to Tom: what was in that computer?

[Thorin]

Hey Tom, that old computer you gave me, with the Radeon 5830 and the giant Coolermaster heat sink, do you remember what chip was on that?

I've gone out and bought some new parts and used the power supply and case from that old computer, but I think my son is kinda interested in taking the old innards (motherboard, chip, ram) if it's decent speed.  For the life of me I can't remember what it was.

[Tom]

Hey Tom, that old computer you gave me, with the Radeon 5830 and the giant Coolermaster heat sink, do you remember what chip was on that?

I've gone out and bought some new parts and used the power supply and case from that old computer, but I think my son is kinda interested in taking the old innards (motherboard, chip, ram) if it's decent speed.  For the life of me I can't remember what it was.

I believe it was a intel QX6600 cpu. But it may have also been a AMD Phenom 9550. The machine is not a speed demon, but its not a slouch either, especially if you give it a decent gpu.

[Mr. Analog]

I found RAM

If you want RAM

I found some

[Thorin]

What kind of RAM?

I have old RDRAM, I wonder if it's worth anything.  It's from 1999, I think.  It's not useful anymore, since Rambus and its RDRAM lost the format war to DDR SDRAM.

And I'd bought some new parts because the old, old Dells I have couldn't keep up when my youngest was playing Club Penguin, if there were a lot of Penguins (user avatars) on the screen at the same time.  So I bought a new motherboard and i5-4460 chip, 8GB of RAM to go with it, and then I figured I should switch over to an SSD so I bought that too, and then I figured I could speed up one of the old Dells by putting an SSD in it and moving the RAM from the other Dell into it.  And then I needed a new copy of Windows, since my Dells are running XP.  And then I needed a new monitor, because one of the eight year old Dell monitors was really fuzzy and had wavy lines running through it.  And then I was gonna stuff the new components in the old Dell case, but the Dell case doesn't have a cutout where the connectors are in the back and they don't line up with the holes and we couldn't find the dremel cutting attachment so then we changed tack and used the case that Tom gave me but the front panel audio doesn't appear to work so now I'm looking at either buying another case or a dremel cutting tool.  And then I had these two video cards, so I installed the smaller one, a 9800GT I got from Mr. A, into the Dell to replace the 8400GS fanless I used to have that I'd bought because of quietness.

That turned into a stream-of-consciousness paragraph

Anyway, so now I have:
- working computer: a micro-atx case with an Intel E6550 chip, 4GB of RAM, 240GB SSD, nVidia 9800GT, 750w PSU, and the old 1TB HDD that was in there before
- working computer: an atx case with an Intel i5-4460 chip, 8GB of RAM, 240GB SSD, using integrated graphics, 550w PSU
- partial computer: a micro-atx case with an Intel E6550 chip, no RAM, no drive, nVidia 8400GS, 300w PSU
- parts: an atx motherboard with Intel QX6600 chip, 4GB of RAM, ATI 5830 vid card, nVidia 8400GS vid card

If I could cut an opening in the back of that partial computer's micro-atx case, then I could move things around and end up with three working computers.

[Thorin]

Oh, I also had a great time poking at computer innards with my son.  We had completely stripped everything out of the Dell micro-atx case before we realized it didn't have a proper cut-out for the new mobo's connectors.

[Tom]

Probably can pick ATX or mATX cases up for 20-40$ depending if you care about quality or new vs used. new ok cases can be $40 with no psu.

[Mr. Analog]

Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX

8GB of DDR3 1600 CL9 240 Pin DIMM kit

Still in the box

Spoiler

I found it in a bag of goodies I thought I lost at Fraga a couple years ago, I have my old wired XBox360 controller back yay

[close]

[Mr. Analog]

Probably can pick ATX or mATX cases up for 20-40$ depending if you care about quality or new vs used. new ok cases can be $40 with no psu.

I actually have 2 ATX cases that I'm going to recycle, if you want one let me know. One is a VERY DUSTY but low noise Antec 900 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Just needs a good cleaning, has a DVD drive in already

[Thorin]

Well I don't have need for that RAM right now, as I bought a mobo with two slots and then bought two 4GB sticks.  But it is pretty much the RAM I needed, as I bought DDR3 1600 CL10 240 pin sticks.  If you have zero use for it, though, I'll take it off your hands and plan for another replacement computer within the year...

I'm definitely interested in that Antec case.  Mostly because I want the front headphone jack to work so my son can put on his headphones while playing on the computer.  Penguin Diner is a fun game, but hearing "hello" every twenty seconds does get annoying when I'm trying to work.  No worries about dust, that's easy to clean away.  What's the other case you're getting rid of?

[Mr. Analog]

Yeah, I literally found RAM in a BAWLs draw bag I had kicking around and was like "oh yeah, I forgot about this" (at the time I didn't have a mobo that would take it) and now that I do have a machine that can use it it's maxxed out so I'm good

The case is in good shape, just a bit dusty, I can clean most of the crud out of it for ya. Pretty much everything's in it except for the HDDs, when the mobo kicked it I just pulled all my disks out and didn't go back to it.

I have a spare video card you can have too (470 GTX)

Nobody else wanted it

[Thorin]

Remember a couple of years ago you gave me your old 9800 GT?  You gave it to me in a 470 GTX box.  I think I need that 470 just to "complete the collection"   It'd probably do better than the integrated graphics, I think.  Although this machine really doesn't get taxed that much - Minecraft is barely ever played on there anymore, and the only other real workload is Club Penguin and Plex Media Server.

So the mobo in the case is shot?  That sucks, I remember you buying this case a few years back for Fraga.  Like I said, happy to take it second-hand.  Is there a power supply in there?  If not, I get to do a little more tooling around inside cases as I move PSUs around, I'll get my son to help again, he liked it.

So to sum up, I'll take your Antec 900 case and your 470 GTX and your 8GB DDR3 RAM.  I might even be able to get a little home server built outta parts for my son to play around with, since he's thinking about enrolling at NAIT in DMIT (one stream of which is basically the new CST).

[Mr. Analog]

Yep, there's a PSU in there, though how trustworthy it is is questionable ATM

I'm still not sure if the board shorted or something else

[Mr. Analog]

I got most of the dust out of the case, though I'm sure there will be more in there once you take everything out.

• I didn't test the PSU
• I didn't unmount the mobo (I didn't want to lose the riser screws)
• Still not sure if the mobo is shot or the PSU

I'll hunt around for a spare power cable but not sure if I have any kicking around.

Anyway, I got that, the vid card and the ram all ready to roll.

Now I'm gonna take a shower because DUSSSSST

[Thorin]

I'll assume the PSU is bad and not use it, just in case.  I have several spare power cords, no worries there.  See you in a bit.

[Mr. Analog]

Okily dokily