"Frankenrig"

[Toy4x4]

Over the past year, a friend and I built/purchased new towers. Another friend has an old Dell that is ~10 years old with a single core (3.4) and running XP. Its basically an email machine, but he is a gamer.
The first friend and I thought we should compile our best parts and make him an upgraded rig. It still won't play the latest and greatest, but it will be a big step over what he currently has.

Had some trouble at first hooking up the power/speaker/LED wires on the bottom. Couldn't get it to work last night. Color codes don't mean a thing (which I forgot from a previous build). I finally ended up just following the MB instructions (while on the phone with 1st friend) and hit the button. "ITS ALIVE!!!" I said. He said "Awesome! We'll call it "Frankenrig". Hence, "Frankenrig".

In the "new" rig:
Athlon dual core 5600+
Gigabyte MA790X-UD4P MB
4 gigs 800Mhz memory
Coolermaster 550 power supply
Saphire 4850 512MB graphics card
LG DVD optical drive
Hard drive - SATA -(brand/capacity - I don't know)
Antec Performance Plus case (this thing is a TANK!!)

I know he has a sound card he can swap into this and a copy of W7. I'm guessing his old rig still has an IDE HD.

The best thing...he doesn't know he is getting it!

Here is a pic:

 

[SatinSilver]

Hmmm, I was expecting to see pics of a truck since I pulled up the thread via Recent Topics. Oh well...

 

[901Memphis]

I used to have a 4850 with a dual core 939 opteron, so somewhat similar. It was a pretty decent setup in its day , but the reference cooler card runs hot.

Of course my cpu was over clocked from 1.8 to 2.8 daily on air cooling, but the card i kept stock due to temperatures. I even had to replace the cooler at one point due to bearing noise on the card.

Most of the cooler master power supplies ive seen are of questionable quality, hope that one is a solid one.

I have frankened many a rig, now I just run an AMD 960T with a gtx 670. Cpu overclocked, gpu stock. RAM massively clocked with tight timing and extra voltage.

 

[NMBurb02]

I don't know much about computer builds, so I can't comment on the tech stuff, but it is pretty cool of you and your friend to cobble something together for another friend. Kudos to the two of you!

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted By: NMBurb02
it is pretty cool of you and your friend to cobble something together for another friend. Kudos to the two of you!

That's cool. Exactly this ^ !

 

[Toy4x4]

Well, I got back from delivering it and he was pretty stoked. He had just received a 23" Acer flatscreen yesterday to replace his 19" Dell square monitor. Talk about timing!

I was hoping we would start the reformatting/W7 install right away, but he HAD to use his old computer tonight to sign up for classes.

"New" computer, "new" monitor, and Cox doubled his internet speed ~2 weeks ago. Again, talk about timing!

 

[Hokiefyd]

I like souping up older computers. I have an older eMachines desktop that came with an Athlon Neo 15W processor and 1 GB of RAM. I got it for free out of a junk pile. I've since replaced the motherboard with a newer OEM one that supports HDMI and also just swapped in an Athlon X2 4450e processor. It runs like a champ, even with the OEM cooler that came with the 15W processor. It will load up to about 55 deg C, and idle at about 40-45 deg C. Paired with a 20" Samsung monitor I got off Craigslist for 40 bucks a few years ago, I have a total of about 100 bucks in this computer. It's my garage computer, for surfing/YouTube/Pandora when I'm outside.