What did I buy?

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Psyc

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I went yard sale hunting yesterday and saw this case at one of them.

The lady wanted $40 and I thought it seemed like a pretty good deal.
It's basically a barebones kit. The case, motherboard, a dvd-rom, floppy drive, power supply, and a firewire card (?).

Here's some pictures.
http://complexthought.net/mobo/

I'm trying to figure out what motherboard it is. There's 2 serial numbers and I tried googling both but got no results. Maybe I wrote something down wrong?

I says fullcom on some of the connector...thingies (yeah, I'm a newb so I don't know what I'm talking about).

There's also a little black speaker-looking box. What's its purpose?
I also don't know if the red card is a firewire card. Is it?
There's also a bunch of little tiny cables that are connected to absolutely nothing. I don't know what to do with those.

There's some that are connected to the mobo but not connected to anything else. I'm assuming those connect to the drives and HD's when I get them.

The CPU is Intel, but is it P4?

I also took a look at the ram. Two sticks of 256mb. The type begins with PCI133 or PC133 (don't remember which). I assumed it was really old because I only got one result on NewEgg.

The lady also told me that the case "lit up" and I assumed it had LEDs. When I was going to sleep last night, I realized that the cables were glow in the dark.
:whistle2:s

Since the case has a window and all, I definately want to put in LEDs. Do I need to buy new fans for that?

Can someone also enlighten me on what HD I should get once I can figure out what motherboard this is?

Anyway, I think that's all I've got for now. Sorry for all of the questions, but I'm lost. :whistle2:x
 
I can't tell really anything based on those pictures. You've got a firewire card, and a 450 watt power supply.

The RAM should have printing on it telling you what size at least, and maybe the speed. The MoBo will have printing to tell you the model. The processor (under the big fan and heatsink) will tell you what speed and chipset it is. Get close pictures of those and I can tell you more.
 
[quote name='danny-o']Why not give it a test run and check the hardware through windows?[/QUOTE]

No hard drive :)

Quillion, I'll try to get those pictures ASAP.
 
You can identify a motherboard based on the string of code on the bottom left: (highlighted in red)

[URL=http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=biosscreen8ds.gif][/URL]

Sometimes that code only shows when you get into the BIOS setup. There should be a prompt on the screen that say 'Press key to enter setup' with the appropriate key to the right of the phrase (Usually F10 or Delete). Once you get that code, you can google it from there. If you are not able to find the whole string, try breaking it down into pieces for your search.

From the shots you posted, all I could determine was that it looked like an e-machines motherboard. But that BIOS will definatively tell you what's is what
Going into windows device manager is for girly men! :D
 
[quote name='Quackzilla']Yeah, it does look like an emachines motherboard, and if that is the case you got totally ripped off.[/quote]

Nah, not totally ripped off. Its actually a decent case if you look at it. Even if it was all junk inside at least he has that and the power supply.
 
Yeah, for $40 that's a nice case, PSU and a DVD-Rom drive... I'd definitely upgrade everything else though. And that's a pretty big aftermarket fan too. I'm guessing there's a fairly decent processor under there.
 
How much should I expect to get for just the motherboard and cpu?

I have a friend offering $50, would I possibly get more on eBay? (to make profits for a new motherboard and cpu.)
 
yes, I saw the cpu ending around mid 40s on ebay alone. Im sure bundled with a mobo would fetch an extra 10-20. Than again, it may be easier to just sell to your friend. See if he would pay more, since hte case/power supply is worth close to 50 itself.
 
[quote name='Psyc']He just wants the mobo and cpu. So, I guess I'll just sell to him.[/QUOTE]

yea... and for your new cpu I highly reccomend an amd x2 3800+. Its a very nice processor performance wise.
 
Well, my current PC is 1.89GHz, so I was hoping on making something better.

He's giving me $50 for the mobo and cpu. I have about $90 paypal. So, I'll be able to buy something newer and better if I can make more money.
 
I'd find out the MoBo details before offloading it for cheap. Just a model number would get you as much information as you needed.
 
Ok, I was looking into AMD CPUs but I'm low on money.

So, then I saw this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116235

and it looks attractive.

Is it good? I'm into graphics, gaming, etc. So would that be able to handle multi-tasking? Like I could be running music, Photoshop, Azureus, IE (or FF), Dreamweaver, and possibly more things at the same time?

As far as gaming goes, I don't play A LOT of games. Maybe GTA or FIFA or PES, etc. I might want to try something like HL2 or Sims or CS but I'm not sure if this would be good for all of that.

Also, is "HT" a good thing to have? Because that specific CPU doesn't.

I need to get a mobo too, but how can I determine which one to get?
I saw that AMD CPUs and mobos have to match sockets, but I didn't see a socket number on the Intel. I need a good mobo that has onboard video and audio until I can save up for a much better gfx card. I need ram too.

I'll buy a HD too but I'm not sure if I'll have money for that just yet.
Which is better and affordable? Segate, Western Digital, or Maxtor?
 
[quote name='Psyc']Ok, I was looking into AMD CPUs but I'm low on money.

So, then I saw this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116235

and it looks attractive.

Is it good? I'm into graphics, gaming, etc. So would that be able to handle multi-tasking? Like I could be running music, Photoshop, Azureus, IE (or FF), Dreamweaver, and possibly more things at the same time?

As far as gaming goes, I don't play A LOT of games. Maybe GTA or FIFA or PES, etc. I might want to try something like HL2 or Sims or CS but I'm not sure if this would be good for all of that.

Also, is "HT" a good thing to have? Because that specific CPU doesn't.

I need to get a mobo too, but how can I determine which one to get?
I saw that AMD CPUs and mobos have to match sockets, but I didn't see a socket number on the Intel. I need a good mobo that has onboard video and audio until I can save up for a much better gfx card. I need ram too.

I'll buy a HD too but I'm not sure if I'll have money for that just yet.
Which is better and affordable? Segate, Western Digital, or Maxtor?[/quote] If you're going to go next generation, then you're going to go Dual-Core CPU's. HT or Hyper-Threading is 'sorta' a 2nd CPU that is for integer heavy operations. The Pentium D's are true dual core (They kinda fudge it a little bit) and are the most bang for the buck in the intel crowd. AMD does dual core as well but it excutes it completely (no fudging here). All in all if you want a cheap setup, I recommend getting a bundle from outpost.com. Sure the motherboard aint great, but it's only $30 more than buying the CPU alone. You can always update the motherboard for minimal loss. Not only are the Pentium D faster (when programs such as PhotoShop take advantage of mind you), they run quite a bit cooler. My Prescott P4 3Ghz runs mighty toasty until I got a beefy Heatsink/Fan.

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4817520#detailed

I bought my p4 bundle from outpost 2 years back and it's still strong (with the 'crummy' motherboard that acutally isn;t half bad). Won't upgrade for another 2 1/2 years prolly (or if Vista is THAT compelling which I doubt)
 
[quote name='Psyc']Ok, I was looking into AMD CPUs but I'm low on money.

So, then I saw this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116235

and it looks attractive.

Is it good? I'm into graphics, gaming, etc. So would that be able to handle multi-tasking? Like I could be running music, Photoshop, Azureus, IE (or FF), Dreamweaver, and possibly more things at the same time?

As far as gaming goes, I don't play A LOT of games. Maybe GTA or FIFA or PES, etc. I might want to try something like HL2 or Sims or CS but I'm not sure if this would be good for all of that.

Also, is "HT" a good thing to have? Because that specific CPU doesn't.

I need to get a mobo too, but how can I determine which one to get?
I saw that AMD CPUs and mobos have to match sockets, but I didn't see a socket number on the Intel. I need a good mobo that has onboard video and audio until I can save up for a much better gfx card. I need ram too.

I'll buy a HD too but I'm not sure if I'll have money for that just yet.
Which is better and affordable? Segate, Western Digital, or Maxtor?[/quote]

That is a decent CPU. It will do fine for most things. The socket is has is LGA 775. The computer you bought has 478. So they are incompatible. HT is a good thing to have but that CPU is 64 bit there for it is better then a CPU with HT.

For HDs Seagate and WD are pretty good. Maxtor is decent. Afforfability depends on the specific drives you buy but quality wise I would choose WD out of the three, of course others might disagree.
 
I know, I know. I just don't have a lot of money to spend on just one thing. So, I was trying to find something reasonably priced and then be able to use the money left over to buy a mobo, ram, and hopefully an HD.
 
You... didn't... :wall:... what are you doing buying PC parts? :lol:

The black square thingy is your chipset. Think of it as the instructions your mobo follows to talk across components.

The chipset really wont help tell you what your mobo is as intel chipsets are in about 60% of all motherboards.

Google any serial looking numbers you find printed on the board itself.

[quote name='Psyc']Ok, yeah I didn't know that the CPU was under the heat sink. Now I do.
I only read what it said on the black square.
http://complexthought.net/mobo/DSC00856.JPG

I think the end of this thread comes to conclusion that I bought a crappy processor and mobo for $40. At least I got a decent case and psu. :whistle2:/[/quote]
 
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