Interesting "junk" find.

KaiserXT · 06-21-2009, 05:52 PM

New to the forums; ended up here after some lengthy google-ing for information.

I've always toyed with the idea of taking a stab at building my own computer, but never really took the steps. Mostly because I am not all that familiar with the real in-depth lingo, and didn't want to take the time to educate myself. My own failing, there.

Anyway. Where I live, people are -constantly- throwing out very interesting things. Great furniture, turntables, exercise equipment, appliances, etc etc. Just yesterday, I stumbled across this MASSIVE computer tower, with tons of parts in it, sitting outside the garbage dump, waiting to be tossed. Being the wanna-be-nerd that I am, I simply couldn't let such a pretty tower go to waste. Not to mention the awesome fans on it.. so I snagged it.

Now, I've taken apart the case (which seems to be a Voyeur Mods tower.. couldn't look up much more on them), and found quite a bit of interesting stuff. There are four BIG fans, two on the side for the video card area, and two on top, all connected to a fan control on the front. Two smaller ones on the bottom of the case as well. Two more in the front, one of which is attached to the hard drive. Yes, they left the HDD intact.. it's a 320gig Western Digital model. The power supply is also still intact, and looks to be 550W. No power cord though, which is no big deal. There's also a DVD RW and.. a floppy drive. Go figure.

It looks as if the CPU has been taken off the motherboard, and all the ram and extra sound and video cards are gone as well. Why someone would take those parts out and leave everything else is beyond me... anyway. As for the motherboard itself, I was having trouble coming up with a model/serial number for it, but google-ing similar things and doing some searching leads me to believe it is a ASUS P4P800E Deluxe (90M8LCW0G0EAY) Motherboard.

Now then. I admittedly don't know a lot about what I'm doing, but I have the basics down as far as what I need to get a system running. I understand that this set up is probably a bit outdated, but... assuming everything still works (no fried mobo or powersupply or HDD or anything) would this system be salvageable into a fun little rig to mess around with? Or would I be better off getting that motherboard out of there and just using the case and fans for something new? I am interested in making myself a decent gaming computer. Doesn't have to be super powerful.. but strong enough to be lots of fun.

And by "little", I mean . I've never seen such a massive tower up close before. Seriously.

**simpswr** · 06-21-2009, 07:23 PM

and welcome to the Forum

If I were to toss a case, HD, Power Supply, and motherboard, and keep the processor and video card, it would be because the motherboard, drive and Power supply was bad.

I would start by Testing the Power Supply: http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...ulti-meter.htm

**linderman** · 06-22-2009, 05:38 AM

in your shoes; I would try to check the motherboard to see if it tests good ........ if you are lucky you can still see that model on ebay working for $100.00

then starting squirreling away a budget and put together something more recent, many business environments bought those boards and when one of them dies that want to replace it with "that" model board to avoid the driver battle when changing boards ......

but socket 478 cpu's are really beginning to see the very end of usefulness for anything other than a web surfer / email machine

they can game somewhat; but it aint glorious

my guess is the power supply is dead; the intel P4 865chipset was one of the first to really have the power demand to kill cheap / low quality power supplies.

KaiserXT · 06-22-2009, 01:30 PM

Both sound like good ideas so far.

I'll do what I can to first test out the power supply, and then look into the motherboard.

Overall though, working or not, I think I am going to go ahead and strip those parts and use the case to build myself something more modern. Why not, if I'm all ready saving on at least the case and fans, a DVD RW, and possibly a HDD?

I haven't quite had the motivation before to do it, but when you get a push like this, it helps get you started.

**manic** · 06-22-2009, 07:02 PM

If the case is decent, good find,,free fans, case, maybe hdd, who knows.
Nothing ventured nothing gained. I was working in a sub division a year
or so back, same thing people throw away brand new stuff. Saw a
dell laying out by the curb for pickup. I would normally drive by, but it
looked so new. I grabbed it, fired it up, hdd had a virus, formatted it
and gave it to my friends son..Win win deal, did my bit for recycling and made
the kids day....I have a handfull of those 478 pin cpu's, as linderman
mentioned good email machines, gaming can be ugly with the new
games..
But you can put any board in that thing you like except a ata board

06-21-2009, 05:52 PM	#1 (permalink)
KaiserXT Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 2 OS: Vista 32bit	Interesting "junk" find. New to the forums; ended up here after some lengthy google-ing for information. I've always toyed with the idea of taking a stab at building my own computer, but never really took the steps. Mostly because I am not all that familiar with the real in-depth lingo, and didn't want to take the time to educate myself. My own failing, there. Anyway. Where I live, people are -constantly- throwing out very interesting things. Great furniture, turntables, exercise equipment, appliances, etc etc. Just yesterday, I stumbled across this MASSIVE computer tower, with tons of parts in it, sitting outside the garbage dump, waiting to be tossed. Being the wanna-be-nerd that I am, I simply couldn't let such a pretty tower go to waste. Not to mention the awesome fans on it.. so I snagged it. Now, I've taken apart the case (which seems to be a Voyeur Mods tower.. couldn't look up much more on them), and found quite a bit of interesting stuff. There are four BIG fans, two on the side for the video card area, and two on top, all connected to a fan control on the front. Two smaller ones on the bottom of the case as well. Two more in the front, one of which is attached to the hard drive. Yes, they left the HDD intact.. it's a 320gig Western Digital model. The power supply is also still intact, and looks to be 550W. No power cord though, which is no big deal. There's also a DVD RW and.. a floppy drive. Go figure. It looks as if the CPU has been taken off the motherboard, and all the ram and extra sound and video cards are gone as well. Why someone would take those parts out and leave everything else is beyond me... anyway. As for the motherboard itself, I was having trouble coming up with a model/serial number for it, but google-ing similar things and doing some searching leads me to believe it is a ASUS P4P800E Deluxe (90M8LCW0G0EAY) Motherboard. Now then. I admittedly don't know a lot about what I'm doing, but I have the basics down as far as what I need to get a system running. I understand that this set up is probably a bit outdated, but... assuming everything still works (no fried mobo or powersupply or HDD or anything) would this system be salvageable into a fun little rig to mess around with? Or would I be better off getting that motherboard out of there and just using the case and fans for something new? I am interested in making myself a decent gaming computer. Doesn't have to be super powerful.. but strong enough to be lots of fun. And by "little", I mean . I've never seen such a massive tower up close before. Seriously. Last edited by simpswr; 06-21-2009 at 07:20 PM. Reason: Language

06-21-2009, 07:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 12,249 OS: XP, Vista, Win 7	Re: Interesting "junk" find. and welcome to the Forum If I were to toss a case, HD, Power Supply, and motherboard, and keep the processor and video card, it would be because the motherboard, drive and Power supply was bad. I would start by Testing the Power Supply: http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...ulti-meter.htm __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help How to post a Screen Shot \| PC running slow? Last edited by simpswr; 06-21-2009 at 07:24 PM.

06-22-2009, 05:38 AM	#3 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,437 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Interesting "junk" find. in your shoes; I would try to check the motherboard to see if it tests good ........ if you are lucky you can still see that model on ebay working for $100.00 then starting squirreling away a budget and put together something more recent, many business environments bought those boards and when one of them dies that want to replace it with "that" model board to avoid the driver battle when changing boards ...... but socket 478 cpu's are really beginning to see the very end of usefulness for anything other than a web surfer / email machine they can game somewhat; but it aint glorious my guess is the power supply is dead; the intel P4 865chipset was one of the first to really have the power demand to kill cheap / low quality power supplies. __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial Last edited by linderman; 06-22-2009 at 05:41 AM.

06-22-2009, 01:30 PM	#4 (permalink)
KaiserXT Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 2 OS: Vista 32bit	Re: Interesting "junk" find. Both sound like good ideas so far. I'll do what I can to first test out the power supply, and then look into the motherboard. Overall though, working or not, I think I am going to go ahead and strip those parts and use the case to build myself something more modern. Why not, if I'm all ready saving on at least the case and fans, a DVD RW, and possibly a HDD? I haven't quite had the motivation before to do it, but when you get a push like this, it helps get you started.

06-22-2009, 07:02 PM	#5 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,244 OS: xp	Re: Interesting "junk" find. If the case is decent, good find,,free fans, case, maybe hdd, who knows. Nothing ventured nothing gained. I was working in a sub division a year or so back, same thing people throw away brand new stuff. Saw a dell laying out by the curb for pickup. I would normally drive by, but it looked so new. I grabbed it, fired it up, hdd had a virus, formatted it and gave it to my friends son..Win win deal, did my bit for recycling and made the kids day....I have a handfull of those 478 pin cpu's, as linderman mentioned good email machines, gaming can be ugly with the new games.. But you can put any board in that thing you like except a ata board __________________ Last edited by manic; 06-22-2009 at 07:03 PM.