Schot 407 Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Looks like I got some tinkering to do. One thing I find very enjoyable is to build. All kinds of building but most importantly, building something that will be of great use. Over the years and pc upgrades pc parts have become somewhat obsolete here at home. Old pc parts are yanked out from their home, poor things, and thrown into a dusty old box. Never to be seen again... Until today! Well a few days ago actually but anywho. I've been wanting to bring back some life into those rickety old parts I had invested in so long ago to get one last bit of value out of them. All that I was needing to get started was a pc case to screw those old bits into place and a couple of days ago I did just that. $35 later with a bran new case and I was set to start playing with my new puzzle. The puzzle pieces: New Case: Alphaware atx 602bk (New $35 CAN) RAM: (2x1GB PC3200 needs to be purchased. Maybe 4x1GB...) Keyboard: (Need to buy...) Old Parts Motherboard: Intel® Desktop Board D865PERL (P4) (circa 2003) CPU: Intel P4 2.6GHz (circa 2003 Not sure exactly what model yet.) PSU: ENERMAX EG365P-VE 350WATT (circa 2002) Video Card: Radeon™ X800 XT PLATINUM EDITION (circa 2004) Audio Card: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS (circa 2004) Display: Viewsonic G90fb (circa 2003) Mouse: Old Logitech thing (circa only god knows) The roadblock: The next step I need to take is to pick up some ram. I'm beginning to regret that I gave away my old ram now because, omg... Old ram is expensive! I was not aware of this phenominom of old ram being more expensive than new, ugh. As an example I want to have 2GB of memory for this system. 2GB DDR2, (new-ish), type ram would cost about $50 at local stores here whereas 2GB DDR1, (old), type ram would cost about $120?! You can bet there is no way I am paying out that much. So I'm on the hunt for MUCH cheaper DDR1 ram. There's a wharehouse of old unpackaged pc parts that I'll be checking out. I recall picking up an old Ethernet card for a friend that cost $2 so I'm hoping that store will come to my rescue. I'm willing to pay $20 per 1GB but anything more than that... meh. *fingers crossed* Though if anyone has a suggestion feel free to. ^^ In the meantime I'll be working out the tricky task of plugging the case wiring into my old motherboard. This part I've often found kinda hard because markings are quite tiny and abbreviated. For this I'll need to use the motherboard manual but since I don't have a hardcopy here I'll have to use one online. Abbra-Kadabbra PDF! Intel® Desktop Board D865PERL Guide. For the most part I'll be looking at pages 27, 50 and 100 to help me plug the case wiring into the board. Everything else as far as plugs go is relatively simple. Plugs go where ever they will fit for the most part. If all goes well then I'll have an expendable browsing machine which I'll probably use occasionally to run a second Sacred 2 account. The #1 reason I'm wanting a second pc running is because I've gotten used to having to screens running different apps. Presently I'm running a dual display setup on my Vista system. It runs really great but there's just one issue I can't overcome. Dual Display hasn't been perfected yet... Unfortunately, while in Dual Display I can't overclock my card which is something I'd really like to do. I have a powerful vid card and I'm itching to get the most out of it. I can almost run Sacred 2 perfectly in Elite settings and I'd really love to achieve that. It's just so stunning! First things first though. I gotta find that cheap ram. Wish me luck! Link to comment
Yarasa 0 Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I am sure they deliver to Canada. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820145575 or I could buy it for you and ship to you. Link to comment
gial 2 Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Maybe cheaper than old ram - a new low end motherboard and new ram. Sure the old mobo still collects dust, but this is an option. Link to comment
Yarasa 0 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I am not sure if there is any ddr2, socket 478 motherboard available on the market? You may need to add a cpu and a probably new power supply price on it. Almost all ddr2 mobos has 24 pin power feed requirement on them. Link to comment
Schot 407 Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Ah thats true Yarasa in my case. When I upgraded to my present system I discovered that my PSU was not compatible. I had been considering the purchase of a cheap mobo for this spare parts pc gial but it looks like that's not an option now. Rats... The little pc shop I mentioned may come through for me. It's a really strange place actually. The place is just full of large Tupperware containers filled with different kinds of parts. You just go in, grab a handful and pick through them trying to find what you think is the best. Perfect place for this kind of a goal. If that fails then I'm going the Ebay way. I've already seen 2x1GB PC3200 184 pin being offered for $12. The shop is quite far from me so I gotta wait for a buddy of mine to take me down to it. In the meantime I think I'll check out Kijiji and Craig's List online. Something might turn up there. Thank you for that offer btw Yarasa. It was very kind. Link to comment
gogoblender 3,070 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Hurry up and get it goin why dontcha D.a.r.k needs to experience Drones... gogo Link to comment
Timotheus 416 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 (edited) Heh after my first time of building a pc from used parts, I am done with it, I'd just go with new. It's another story though if most of the stuff is yours anyway, and you know it works. lol Good luck to you Schot, and be sure to keep us updated with how everything is working out fer ya. Any problems I will be happy to try and help to solve them. BTW, to do some shameless pluggin': in about 2-3 weeks, there may be a little thread in the tech corner on a low budget, low power use linux based office pc. Expect 3 though, since I probably need to order some parts. Anyway, keep an eye out for it Edited February 20, 2009 by Timotheus Link to comment
Borg 0 Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I finally got my computer. Had to wait 2.5 months but every week I waited the builder ( a computer tech friend) said he was sorry and added some goodies to it. The final results = a 1600 dollar computer for 500 dollars, well worth the wait Clear sided case processor AMD Phenom X4 9500 @ 2200MHZ (Quad) memory 4096MB video card NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI hard disk 1 terribyte 2- DVD drives so I can copy DVD's with out swapping them out. A Hanns 22 inch monitor ( I paid for that separately ) Link to comment
Spock 271 Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 (edited) I have shopped Crucial.com for my memory needs for years. I did a quick search on Intel, Motherboard, D865PERL and found the following. It's listed in USD but surely it won't be that far off ... 1 GB Memory stick @ $45 [Added] I just did a search on pricegrabber.com and found similar memory for $18 a stick ... 1 GB Memory stick @ $18 and up Edited March 2, 2009 by Spock Link to comment
Schot 407 Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 Heh after my first time of building a pc from used parts, I am done with it, I'd just go with new. It's another story though if most of the stuff is yours anyway, and you know it works. lol Good luck to you Schot, and be sure to keep us updated with how everything is working out fer ya. Any problems I will be happy to try and help to solve them. BTW, to do some shameless pluggin': in about 2-3 weeks, there may be a little thread in the tech corner on a low budget, low power use linux based office pc. Expect 3 though, since I probably need to order some parts. Anyway, keep an eye out for it That's just the thing Timo. Everything is from boxes of spare parts I've had stored away over the past 4 years due to upgrades. The exceptions are the case and the ram. If all goes well I'll have a second pc for the price of about $60. Not bad at all huh! Plugging your pc topic?! How far we fall. Soooo low. Loving that compact design. ^^ I finally got my computer. Had to wait 2.5 months but every week I waited the builder ( a computer tech friend) said he was sorry and added some goodies to it. The final results = a 1600 dollar computer for 500 dollars, well worth the waitClear sided case processor AMD Phenom X4 9500 @ 2200MHZ (Quad) memory 4096MB video card NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI hard disk 1 terribyte 2- DVD drives so I can copy DVD's with out swapping them out. A Hanns 22 inch monitor ( I paid for that separately ) Oh I know how that waiting game feels. Did the same thing, hehe. Kept waiting for things to come available and others to drop in price. but I finally got my new rig and loving it. Gratz on yours Borg! Sounds like a nice one. I have shopped Crucial.com for my memory needs for years. I did a quick search on Intel, Motherboard, D865PERL and found the following. It's listed in USD but surely it won't be that far off ... 1 GB Memory stick @ $45 [Added] I just did a search on pricegrabber.com and found similar memory for $18 a stick ... 1 GB Memory stick @ $18 and up Thanx so much for the links Spock. This is turning out to be a tough hunt. The second link, for $18, had me wowing. Sadly it wouldn't be compatible. I'll have to stick with no-ECC ram. On the bright side I spoke to my friend yesterday about checking out a used parts warehouse. Can't wait to check it out! Only thing I'm worried about is if the stuff will work... Not likely to be any garantess with the stuff so I might bring my box in to test the ram on site. then hope it lasts, heh. Though from what I gather of the place I'm thinking a 1GB stick will cost 5 bucks. A worthwhile risk. ^^ Link to comment
Spock 271 Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 (edited) ... Thanx so much for the links Spock. This is turning out to be a tough hunt. The second link, for $18, had me wowing. Sadly it wouldn't be compatible. I'll have to stick with no-ECC ram. ... If you look on the left side of the page, there are options you can check to narrow the search. If your $5 RAM doesn't pan out, you might try using the options to see if you can find something better ... 1 GB DDR1 with no Error correcting from $28 Edited March 2, 2009 by Spock Link to comment
Schot 407 Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 Oh much nicer Spock. Thanx. That $31 Kingston single 1GB stick looks tempting. *Hides topic so no one sees the 3 remaining sticks left* Link to comment
Silearth 6 Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Back in the days of wine and honey, I would upgrade perhaps once a month. My parts bin was full and a couple lucky peeps ended up with spare parts computers. Now my bin consists of a 400 watt PS, keyboard, mouse, 120 gig harddrive, and the old Dell. I have been charged with the task of turning the twisted pile of metal that is the dell into a usable comp for the mother-in-law. Since it is a dell, I am assuming that all I can salvage is the harddrive, CPU, and ram. Would be nice if I could find a case to fit the mother board. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now