Newbie making the best of 2 towers

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Daverave

New Member

Joined

Jul 6, 2014

• Jul 6, 2014

• #1

Hi, Completely new to the whole computer building gig.

I've got 2 towers, (for free yay) but they're not a great spec from what I can see (boo)

So, I'm here to ask you guys how can I build the best machine I can with a (very) limited budget, and these 2 dogs of towers?

Pics:









So that's the first tower.. Which I can't seem to get to work with any monitor :/
The second tower I'll add later

 

Janus67

Benching Team Leader

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Joined

May 29, 2005

• Jul 6, 2014

• #2

to the forums!

It would be immensely helpful if you can let us know what the actual hardware is inside the computer
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Video
Power Supply
Hard Drive

Just from looking at the pictures I would imagine these computers are 8+ years old? I wouldn't bank on (at least the first one) doing much more than browsing the internet by today's standards.

 

EarthDog

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

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Joined

Dec 15, 2008

Location

Buckeyes!

• Jul 6, 2014

• #3

Welcome!!!

I cant see the pictures (you can host them here at the site...).

That said list the specs. Pictures wont do much unless its of the specs.

 

OP

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Daverave

New Member

Joined

Jul 6, 2014

• Jul 6, 2014

• Thread Starter
• #4

ahh Ok I'll get the specs and post on here.

The other one I have is about 10 years old. This one I have no information on at all.

Cheers for the quick responses guys

 

EarthDog

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

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Joined

Dec 15, 2008

Location

Buckeyes!

• Jul 6, 2014

• #5

Honestly, with an 8 year old PC and a 10 year old PC to make one... it still won't be better than an internet/email/MS Word type of machine. Even an inexpensive $400 PC from Dell will be much more functional.

 

OP

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Daverave

New Member

Joined

Jul 6, 2014

• Jul 6, 2014

• Thread Starter
• #6

Motherboard: ??
CPU: ??
RAM: x2 delta 16m84x-6 ddr1gbpc2100
Video: Radeon 9250 256mb v/d/vo
Power Supply:ISO 400pp
Hard Drive: Seagate Barrucuda 7200.7 80gb, Western Digital wd200eb-00csf0 20gb

 

EarthDog

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

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Joined

Dec 15, 2008

Location

Buckeyes!

• Jul 6, 2014

• #7

Nothing salvageable in my opinion.

 

OP

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Daverave

New Member

Joined

Jul 6, 2014

• Jul 6, 2014

• Thread Starter
• #8

ahh damn. I'll see if I can use the HDD for my xbox 360 then!

 

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

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Joined

Sep 7, 2013

• Jul 6, 2014

• #9

Oddly enough, that GPU would run Minecraft without mods or texturepacks at a solid 20-30 FPS

Wether the CPU can keep up, is another story.

 

OP

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Daverave

New Member

Joined

Jul 6, 2014

• Jul 6, 2014

• Thread Starter
• #10

how would i check what cpu I have? I took the fan cooler thing off, and the chip thing is blank

 

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

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Joined

Sep 7, 2013

• Jul 6, 2014

• #11

Daverave said:

how would i check what cpu I have? I took the fan cooler thing off, and the chip thing is blank

Click to expand...

Blank? Hehe, nope.

Gotta take the CPU out, clean off the thermal paste and hold it under light to read it.


OR (Actually do this, it's easier)

Just run CPU-z

 

OP

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Daverave

New Member

Joined

Jul 6, 2014

• Jul 6, 2014

• Thread Starter
• #12

cleaned it up (can't get a display on a monitor from the computer)

AMD Sempron sda2600ai02ba

 

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

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Joined

Sep 7, 2013

• Jul 6, 2014

• #13

Daverave said:

cleaned it up (can't get a display on a monitor from the computer)

AMD Sempron sda2600ai02ba

Click to expand...

Mediocre at best....

You might be able to play Minceraft, but probably with huge lag like my AMD Duron did

That rig has an ATI Radeon 9200 in it.


Like EarthDoge said, Word and web browsing rig at best

 

OP

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Daverave

New Member

Joined

Jul 6, 2014

• Jul 6, 2014

• Thread Starter
• #14

so what price range would I be looking at to play Mass effect 3 with a controller?

Any parts useable? the case, disc drive?

 

OP

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Daverave

New Member

Joined

Jul 6, 2014

• Jul 6, 2014

• Thread Starter
• #15

AMD Athlon 64 ada3400daa4by is the other cpu
fsp250-60gen power unit
hynix pc3200u-30330 512mb DDR 400mhz CL3 ram
Integrated graphics I presume (can't see a graphics card in there)

any use?

That machine has no hdd, so put the other two hdd in ( don't know which has windows on) and all I get is no signal on the display.

 

Nebulous

Dreadnought Class Senior

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Joined

Oct 11, 2002

Location

The Empire State

• Jul 6, 2014

• #16

Here's what's needed to play ME3 . << Click Link

 

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

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Joined

Sep 7, 2013

• Jul 6, 2014

• #17

Nebulous said:

Here's what's needed to play ME3 . << Click Link

Click to expand...

So that looks like a "no" for ME3.


OP: My brother just upgraded from an Athlon 64+, he could play Minecraft and Farcry 2 (at mehdium settings) but he had a 550 ti.

You can salvage the HDD and DVD/CD drives, if they are at least SATA anyway...



EDIT: Actually, check newegg's refurbs out.
Decent refurbed rigs in there.

Here's our own Newegg deals thread in case more stuff comes up if you want to shop around more.