Ya it's always good to feel like you get your money's worth on an upgrade. On the other hand, if you keep scratching up machines for $6... well it kind of takes the edge off

Now the conundrum....

The MoBo has a PCI-E slot ....and I have a 'spare' XFX GTX285 'black' Graphics card.... that'd get that WEI up to more like 5.9...

Except for 2 things....the power supply is one of those 'compact things' and no way big enough to push the GPU....

...and the darn card is about 2 miles too long for the case....so everything would need to be dumped into another box....

I 'could' chuck it all into Terry's Lian Li....and she'd end up with a processor that was 4 times better....and not relying on an AGP card....

Just need to pop in a few sata power adapters...and rethink a few other bits.

It'd give me the chance to clean everything thoroughly too....

That old machine would have been the better part of three grand .... and now it's to be upgraded thanks to a $6.40 purchase from a 'junk' shop....;p

My yard sale special started out as an eMachines T3104 until I yanked its guts and tossed it into a custom case with side window and blue led fans that I salvaged. The front of the case looks like a BMW Coupe. I think it dates back to '02-'05. With the big "e" boot logo disabled, you would never know  it from a "real" computer. The VIA chipset absolutely refused to play well with a modern OS, so it stays XP. The FX 5200 does OK, but if the mobo wasn't AGP, I'd toss my 8800GT GFX card in it as well. The old dog will probably outlive me.

It's now happily residing in the Lian Li case.... with a suitable PSU to run the GTX 285...

WEI is now 5.5 ....;)

Scores are...

5.8

5.5

7.4

7.4

5.9

Best I'd be able to do is 5.8 ...if I up the ram.

Not worth it, really...;)

Nope.

As is always the case...you get too eager to install 'shit' and something bites you on the bum.  This time it was DVD capturing software I'd had on the old 32bit XP...and of course arse-sumed it'd be fine on a 64bit 7.

It wasn't.

Explorer didn't quite 'crash'...it went on a very extended 'go-slow'....eg. right-click on the desktop....and go read War and Peace while something showed up.

Jumping back to a suitable restore point fixed things....followed by careful poking and prodding to be sure...;)

Anyhoo ...it's been hanging in there all day...not missing a beat...so tomorrow I may just start on the next phase of 'hand-me-down' rebuilds....;)

....and the BIOS flash and other tweaks and my WEI went up a bit in the drive dept...

5.8

5.5

7.4

7.4

6.2

It's all fun....'til someone gets hurt...;)

Well....that went well... attempting to stuff the recently removed P4P800E [ATX] MoBo into the hand-me-down location didn't happen...it's an AT case.  The PSU was therefore going to argue with the CPU/cooler....

So, off I went to my 'local' and grabbed a Thermaltake Versa II with included 500w PSU for $78.  It has 'quaint' tool-less fittings for HDs, etc., but you get what you pay for .... it ain't no Lian Li.....  but it's cheap.

So...at this stage [it's together] the cheapie has cost $84.40 ...;)

The P4 is up and running OK...so now to transfer all of Terry's settings and docs, etc to the 'new one' .... then the oldie can be left as that oddity you use to experiment with.

Ultimately the plan is to avoid divorce by relinquishing one of them to 'recycling' via a thrift shop. - there's only so many computers you can have at any one time...and currently it's 7 ...;)

You've heard the stereotype about old ladies and cats.

Old techies collect computers and computer carcasses.  It's only a matter of time before they're the next stereotype (if not already.)

(I won't say how many I've got squirreled away myself   )

For me personally, it's 3... er, complete ones, that is.  My AMD FX8350 8 core Win 8.1 rig; my AMD FX8170 8 core Win 8 rig, and my P4 XP gaming rig.

I'm also building a i7 9770K rig that'll take me a while cos [none of my parts are give-aways/hand-me-downs] I'll have a wait for the new case. The one I ordered came in damaged during transit, so I'll have about 3 -4 weeks 'til a replacement arrives.  Not to worry, though, while I have the CPU, mobo, RAM and liquid cooling kit, I still have a few parts to get, and that means saving, which will take a while.  I'm hoping late Feb early March but it could be longer.

And will anybody be getting me to donate/get rid of one?  Not feching likely!  This is a big place, and I want a PC handy wherever I am...'cept the dunny.  Besides, Shaunna's moving out Monday so won't be here to blackmail me into with parting with any.

File Transfer Wizard.

I thought I'd use that....and get Terry's stuff off the old XP and onto the new 7 Ult.

Here's an idea, MICROSOFT .... if you WANT people to move on from XP to newer OS vers.... provide XP's updates with the 7-compatible version as a compulsory/essential/critical/whatever update.

So I don't waste my effing time offloading from XP with 2gig of junk 7 can't even see....;p

Hell, I just take my android tablet, or my iPad there with me. Much more portable.  

I need to concentrate all I can while I'm on the dunny...

...cos I take salts.

What, Epsom Salts to help you go?

No, somersaults! 

so my Android is NOT a prerequisite to toilet time.

Hmmm, my daughter took me to pick up some parts today and I was told the case I want has become as rare as hens teeth due to it being a discontinued line.  The guy didn't say whether it had been discontinued by Thermaltake or his company [and it was too busy for me to hold him up with questions about it] but he did say they had other outlets with stock and that he will endeavour to get one for me... and at a better price. 

The catalogued price is $265 but he will let me have it for $239.  I'm not complaining!  I might be having to wait but that's not a discount I'll sneeze at.  Besides, finances dictate that the rig won't likely be completed until early March, so a little longer is no skin off my nose.

Ah, how it pays to look just a little harder sometimes.  While the store I went to yesterday didn't have the case I want in stock and would take a while to get one in, I looked at another branch nearby and they had one in stock, so I ordered it and will have it delivered for $19.00 instead of going out of my way to pick it up.  It'd probably cost me around that in fuel to have my daughter run me down there, so I'm breaking even.

According to the delivery schedule listing, I should have it mid next week sometime... well here's hoping, and that it's not damaged in transit this time.  So yeah, if I cannibalise this rig for the other parts I need to complete the build, I could have it up and running sooner than first expected, and then I can take my time to replace those parts for this machine.

Yipeeeee!!!

Here's my den-of-iniquity where I do stuff...  The huge 'monitor' is a Telly I got for nix....running at 1380x768 ...it's Terry's...and she can almost see it OK.

The Lian Li on the left is my hand-me-down ....and the little thing open on the right is the 6.40 machine that now resides in the other case.

Since then they've all been swapped over...and I'm still 'tweaking' her new system to match as it was...though now 7 Ult rather than XP Pro ...;)

Yeah, after some dramas regarding my niece, I've lost my man cave downstairs... she is renovating it and moving in over the next few days, so all my puter junk and stuff had to come upstairs.  That's the other reason I hurt like a bitch all over... feel totally knackered.

Speaking of cases, I'm hoping my Thermaltake Level 10 full tower turns up today or tomorrow... then I can begin building this beasty I have planned... liquid cooled i7 4770K that'll kick some serious arse by the time I'm done...  and I've got a 42" Samsung HDTV that I can use as a monitor, not to mention a spare room overlooking the street that'll make a great PC/TV room... though I won't be putting up any Alien, Clockwork Orange posters.  I've got some sketches of my mother, father and brother to hang in there.

Hehe, how's this for perfect timing... a guy from the store just rang me to confirm some details and it is being shipped out as I type.  So great, my prick of a day yesterday, and a mongrel of a night last night don't seem all that bad now.

So now the new case has the P4 ..... aka Terry's old machine .... now running Win 7 Pro 32.

Gonna experiment with overclocking it as the CPU is the low score for its WEI... and this new case has a silly number of locations for fans.

The CPU fan I'd had on it was getting tired aka noisy and I already had one of those tower pipe thingies that suits it laying around so it's on it now.

Running Speedfan doesn't make a lot of sense....sensors are screwy...so I'll install ASUS Probe an work out what's what...;)

That's the one that was noisy...

...and that's what's in it now...;)

I had something similar to the one you discarded.  It was in a 2nd-hand rig that I bought... had an IBM case and other IBM stuff inside, with an OEM version of XP on it. 'Twas a nice machine, too, but it had to go because it was non-upgradable, a family member needed a PC, any PC, and I bought a new rig with a P4 2.6 and 64mb DDR RAM in it.  Hehe, it seems hard to believe that was an upgrade, given the high performance tech of today.

Before I gave the IBM rig to my sister, I too changed out the CPU cooler because it was a bit loud... got a nice Zalman unit for about 30 bucks that performed well enough to keep it going a few more years.  Hmmm, must have been around 14 - 15 years ago now, and she only recently gave up on it... like about 12 months agoago.  She does scrapbooking and needed more power, so until she can afford a new machine [hopefully] later this year, she has something decent that I built out of parts I had laying around here.

I've had a few people ask why I keep so much "puter junk", but if only they knew!  First; I like to tinker with shit; second, if somebody needs a cheap PC I've a better chance of helping them out; third, what else am I gonna store in all the storage crates and drawers?  Besides, I don't get around so good anymore, so it giives me something to do... aka a hobby.

I have several of those, along with 2 full-time jobs, and only one of them is messing with computer hardware...;)

Another year or so and it'll all happen again....when I get around to upgrading my own.... I don't even have USB3 yet.  The i7 920 is what needs improvement.... so it'll be a new box...new MoBo .... likely new 'everything'..... whatever's up-to-date then...;)

Ah, stuck back in the Stoneage, I see... how ancient of you. I've had USB3 for a while now and it is super quick compared to 2.  You know, you can get a PCI-E card with 2 or 4 USB3 ports for just a few bucks, so it's an inexpensive way to enjoy the higher transfer speeds until your next major upgrade.

Yes, I have a couple of AMDs that are faster than the i7 920, so it would be the place to start.. and of course, a new mobo with SATA3 and USB3, DDR3 RAM... all the good stuff.  Who knows DDR4 might be out by the time you're ready to build... and something from Intel to top the Haswells. I've got a i7 4770K on a Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD5H with 10 SATA3 ports and 10 USB3 ports, so it'll rock the casbah with speed to burn.

I really wanted the Gigabyte GA-Z87X UD7-TH because it had some interesting SSD/HDD related features and 2 on-board Thunderbolt ports, but the company I ordered it from messed me around, saying  it was discontinued and no longer in stock. 'Twas bullshit, though, given it is the latest model from Gigabyte  Discontinued my arse, they just didn't want to sell it to me at the advertised price, which was significantly lower than any of their competitors. 

Thing is, they're still advertising it for $320.00 and taking orders at that price... they just email prospective customers later with a 'not available' apology and offer an alternative... which I rejected because they had nothing comparable at a reasonable price.  I got the last laugh, though.  I lodged a written complaint regarding deceptive trade practices with the ACCC and Consumer Affairs.

Anyhow, I have all I need to get started with the build now.  The Thermaltake Level 10 case arrived about 10 mins ago, so I might have a snooze for a couple of hours before getting stuck into it... gotta cannibalise some parts out of this rig to complete it so will be off line this evening, me thinks.

AMD is in your future...

Nope ....it'll be Intel ...that benchmark site I linked to shows where the value is ....;)

I have nothing against AMD processors as they have served me well over the years, especially the 8 core FXes, and I could have upgraded to an AMD FX9350, which rivals some Intel offerings, but for my latest build I went with Intel and got the highest rated 1150 socket CPU I could get.  Like they say, a change is as good as a holiday, and while sticking with AMD would have saved the cost of a new mobo, I'm more than happy to have paid the extra to have made the switch to Intel. 

I had thought of switching a couple of builds back, just to experience the speed many spoke of regarding thr i7, but the additional cost for a new mobo was always the dissuading factor.  Not this time, though!  These days I spend nothing other than on rent, utilities and food, so what's left gets stashed away to my 'puter fund'... and being the fund had a bit in it this time, I decided to bite the bullet and go i7.  Thing is, I'm back to a single income household [my niece and I will live independently of eachother], and my'puter fund' will take much longer to build, meaning future upgrades will be fewer and farther in between..

Oh well, this current upgrade should future-proof me for a few years, being high-end to begin with, so I'm not too concerned.  BTW, I didn't get started on building this new rig... fell asleep yesterday arvo about 2ish and didn't wake up again 'til 1.50am the next day.  Don't usually sleep that long... ever... must've needed it, though... and I'll be going back for another 3 - 4 hours at posts end... still feel a bit wearied.

For now. AMD could come out with a CPU that beats any I7. I wouldn't bet against it.