Re: Building a gaming rig for my dad...
If the CPU of that system was somewhat above the minimum spec of the games, then I strongly suspect that GeForce 730 was the reason why they ran bad. In fact, even in much older games, that 730 won't do 1080p well at all. Even 720p is going to be a choppy struggle likely. Start with something like a GTS 450 pr GTX 550 minimum. A GTX460/560 should do the trick if DX12 is not required. On the AMD-equivalent(ish) side, HD5770 or HD6850 should be your minimum goal (again, if DX12 is not required.) For smoother 1080p (in older games), you need to move up to HD7850/7870 or even 7950/7970... or GTX760/770/780 territory. Only issue is, if you don't have a spare of these cards right now, even the GTX460/560 are selling for a bit more than they normally go for, thanks to the silly Cryptomining boom going nuts again.
As for the 7200 RPM HDD - that's not the issue for the slow game performance at all. Only thing that HDD would do is you'll probably get very slow loading times with Win10, if it's a slower/older drive with lower capacity and cache. Otherwise, at least from my own personal experiments, I haven't noticed any difference in games between SSD and regular rust-spinner, other than map/level loading times being slower on the latter, obviously.
Those aside, I do agree with your hunch to go with something a bit newer.
Hex-core 1366 Xeon Westmere should do nicely indeed. If not, and you don't want to spend too much, see if there are any cheap Optiplex 790 or 3010's in your area - i.e. something with at least a 2nd gen i5 or i7. The i5 in your dad's laptop may be newer, but it's still a dual-core CPU (with HT.) 2nd gen i5 for the desktop (or better yet, i7) is about as low as you want to go these days. Based on Steam client surveys, a lot of people are still rocking 4th gen i7's like the 4790. So getting something in performance equivalent to that should give you a good few more years of useful life.
Looks okay on the front.
Ah... it's one of those big-window older cases. Yeah, they are a bit flimsy, indeed. Not the worst I've seen, though.
Don't worry about the no-name fan. It's probably a sleeve-bearing... and a serviceable one, at that. Newer fans tend to be of the sealed variety, so can't be serviced once failed. These older sleeve bearing fans, though, with good cleaning and oil job can last pretty darn long.
The mobo tray is alright.
But have a look at the expansion slots cutouts - they didn't run the cut all the way to the top where the screw area is. Therefore, inserting any card in there with any ports that stick out even somewhat close to the top will be a nightmare. I just parted a case exactly like this last month I picked up on CL for free (owner really wanted to get rid of it... and now I see why... though it being a rust bucket was probably another reason why
) When I was taking it apart, it took me a few good moments to realize why I couldn't pull the GPU out of the system. Turned out, the DVI port of the GPU couldn't go up and out of the expansion slot cutout due to the case not being cut properly. No matter how hard I tried to pry the case, I couldn't get it out. Ended up having to remove all card part-way (as much out as possible) and then remove them together with the motherboard. UGH! 
Don't know who though of that design, but it's BAD. 
Other than this annoyance, what you have should be a workable case... well, maybe. Another item to check is the front USB ports. I see at least the cables for the front USB ports on yours appear to be shielded (though if the shield is not connected, that will need to be fixed too.) On the one I parted, they weren't shielded at all - just crappy ribbon cables. No chance of getting even USB 2.0 speeds without devices dropping out or going back to USB 1.1. If the cables are thin, more power-hungry USB devices, such as portable HDDs, will almost always fail back to USB 1.1 speeds, IME. Soldering a cap or two (>220 uF) between Vcc and GND right at the USB port pins can sometimes solve this.
.
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But IDK if doing all of that might be worthwhile or not. If your dad really would like to re-use this case, then perhaps it might be. But otherwise, you may actually be better off with a newer and better-built case.
Yeah, that thing is the typical 100-150 Watts max crapola. I mean, sure it could probably output 200-250 Watts of "RAW" power... so long as you don't mind drowning your hardware with ripple tsunamis. 
In short, this PSU would have had just about enough juice for back in the early/mid 2000's for a budget P4/AthlonXP PC with a low-end GPU (I'm talking about GeForce 7 series era or earlier)... and it probably wouldn't have lasted long at all either, given the crap build quality and lack of guts. It wasn't worthy of a fixup probably even back then and certainly not worth bothering to fix or install in a PC today. Of course, you know this already. 
I'm just taking my turn at badmouthing it 
Nah, I'd much rather scavenge the very few useful parts it has: namely the 13007 (or equivalent, if you're lucky 
) BJTs, 16-20 Amp rectifiers (useful for upgrading the ones in LCD monitors to reduce heat output), and output toroids, which are pretty standard -26 core material and useful in many electronics projects... and of course, besides those, you'll also find a TL431 or two in there and a number of c945 BJTs - all useful for projects involving fan controllers or signal control in general.
Oh, and last but not least... those gutless PSUs regularly have large loading resistors. So the next time you want to slow down a fan with no speed controller (like you did on that low-profile CPU cooler from the SBC I sent ya), a PSU like this will very likely have the parts you need.
Originally posted by ratdude747
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As for the 7200 RPM HDD - that's not the issue for the slow game performance at all. Only thing that HDD would do is you'll probably get very slow loading times with Win10, if it's a slower/older drive with lower capacity and cache. Otherwise, at least from my own personal experiments, I haven't noticed any difference in games between SSD and regular rust-spinner, other than map/level loading times being slower on the latter, obviously.
Those aside, I do agree with your hunch to go with something a bit newer.
Hex-core 1366 Xeon Westmere should do nicely indeed. If not, and you don't want to spend too much, see if there are any cheap Optiplex 790 or 3010's in your area - i.e. something with at least a 2nd gen i5 or i7. The i5 in your dad's laptop may be newer, but it's still a dual-core CPU (with HT.) 2nd gen i5 for the desktop (or better yet, i7) is about as low as you want to go these days. Based on Steam client surveys, a lot of people are still rocking 4th gen i7's like the 4790. So getting something in performance equivalent to that should give you a good few more years of useful life.
Originally posted by ratdude747
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Originally posted by ratdude747
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Don't worry about the no-name fan. It's probably a sleeve-bearing... and a serviceable one, at that. Newer fans tend to be of the sealed variety, so can't be serviced once failed. These older sleeve bearing fans, though, with good cleaning and oil job can last pretty darn long.
Originally posted by ratdude747
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But have a look at the expansion slots cutouts - they didn't run the cut all the way to the top where the screw area is. Therefore, inserting any card in there with any ports that stick out even somewhat close to the top will be a nightmare. I just parted a case exactly like this last month I picked up on CL for free (owner really wanted to get rid of it... and now I see why... though it being a rust bucket was probably another reason why
) When I was taking it apart, it took me a few good moments to realize why I couldn't pull the GPU out of the system. Turned out, the DVI port of the GPU couldn't go up and out of the expansion slot cutout due to the case not being cut properly. No matter how hard I tried to pry the case, I couldn't get it out. Ended up having to remove all card part-way (as much out as possible) and then remove them together with the motherboard. UGH! Don't know who though of that design, but it's BAD. Other than this annoyance, what you have should be a workable case... well, maybe.
Another item to check is the front USB ports. I see at least the cables for the front USB ports on yours appear to be shielded (though if the shield is not connected, that will need to be fixed too.) On the one I parted, they weren't shielded at all - just crappy ribbon cables. No chance of getting even USB 2.0 speeds without devices dropping out or going back to USB 1.1. If the cables are thin, more power-hungry USB devices, such as portable HDDs, will almost always fail back to USB 1.1 speeds, IME. Soldering a cap or two (>220 uF) between Vcc and GND right at the USB port pins can sometimes solve this..
.
But IDK if doing all of that might be worthwhile or not. If your dad really would like to re-use this case, then perhaps it might be. But otherwise, you may actually be better off with a newer and better-built case.
Originally posted by ratdude747
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Noname PSU tag (sorry for crap focus, this Nikon is putting the POS in Point and Shoot):
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1616467216
450W my ass
:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1616467216
Board says it's made by Yuelin. Very lightweight, a true gutless wonder!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1616467216
450W my ass
:https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1616467216
Board says it's made by Yuelin. Very lightweight, a true gutless wonder!
In short, this PSU would have had just about enough juice for back in the early/mid 2000's for a budget P4/AthlonXP PC with a low-end GPU (I'm talking about GeForce 7 series era or earlier)... and it probably wouldn't have lasted long at all either, given the crap build quality and lack of guts. It wasn't worthy of a fixup probably even back then and certainly not worth bothering to fix or install in a PC today.
Of course, you know this already. I'm just taking my turn at badmouthing it
Originally posted by Topcat
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) BJTs, 16-20 Amp rectifiers (useful for upgrading the ones in LCD monitors to reduce heat output), and output toroids, which are pretty standard -26 core material and useful in many electronics projects... and of course, besides those, you'll also find a TL431 or two in there and a number of c945 BJTs - all useful for projects involving fan controllers or signal control in general.Oh, and last but not least... those gutless PSUs regularly have large loading resistors. So the next time you want to slow down a fan with no speed controller (like you did on that low-profile CPU cooler from the SBC I sent ya), a PSU like this will very likely have the parts you need.
Otherwise, a system like that would happily run on a 350-watter, provided it's a modern(ish) PSU that has at least 22-24 Amps available on the 12V rail.
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