what appeared to be short on the 5V rail, but when powered on, the short would disappear and nothing overheated. After some head scratching, I found that the VGA connector had its pins completely messed up and shorting to each other, thus causing the short. Just removed it from the board, used an external PCI-E card, and it came to life. Not completely fixed, yet, however. I still need to change all of the Teapo SC caps on it - I'm pretty sure those will go bad sooner or later like they did on a MSI MS-7191 board I bought on ebay and fixed by recapping.

The other motherboard is an ASUS A8V-MX. Single bad FJS cap near memory. Not sure why it went bad, but I replaced it anyways with a 2200 uF Nichicon HZ in a 10 mm can. I think this board was for an HP PC, because it's missing a lot of options and parts on the board. I plan on installing all or most of the caps they omitted.

Now I'm eyeing those other boards on eBay I posted the links to.

By the way, not sure if I posted it or not, but I also got a GeForce 7900 GS for $7. I thought it was a pretty good score since it was advertised as working. When I tested it, though, I got bad artifacts. Auction said "no returns" and Seller had 0 feedback, so no wonder. I guess I'll try to reflow it. I tried reflowing a different 7900 GS today, but I popcorned the GPU. I think I've had it sitting for too long in my room and it had sucked too much moisture. Oh well. I'm still going to test it, though. Of course, I'm pretty sure it won't work.

On the positive side, I got a PCI Radeon 9250 with 128 MB of RAM for $5 shipped. Listed as "not working / for part", but listing said "pulled from a working computer" so I figured let's try it an see. It does work! Only downside is it uses a DMS-59 connector and I only have 1 (but I have 5 other cads that also need one if I want to use them). Still a good deal, though, IMO. The same video card sold for over $10 in a different auction. Why? I have no clue.

Also, a while back, I bought 3 broken video cards for $21 total shipped off of ebay. One of them was that 7900 GS I popcorned today. The other was a 7600 GT with FZ caps that killed the RAM (which I replaced, but card still did not work). The 3rd one was a GeForce 9800 GT. Auction described it as having "no video". I thought, it's just another reflow job, so I proceeded to remove the heatsink off of it. But what do I see? - No thermal compound. I then just added some and put the heatsink back on. Put it in a computer and turned it on - it works, but everything had a purple hue on it. So I pulled the card out and inspected the board. Turns out DVI connector 1 had just 1 messed up pin. So then I tried DVI connector 2. This time, everything worked perfectly. I think this alone offsets the $21 for the 3 cards. Not the best deal, but I certianly had fun trying to see what's wrong with them. The 7600 GT was particularly challenging. I'll create a thread about it some one of them days.

[Agent24]

Originally Posted by momaka

I tried reflowing a different 7900 GS today, but I popcorned the GPU. I think I've had it sitting for too long in my room and it had sucked too much moisture.

Got to bake it at low temperature for a few hours to dry them out

[goodpsusearch]

Originally Posted by momaka

... and I got both of them working last weekend.
One is an MSI MS-7184. Had what appeared to be short on the 5V rail, but when powered on, the short would disappear and nothing overheated. After some head scratching, I found that the VGA connector had its pins completely messed up and shorting to each other, thus causing the short. Just removed it from the board, used an external PCI-E card, and it came to life. Not completely fixed, yet, however. I still need to change all of the Teapo SC caps on it - I'm pretty sure those will go bad sooner or later like they did on a MSI MS-7191 board I bought on ebay and fixed by recapping.

The other motherboard is an ASUS A8V-MX. Single bad FJS cap near memory. Not sure why it went bad, but I replaced it anyways with a 2200 uF Nichicon HZ in a 10 mm can. I think this board was for an HP PC, because it's missing a lot of options and parts on the board. I plan on installing all or most of the caps they omitted.

Now I'm eyeing those other boards on eBay I posted the links to.

By the way, not sure if I posted it or not, but I also got a GeForce 7900 GS for $7. I thought it was a pretty good score since it was advertised as working. When I tested it, though, I got bad artifacts. Auction said "no returns" and Seller had 0 feedback, so no wonder. I guess I'll try to reflow it. I tried reflowing a different 7900 GS today, but I popcorned the GPU. I think I've had it sitting for too long in my room and it had sucked too much moisture. Oh well. I'm still going to test it, though. Of course, I'm pretty sure it won't work.

On the positive side, I got a PCI Radeon 9250 with 128 MB of RAM for $5 shipped. Listed as "not working / for part", but listing said "pulled from a working computer" so I figured let's try it an see. It does work! Only downside is it uses a DMS-59 connector and I only have 1 (but I have 5 other cads that also need one if I want to use them). Still a good deal, though, IMO. The same video card sold for over $10 in a different auction. Why? I have no clue.

Also, a while back, I bought 3 broken video cards for $21 total shipped off of ebay. One of them was that 7900 GS I popcorned today. The other was a 7600 GT with FZ caps that killed the RAM (which I replaced, but card still did not work). The 3rd one was a GeForce 9800 GT. Auction described it as having "no video". I thought, it's just another reflow job, so I proceeded to remove the heatsink off of it. But what do I see? - No thermal compound. I then just added some and put the heatsink back on. Put it in a computer and turned it on - it works, but everything had a purple hue on it. So I pulled the card out and inspected the board. Turns out DVI connector 1 had just 1 messed up pin. So then I tried DVI connector 2. This time, everything worked perfectly. I think this alone offsets the $21 for the 3 cards. Not the best deal, but I certianly had fun trying to see what's wrong with them. The 7600 GT was particularly challenging. I'll create a thread about it some one of them days.

There is interesting info in that post that could be useful for people that fix GPUs from time to time. Well done!

[momaka]

Originally Posted by Agent24

Got to bake it at low temperature for a few hours to dry them out

Yeah, I had it on the stovetop burner (makeshift bottom heater ) between 100 and 120C for a good 20 minutes. I thought it might need more but I was a little ticked-off yesterday and thus a little impatient. At around 200C... *POP*. I knew what that sound was all too well . Oh well. Will try it out next week regardless when I get home. Don't have any PCs with PCI-E here.

[iMic]

This month's haul is three Power Mac G5s.

The first is a Single 1.8GHz machine. No power supply sadly, so I can't start it up. May consider modding an ATX for this one since it only requires a 430W supply.

The second is a Quad 2.5GHz Liquid Cooled system. This one works, and after reseating the processor modules it seems to be working quite nicely at that. It has a Delphi / Cooligy system in it, and it passed an inspection for leaks. I'll keep an eye on it, but it looks like we have a good one. The PSU is an absolute monster - a 1000W ACBel. Won't be running this machine for extended periods of time.

The last is a Dual 2.0GHz, and this is one unhappy machine. At one point it had a Liquid Cooled system installed, and it's leaked through the enclosure, corroding the lower tray and the PSU casing. That in itself would have been repairable, but unfortunately it also made it past the rubber seals into the PSU, where it's eaten through three or four tracks on the underside of the PCB. There's also a burn mark in the plastic shielding under the PCB, so there's a chance it's arced at some point.

I've cleaned up the rust and removed the dead PSU. The Dual 2.0GHz replacement processors in there are probably fine, and the Logic Board is corrosion free so that's probably alright too. If I could find a replacement 600W PSU, this machine would likely be a functional unit. It's also missing the front cooling fans so those need to be replaced as well.

But at least the Quad works, and considering the lot were recovered from hard rubbish collection, even one working unit is pretty sweet.


I also came across a 19" 4:3 Mitsubishi Diamond Digital LCD. It doesn't power up, and on closer inspection it has several blown CapXon capacitors in the PSU. This would likely make a rather nice screen for testing and repairs, so I'm looking to change the caps in this one.


Finally, I received a free Antec True 550W PSU. Still looks to be in great shape, should go nicely in one of my machines. Haven't decided which one yet though.

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by Topcat

Scored one of these for $25.00 at the goodwill store. They thought it was a TV! Morons!! 30" 16:10 2560x1600 monitor!! YAY!! They marked it down from $50 because it didn't come with a remote... I love idiots!!

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraShar.../dp/B004KKGF1O

Now I need to find another one...a pair in a dual config would be peachy!!

Just for grins, I snapped a pic of it today....that puny thing next to it is a Samsung Syncmaster 2493HM 24" 16:10 that some guy game me last year, I've been using it as a test monitor. It looks pathetic in the shadow of this 30" behemoth!!

I have 2 of these 30" bad boy monitors, but one has a busted screen.....I'm still working on tracking down a panel for it.

Anyway, bow to the 16:10 30" Goliath!!!

[shovenose]

So, you have a really, really, really awesome monitor, on a crappy old computer? *facepalm*

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by shovenose

So, you have a really, really, really awesome monitor, on a crappy old computer? *facepalm*

Dell on Dell action....and that aint no ordinary Precision 470... ...but that being said, its just a test system.....I mean really? You're surely smarter than to think that monitor would be permanently set there...

[mockingbird]

Finally, I received a free Antec True 550W PSU. Still looks to be in great shape, should go nicely in one of my machines. Haven't decided which one yet though.

Is this the Truepower New 550 with the green black stickers? Those are very nice models. I need some of the modular cables for mine.

This month I basically finished up a Vostro 420 I found at the curb a few months ago or more. Plain jane OEM Foxconn motherboard - which I beefed up with more/better caps - but the best part is that it came with a C2Q Q9650 - Now I can finally try out some of the big boy games, and I'm not stuck anymore with 10 year old games like Desert Combat mod for BF1942 or Movie Battles mod for JA.

GTA V should be out for PC soon too. Haven't played GTA on the PC for almost 10 years, since GTA 3/Vice City was out.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Topcat

Dell on Dell action....and that aint no ordinary Precision 470... ...but that being said, its just a test system.....I mean really? You're surely smarter than to think that monitor would be permanently set there...

There is no such thing as a lame prescision.... other than having OEMish dell quirks. If it's what I think it is, it's faster than at least one of my two personal workstations... so there you go.

[aortiz]

oh man!!!
you mean 802.11b its an older technology?
and i thought i had the top of the line with my 5 dbi alfa usb adapter.(what can you expect from a 64 yr old man?)
it works ok for me ,but what do you recommend i upgrade to?
will it be faster,stronger?or what its different with the newer technology?
i am going home to mcallen texas and i probably can get a better equipment.

[aortiz]

oh man!!!
you mean 802.11b its an older technology?
and i thought i had the top of the line with my 5 dbi alfa usb adapter.(what can you expect from a 64 yr old man?)
it works ok for me ,but what do you recommend i upgrade to?
will it be faster,stronger?or what its different with the newer technology?
i am going home to mcallen texas and i probably can get a better equipment.

[mariushm]

b (11mbps) < g (54mbps) < n (54-600mbps) < ac (up to 1.3gbps)

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11

[shovenose]

Found a free Bose wave radio/CD in the apt lobby but CD doesn't work. Sounds great when using aux in from my phone though. AWRC-1P

[momaka]

Originally Posted by shovenose

Found a free Bose wave radio/CD in the apt lobby but CD doesn't work. Sounds great when using aux in from my phone though. AWRC-1P

Fix it and sell it on eBay. Just do a search on ebay and you will see why. The sheeple crowd are going crazy over this thing for some reason.

Originally Posted by momaka

I tried reflowing a different 7900 GS today, but I popcorned the GPU...
Will try it out next week regardless when I get home.

WTF! I expected fireworks and probably wouldn't have cared too much if it killed my finicky AsRock 939Dual-SATA2 mobo. But well what do you know, IT WORKS! I've only tested it for a few hours so far in the last few days but it seems to be working fine. Haven't loaded it heavily with anything 3D, though. Idle, it runs around 50C with the inside room temperature being around 22C and open PC case. A bit too hot for my tastes. I might BIOS-flash it and change the default fan settings.

[shovenose]

Haha if I ever get the CD to work it's going on eBay. First thing I did was look it up. What s rip off! Is sounds good but I think it would work better for classical music it's s bit too relaxed warm sound for the kind of music I was listening to...

[momaka]

Originally Posted by shovenose

Is sounds good but I think it would work better for classical music it's s bit too relaxed warm sound for the kind of music I was listening to...

Or in other words... it sounds good with classical music because it is only able to reproduce mids and highs. I'm sure it lacks bass (I mean, how can anyone sane expect the tiny speaker cones in this to make ANY decent bass). So yeah... great score if you get it for free like you did! Not so much if you had to pay anything more than $10 for it (I wouldn't).

[goontron]

Originally Posted by shovenose

Haha if I ever get the CD to work it's going on eBay. First thing I did was look it up. What s rip off! Is sounds good but I think it would work better for classical music it's s bit too relaxed warm sound for the kind of music I was listening to...

don't put dubstep through it....