Found a computer

[supton]

How come people don't put a copy of their PIN onto the case? I'm not sure how to get in.

Trying to figure out what to do with this PC that I dragged home from the transfer station, "Ryan" enabled PIN on Win10 (?) and as such I haven't a clue how to get past that. No Windows sticker on this gamer PC so I think I'm stuck shelling out for a WIndows copy? or going Linux? Wife thinks she has XP someplace.

Anyhow. Looks like a liquid cooled i5-4690k at 3.5GHz. I've never seen heatsink fins on its 8GB of DDR 3 1.6GHz memory, but there you go. 1TB HD... that needs to go, this thing is dirt slow getting to boot. The ZOTAC GTX 950 looks like an old video card (nVidia?), but I'm thinking this might make for a decent machine for my son to play video games on, better than what he has today. Unplugged the HD to force it into BIOS to verify processor; it has 4 SATA ports and 4 DIMM slots (only 2 in use), so it has expansion. 600W power supply? Way ahead of the small form factor desktops we currently have.

Free is always a nice price. I know nadda about computers but from what I can tell, it's well out of date, and slow, and I didn't expect it to even power up. So far, I'm ahead in my book. I have a stack of 500GB HD's (useless I know) and a stack of 128GB SSD's, most of which have some form of Windows on them, am thinking to swap in an SSD and figure out how to get Win10 on it.

 

[eljefino]

Try running a live linux distro on it.

Is there a factory reset? Try hitting ESC, F1, F8, F10 when it's booting to see if you get a menu with options.

If you find a windows 10 install CD the license might be burned into the BIOS already. Is this a name brand machine?

 

[JohnnyG]

Sounds like a nice machine! If you want to play games, I'd avoid Linux. Steam is pretty weak, unless you shell out some bucks.

 

[proveitwithdata]

Plop an ssd and run that thing on w10 or any flavor of linux. Those machines had an extreme lifespan thats yet to end. OC will get you decent fps on most games.

 

[supton]

Try running a live linux distro on it.

Is there a factory reset? Try hitting ESC, F1, F8, F10 when it's booting to see if you get a menu with options.

If you find a windows 10 install CD the license might be burned into the BIOS already. Is this a name brand machine?

I could bring that up in Linux easily enough, I waited for it to boot into Windows but got stuck at the login. No Win10 CD's here though, all our machines either came with Win10--or Win7 and we let them upgrade on their own.

I couldn't find much on the MB (lots of ads for what it has, PCIe 3.0 etc) but BIOS says ASUS.

Sounds like a nice machine! If you want to play games, I'd avoid Linux. Steam is pretty weak, unless you shell out some bucks.

I get that impression; TBH I don't play games so I'm surprised I even know what Steam is (my son sure does).

Plop an ssd and run that thing on w10 or any flavor of linux. Those machines had an extreme lifespan thats yet to end. OC will get you decent fps on most games.

That's my plan, somehow. If we had Win10 discs I'd move in that direction.

Should be a fun evening project I think.

 

[wwillson]

Whenever I get a PC that someone else owned, I always format the hard drive and start over. You don't want to use a PC that someone else got infected with who knows what. You can download Windows for free from Microsoft.

Windows 11 would be my first choice:

Download Windows 11

www.microsoft.com

Then Windows 10 if the PC can't run 11:

Download Windows 10

 

[97prizm]

How come people don't put a copy of their PIN onto the case? I'm not sure how to get in.

Trying to figure out what to do with this PC that I dragged home from the transfer station, "Ryan" enabled PIN on Win10 (?) and as such I haven't a clue how to get past that. No Windows sticker on this gamer PC so I think I'm stuck shelling out for a WIndows copy? or going Linux? Wife thinks she has XP someplace.

Anyhow. Looks like a liquid cooled i5-4690k at 3.5GHz. I've never seen heatsink fins on its 8GB of DDR 3 1.6GHz memory, but there you go. 1TB HD... that needs to go, this thing is dirt slow getting to boot. The ZOTAC GTX 950 looks like an old video card (nVidia?), but I'm thinking this might make for a decent machine for my son to play video games on, better than what he has today. Unplugged the HD to force it into BIOS to verify processor; it has 4 SATA ports and 4 DIMM slots (only 2 in use), so it has expansion. 600W power supply? Way ahead of the small form factor desktops we currently have.

Free is always a nice price. I know nadda about computers but from what I can tell, it's well out of date, and slow, and I didn't expect it to even power up. So far, I'm ahead in my book. I have a stack of 500GB HD's (useless I know) and a stack of 128GB SSD's, most of which have some form of Windows on them, am thinking to swap in an SSD and figure out how to get Win10 on it.

Burn a copy of Systemrescuecd the Kraken, or AD plus which I'm not as familiar with

 

[97prizm]

Sounds like a nice machine! If you want to play games, I'd avoid Linux. Steam is pretty weak, unless you shell out some bucks.

Linux has really stepped up with games available. I'm fairly sure many can be purchased online just like for windows machines

 

[supton]

Whenever I get a PC that someone else owned, I always format the hard drive and start over. You don't want to use a PC that someone else got infected with who knows what. You can download Windows for free from Microsoft.

Windows 11 would be my first choice:

Download Windows 11

www.microsoft.com

Then Windows 10 if the PC can't run 11:

Download Windows 10

Can you do that w/o a registry key? I don't see any official sticker on this machine, and was thinking I couldn't go that route.

 

[Vitamin Yoda]

A 1 TB SSD can be had for next to nothing. Install one and use the HDD as a keychain ornament. You can force a Windows 11 install by following these directions:

 

[wwillson]

Can you do that w/o a registry key? I don't see any official sticker on this machine, and was thinking I couldn't go that route.

Yes, you sure can. I have a couple PCs that run the downloaded Windows 10 without a registration key. There are some things that are disabled, but I don't even remember that those are, as it hasn't affected my use of the PC.

 

[mk378]

In any modern PC that shipped with Windows, the Windows license is stored on the motherboard. You can wipe the drive or replace with a new drive and reinstall from scratch and it will be licensed.

 

[atikovi]

Trying to figure out what to do with this PC that I dragged home from the transfer station,

You didn't see the signs, NO SCAVENGING posted everywhere?

 

[supton]

You didn't see the signs, NO SCAVENGING posted everywhere?

Can't speak for all of New England, but in these parts, riots might ensue if that was enforced. [At our station I think the operators consider themselves having first pick!] In summer months there's a "second chance" table, I don't think they'd normally like to see computers on that (costs money to dispose, so I'm guessing "Ryan" paid $5 to drop off). If I dispose of this machine myself I "made" the town that money.

In any modern PC that shipped with Windows, the Windows license is stored on the motherboard. You can wipe the drive or replace with a new drive and reinstall from scratch and it will be licensed.

Good to know.

In other news--smack my head--found the product key on the side of the case. Zero idea how I missed that, I'll blame it being the morning and all. Sounds like I should be able to figure it out from here.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Install the same version of Windows 10 (32bit vs 64bit, Home vs Pro) that's currently on it and it should activate automagically.

 

[supton]

Gave him a 128gb SSD and an 8gb thumb drive, and stood back. He got Win10 reinstalled and last I knew was reformatting the 1TB HD (although he insists on calling it “resetting“ the HD). I’m kinda impressed, its the most ambition he’s shown in some time.

Sounds like it is a step up from what he has. I think a better ssd and more ram, and maybe a monitor, as I had to loan that too, will do him well. Not bad.

 

[supton]

Found another one today. Dell E5430, with an i3 in it. Win7 sticker but it looks like the free Win10 upgrade ended? I did check, it does power up and go into BIOS, so it might not be a brick. Prior owner took the HD out, so I'll swap in one of my 128GB SSD's and put on Mint. Daughter needs a better laptop and if this can do google docs it might be all that she needs. Just need a new battery, new ac adapter, and maybe another 4GB (8GB should be enough I think). Ok, not quite free, would guess there's a reason why I found it for that price.

Nice Sunday project all the same.

 

[supton]

Might be a miss on this laptop, bad display. It works enough to run with but it's got a line, some streaks and is really sensitive to me pressing around the edges. But the battery is in better shape than I thought, although it's got all of 2.5hours of life at best it seems. Display for $22, RAM for $10 or so, power supply for another $10-15? not sure if worth fixing up.

 

[mk378]

Mint will work fine with 4 GB of RAM.

The bad screen suggests that laptop was handled roughly though, so the rest may have problems on the way too. I would dump it back.

 

[supton]

Mint will work fine with 4 GB of RAM.

The bad screen suggests that laptop was handled roughly though, so the rest may have problems on the way too. I would dump it back.

I might dump it, one of the usb ports is broken. I don’t think it took many drops, but as you say, some signs of rough handling.

Did some comparisons and it rates ok against my e6410, with its i7 620. Race to the bottom I suppose. Might mess with it more tomorrow, decide later.