Should I bother cobbeling these parts together into a working computer?

I have in my possesion some old computer parts. All parts (besides the CRT monitor) have been scavaged from old machines that have died for thier original owners. I'm not sure if all these parts work.

a Asus A7A266 motherboard
a AMD 1200+ processor (Thunderbird?)
a 300 watt power supply
a 20 gig HD
256 MB of SDRAM (3 modules) Could use some DDR instead
CD-ROM drive
56k modem
cheap computer speakers
15" CRT monitor

No sound card or graphics card.

The motherboard should have integrated audio, and I believe this board can support up to a AGP x 4 or a cheapy PCI graphics card. So the graphics card would be the only part I need to pick up and hopefully I can find one cheap somewhere.

I'm primarily interested in doing this just to try it and possible make a linux machine out of it to experiment with. It would also serve as a back for my current system which seems to be shutting itself down every once and awhile now. :thinking:

So is it worth the effort with these componenets and am I missing anything?

Jesus, that's better than my system. Well almost. I guess I need to upgrade hu?

As long as the MB, RAM, CPU were made to work with each other then it should be an OK test rig if you just want to mess around with linux. Don't expect much from a graphical desktop though with only 256mb of RAM.

I remember the first PC I built - it had 256 kilobytes of ram (not Megabytes). Actually I believe I started with 128 kb and paid about $130 for another 128 kb.
Yeah I say build it - plenty of Linux OS's will run fine on that - heck just get a pendrive and boot DSL Linux (50 Meg OS with about everything you need). I just bought a 1 Gig USB Sandisk pendrive for $11. I can remember when a 1 Gig full height 5 1/4 hard drive cost $1400 from 'underground' sources. Am I dating myself yet? hehe ...

I don't see why not. It's a solid computer that'll do anything but heavy graphics. You can get used video cards almost for free, like older GeForces.

I have a computer in the other room that uses 8" floppy disks. How's that?

It all depends on what you plan to use it for....is it capable enough to run Linux or Win2k/Xp, yes. For most purposes, it's fine, don't try to game aggressively on it though.

I recommend 512MB minimum.
That Asus board can take either SDRAM or DDRAM (not at the same time), and has built-in audio. Asus usually is very reputable quality wise. Inspect the board for bad capacitors first.

1.2 gig Athlon is what I have in my HTPC with Win Xp Pro, and it'll do all divx/xvid videos except the latest HDTV programs.
Do you have a 100 MHz or 133 MHz FSB cpu? If it's the former, you can even try to overclock it with 133 MHz and see if you can get more speed from it.

Give geeks.com a check...I bought several MSI Nvidia MX440 8xAGP VGA/DVI cards for $9.99 new from them last year.

My old Asus P3V4X and P3-866 is running Ubuntu Linux 6.06 fine, btw.

That's in between my last system and the one I built last year. Why not make it into a computer? You can probably get a used PCI or AGP4X graphics card on eBay for under $10. For just about nothing you can get a halfway decent machine. I know lots of people who have a lesser system as their main, usually only, machine.

Now if it was a 386 it probably wouldn't be worth it at all....

I should point out that all parts have been scavaged from three of four seperate machines that have died for thier original owners. I am not completely sure all parts work. Hence a slight hesitence in spending cash to buy componenets.

Anybody got a graphics card they are throwing away?

BTW I just realized the three RAM moduales are SDRAM. Anybody got some bigger SD or DDR RAM?

I know nothing about linux, so a link or two to easy to setup linux OS's would be appreciated.

ABTOMAT said:

I don't see why not. It's a solid computer that'll do anything but heavy graphics. You can get used video cards almost for free, like older GeForces.

I have a computer in the other room that uses 8" floppy disks. How's that?

Click to expand...

Yeah but will it run Lotus 123?

ABTOMAT said:

I don't see why not. It's a solid computer that'll do anything but heavy graphics. You can get used video cards almost for free, like older GeForces.

I have a computer in the other room that uses 8" floppy disks. How's that?

Click to expand...

Yep I remember those 8" floppies. How about a hard drive like I've got in my basement - about 14" in diameter with about 8 platters in a clear housing - I think it was about 5 Megabytes.

I would build it up.

Might get a new hard drive and some more memory though.

I have this:
32MB AGP GeForce 2MX 400 (NVidia) video card

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=142208
I put this up back in Nov and is still available. PM me and we can work the finer details to get it out to you if you are interested.

My online system:

MSI KT133A mobo from '01
AMD 1.4 GHz Athlon XP $35 along with new heatsink $15
1 GB memory 2x512 MB
EVGA FX5500 AGP video $50
Pioneer CD-DVD player $30
USB 2.0 5 port card $12
Sandisk 12:1 card reader $30
Floppy $8
XP home $65

This cobbled together system is fine for online and it does light digital imaging work.

Should work great for basic computer tasks and internet with XP. Would not be a good system for current pc games. Add a Gig of ram, sound card ,video card and you will have a decent system. I had that exact same processor and mobo and it work flawlessly for about 4 years.

I'm shocked that no one mentioned that I need a case! I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something else.

Anyway, how much does a basic graphics card go for these days? I'm thnking maybe I can upgrade the one on my working machine and move the card from there into the cobbled machine.

Seriously, anybody got some old style RAM for sale?

I was just about to say that....."you need a case, keyboard and mouse"...lol.

I have a bunch of boxes of computer parts laying around. I could probably dig up a free PCI graphics card for you, just pay for the actual shipping.

I also have some new keyboards and mice, real cheap if you want them.

I probably have some SDRAM laying around too, in 64, 128, and 256 modules.

Sadly no ram or any idea of what a good case is. Though I do want to go off topic and compliment you on the nicely animated avatar you have. Anyway to shrink the filesize though? It is a killer for people that are still on dialup as it is a whopping 117 KB.

You'll need some ribbon cables if you don't already have them. I probably have about a hundred of those too

You'll want an ethernet card too, I probably have a half dozen 10/100's here, used but fully functional.

I have some cases here also, new and used, a couple of decent InWin's and an Enlight I believe. A Full, mid, and a mini I think.

Let me know if you want any of this and I can pack up a box for you, some parts really cheap, some free.

Hmmm, maybe I shoud start a thread with parts for sale, I need to clean a lot of this stuff out to make room in my home office.

Hey Stingray, that's really nice of you! :thumbsup: I'll send you a PM in a bit and let you know what I have and what I'm looking for. Sweet!

Yeah...the "other stuff" too.

Cases are cheap but you'll need a modest power supply. I have an aging Sparkle 300W but shipping that is well on the way to a brand new econo version bought locally. Sometimes you can get a budget case with PS for about $35. Check Fry's, they have sales on them.

Figure even though you have many of the basics, you may be looking at $200 in other purchases. It's easy to spend way more than anticipated. You can buy a new bare bones system for about $300 from a local builder.

Um... You don't really NEED a case. I have built two without. Help with getting stuff mounted for extreme coooling. Just mount the motherboard on a piece of wood. It helps to have a brace for cards, but I never had any.

If your in need of some parts, I just took apart my old xp1700 machine. Abit board, only got 128 meg of ddr1600 and a GForce 3 ti200... :lolsign: I booted it up last week to make sure the cpu works. I'm making a laser show housing out of it's server case. :huh2: :thinking:

RA40 said:

...
Figure even though you have many of the basics, you may be looking at $200 in other purchases. It's easy to spend way more than anticipated. You can buy a new bare bones system for about $300 from a local builder.

Click to expand...

That's basically what I'm afraid of. I'm trying to take it easy and not jump in blindly and end up spending more than I'm confortable with, just to make this work.