Some hardware to mess around with...

[Haiku32]

I'm really interested in computers and I absolutely love repairing things around the house and taking things apart and putting them back together and such. I have a good spec pc which my friend built me, but it's far too expensive for me to want to mess around with (most I have done is overclocked it a bit ).

I was thinking of buying some cheap hardware and having a shot at building myself a computer, just so I can learn the ropes before touching my rig really.

Budget would probably be as low as possible, don't really want to spend a lot of money on this, since it's more for a mess around than actually serving as a real purpose. Will probably just install ubuntu, and a small hard drive. Just use existing monitor, and no need for a mouse, keyboard or speakers. Wouldn't mind having a small case, room is getting a little cluttered lol.

Also, do you think this is even a good idea? Buying some cheap (most likely old) components to give myself some building experience?

If something goes wrong, as in say there is an actual fault with a component, will it be easy to RMA since it'll most likely be old (am I right in saying the cheapest parts are the oldest lol)?

tl;dr Pc to run ubuntu with small hard drive to give me some experience and fun, for as low a budget as possible.

Thanks hexus .

[staffsMike]

Pull your normal computer apart! It'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiine. If you have ever build lego.. I'm pretty sure you have the skills required.

Don't waste your money on something else unless it will have a purpose like a media/HD playing PC or something.

Otherwise find someone throwing away some old junk for you mess about with.

[Haiku32]

Thing is though, I know all the theory behind building a computer, but when it comes to putting it into practice I always mess up. In my mind I know all the steps, but I just get a little too nervous when it comes to putting my hands inside £1000 work of components lol. I think I could easily fly through a build if I knew that if I messed up, I could just buy a new part for a few quid lol.

Already looked for junk, can't find anyone willing to give me anything .

Something I was thinking about would be some kind of backup storage, where every computer (there's 3) can just backup all their pictures and music to it? Don't even know if it's possibly, would something like that be fairly cheap to build?

[staffsMike]

Yeah NAS (Network Attached Storage). They are pretty cheap to build in basic guise but then the best solutions are often provided by an actual dedicated NAS solution as it can be a pain to setup and maintain.

If you really want to build something, tear this apart
http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product....DROM+-+XP+Pro+
these dell desktops are actually fun to pull apart, i used to support them at work.
http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product....r+and+speakers

[idlehanz]

Already looked for junk, can't find anyone willing to give me anything .

Hey Haiku32.

Now that is strange, there should be a lot of people with boxes of old h/w perhaps stuffed in the roof. To lazy to ebay it/not worth the effort.

StaffMike is a good suggestion, a cheaper way is to find said person with free old clober, and offer to take it off their hands. Easily done by using a courier eg Interparcel where you can ship upto about 25kg in a reasonable size box for about £7plus vat. You just need to provide box weight, size, collection and delivery address of course.

1. Have you looked and requested in FreeCycle in your area? (Yahoo groups) (assuming your UK resident).

2. If you can handle P3 CPU, I have some old gear you can have (P3 1.26GHz+ CPU, EPOX mobo, RAM etc), but no case, that went down the local tip for recycling as it was a very tired old case. PM me if your interested in any of that (p.s. It will not be going to anyone else, just in case I get a few other pm of the back of this). Also have an even older Celeron Slot 1 CPU and board, might make a nice ornement. All was working before it was put to one side

P3 was what I call my old dev system, but I got a P4 box from someone for free which replaced it.

[Haiku32]

How many posts do I need before I can pm?

Pm me what you're willing to sell and how much for then and when I get enough posts I'll get back to you. Appreciate it mate .

I've just asked around, none of my friends have any old stuff. Never heard of freecycle, will give it a look .

[idlehanz]

hmm good point. I don't appear to have the powers to pm at the moment either

Any idea how many posts are required?

[GoNz0]

25? i think

[strike-down]

No spammy posts mind

[idlehanz]

Guess that means we have to drag this out a bit then.

What a great deal of effort Hexus go to to ensure the popularity of their forums to maximise advertisement and PR revenues. A good business.

[idlehanz]

Looks like it might be 15 posts to enable PM.

[Pob255]

Well I have a bunch of old junk, should have and old cd-rom, el-cheapo case and some other bits floating about.

It's just the hassle of getting from point A (me) to point B (you)

[idlehanz]

Well I have a bunch of old junk, should have and old cd-rom, el-cheapo case and some other bits floating about.

It's just the hassle of getting from point A (me) to point B (you)

Ahh that's not problem, just use courier service like I mentioned earlier.

Here's what I have

Abit AB-BH6 slot 1 mobo, state of the ark it offers an old world experiance that inlcudes 2 ISA slots! 5 PCI slots and an AGP1 slot. Once up to date it features the latest USB1.0/1.1 ports along side traditional serial ports, parallel port and PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports. Power cabling is easy, just 1 20-pin ATX connector and all plug in card and CPU powered through the mother board and the respective connectors. Comes complete with a slot 1 CPU to 370 adapter and socket 370 Celeron, maybe 500MHz. Has seen active duty for nearly 10 years. Was still working when the power was finally pulled. Never been over clocked.

Epox EP-3VSA socket 370 Mobo. More up to date it has no ISA slots, 5 PCI and an AGP 4X slot!!! WoW. This little beauty already has onboard Audio and a game port built in along side a couple of serial ports, USB, parallel and the old PS/2 keyboard n mouse. It comes complete with a PIII 1.26GHz 256MB cache CPU and a copper cooler. Has been overclocked run for about 6-7 years or so was also in good working order till the power was pulled recently.

Other items
Aopen (FSP) FSP250-60GTV PSU 250W ATX
memory: 2 x 256MB PC133 SDRAM, 2 x 127MB PC100 SDRAM will work with either board.
A choice of 52X CDROM's (someone I know wants a second one) choice of Samsung or Aopen
DVD drive if you want it slot type rather than tray. unbranded mfg date: June 2000 ref: DVD-105S
Couple of IDE and FDD cables.
Generic SB PCI 128 sound card (PCI)
56k PCI modem card (Prob destined for filing under B1N)
Netgear FA311 10/100 LAN card
ATI Rage Pro Turbo AGP graphics card, 8MB rofl!!. You might need to see if anyone has a better graphics card going spare I re-used a better one in another system I got donated for free.

All working when last used, but has not been stored in ideal conditions ie has been in a roof and not all be kept in anti-static bags.

So there are no garentees, but its all yours for nowt if you want it.

Do you need any HDD's?? I have some around prob 20GBs just need cleaning of any old data.

[Haiku32]

Wow, even if it is all junk and doesn't work, at least it's free . Thanks mate!

How much would postage cost do ya think?

And how much for the hard drives (can't expect ya to through them in for free as well haha ).

So all I'd need is a cheap case? Everythings there... mobo, cpu, memory, psu, gfx card, dvd drive... seems it .

What's the case you've got pob? I ,of course, would cover shipping, and throw a little something in for the trouble .



Allsssooo, could it run ubuntu?

[GoNz0]

cost u under a tenner if you arrange a courier collection via ebay

[strike-down]

It comes complete with a PIII 1.26GHz 256MB cache CPU

Just dont make the cache how they used to