I was given a PC for free...

[BigIan88]

So a few days ago I picked up a desk from a bloke off gumtree and when i got there and explained what the desk was going to be used for (my PC) he asked if i game much at which point i obviously replied yes - his response was "follow me", where i expected him to gloat about his e-peen l33t pc but it was the opposite!

hes just given me a PC for free as his old housemate left it there as he couldnt be bothered taking it with him when he moved out!

doesnt look like much of a gaming rig but it'll do fora full time folding rig - heres some pics along with several boxes of cables and random stuff he gave me too

Heres the specs:

Althon x64 4400 @ 2.2Ghz

2GB Kingston Hyper X DDR 400Mhz

Asus 8500GT

3xHDD's totalling 900GB storage

Antec Truepower 550w PSU

I also snapped up some pics for a clean up/rebuild log:

REBUILD LOG



How it looked:

Dust monster!

Birds nest anyone?

mmmm dead skin goodness!

Ever seen a furry hard drive?

Naked CPU :surprised:

Squeaky clean mobo:

It got homesick to I sent it home:

Anti-Dust Zone:

Cleanliness is next to godliness....aparently:

A blurry semi-finished makeover:

The almost finished product, the passive cooler was poo so I "borrowed" a stock cooler:

So far ive got my PS3, this dedicated rig (folding via the SMP client) and my normal rig (via the standard client so i can still use it) folding 24/7. Im still not getting many PPD but at least im helping in any way i can - i was tempted to get the GPU folding too but its passively cooled and i dont want to risk overheating it as theres very little airflow in the case to begin with and it idles at 60C as it is.

im swapping it for a 7300LE that has a fan so if im able to - i'll get that folding too!

 

[TMaksimov]

Sick! Great to find something like that for folding.

 

[Aurus_OC]

Looks nice

I always enjoy to see what is possible to do with something that somebody got for free. I hope it serves you well. Like the look of that Motherboard.

 

[Brooksie]

Looks cool, what's with the TIM covered cpu on the last pic to the right?

 

[BigIan88]

it was unstable at first so i swapped it for an athlon 3300 to rule out the cpu - then changed it back - seems the problem was the not-so-passive heat sync so i changed it for a stock cooler my dad was able to provide for me (he has alot of spares lying around his house too!)

 

[INMATE183]

I have one of those mobos in the loft doing nothing atm...makes me think I should build a pc out of spares

 

[BigIan88]

you could easily get a semi decent folding rig out of it

spares can be found for pennies on ebay

 

[marsey99]

stick a couple of cheap g92 gpu in that and just run f@h on them and your ppd would shoot up mate :thumb:

if your feeling flush a couple of 460 would get you about 20k from that box if the psu was upto the job

 

[BigIan88]

if i was to go down the GPU route i wouldnt want to spend more than £20-£25 on a card as its not going to get any use other than folding so i dont want to spend loads if i dont get to use it much

 

[marsey99]

well you could get 2 88gts 512s for about £70 and they would pull in 12k between them (going off the 6k i used to get from mine) or keep an eye out for people off loading 460 738s as a few are now and they are dropping in price as we sit here. they get what? 10k each. if you was going to put gpu in that (seems silly not to imo as its got 2 full size slots) i would just use them and let the cpu feed them as it wont get much anyway in comparison.

 

[BigIan88]

i`ll keep an eye on the bay for some great deals for folding

drop me a msg if you spot anything in my price range

 

[FoodStampz]

Check ebay, I heard 8800GT's are going for less than 50.

 

[BigIan88]

update:

I gave it a bit of a makeover over the weekend to make it a little more modern:

It now has:

Gigabyte GA-MA78G BS3H

4GB A-Data DDR2 @ 800Mhz

Phenom II 9950 x4 CPU

600w OCZ StealthXStream PSU

500GB WD HDD

Nvidia 8600GT

Ive got an Antec 902 case coming my way too for free soon

 

[chudley]

Definately a nice makeover, and good to see it put to good use for the team.

 

[jiffz]

So the mobo, CPU, RAM, GPU, PSU and HDD has been changed - Isn't it a totally different rig??

What happened to the bits you took out?

 

[FoodStampz]

If your getting a new case to, then reassemble the X2. It has to be good for at least 4k a day

 

[BigIan88]

Yeah, its pretty much a new build now and all for the sum of £100 which is a great deal.

Im selling the old parts off to try and recover some of that £100 back as im still recovering from january blues and could use the cash.

I was given an Antec 902 case by a mate on thursday so its now installed and folding in that

Things i need to add/change:

Buy cable ties to improve cable management

Replace IDE DVD Rom with SATA equivalent

Buy additional CM Sickleflow fan to dual mount the 212

Buy CPU 4pin extender so I can route behind the motherboard

Rotate case fans to minimalise exposed cables

 

[SnW]

I was wondering what a six core AMD would do (BIGadv), in regards to PPD.. anyone knows ?

i think FoodZss is the one to ask

I kinda think i already asked this ones but forgot

 

[BigIan88]

if an i7 can barely complete it, it doesnt sound good for a hex AMD

 

[FoodStampz]

If I had a X6 I could imagine it could do it nicely. I just have four cores