Hi everybody! I am new to this message board :smilekh: I recently started learning computer hardware with the goal to eventually go for A+. To practice fixing computers I need some old ones for free or a reasonable price. Any advice where I can get them would be very helpful. Thanks.
If I were you, I'd proposition universities and large businesses for throw-away PCs. Many schools and buisinesses have 2-year hardware cycling programs, where they donate their old machines and completely replace everything. It's a huge tax write-off for them to donate these machines instead of sell them, so you have a good chance of getting some. I am speaking from experience, because I managed to get 2-dozen HP Vectra workstations complete with OEM licenses of W2K Pro from a University here in SoCal. They have so far all worked properly, and the specs follow: CPU: ~450MHz Slot 1 Pentium III RAM: 128mb Registered PC100 SDRAM HDD: 8GB Western Digital Video: Integrated AGP Matrox MGA 200 8mb SGRAM Sound: Integrated Crystal Soundsystem Software: Office 2000 Pro NIC: Integrated 3COM 10/100
That sounds very good. Thanks! I'll try that! :good: So I just offer them to donate their equipment to me? What should I do about write offs? Can they write it off, if they gave it to a person and not a non-profit org. ?
Yeah, it can work. You have to be very specific with your wording. These words will be your friends: "learning, education, labs, beta testing, Beowulf cluster, student" etc. Let them know about your situation, and that you want to aquire experience fixing machines. Ask for old derelicts to work on, and you may be surprised at what you get. Just be nice, be yourself, and ask humbly. Remember, people can tell if they're being buttered up, just like you can. It also really helps to have connections. Anybody you know that works with or for an organization that might be donating could be a big help. As for my machines, I'm not making a profit off them or anything crooked like that. I've used them for labs, tests and betas. At this point I only keep a few around and the rest are going to be workstations at a community youth center. ;-)
OMG Anti-Trend u genius! my dad works for a the 2nd largest insurance group in the UK he gave me the contact of his local office and i phoned em up expecting nothing out of it but thinking it was worth a try, so i speak to the head of IT and he says that on the 27th they will be getting rid of 9 computers. all i have to do is go and collect them. According to my dad the machines are mainly pentium 3 based and are between 1 - 2 yrs old, so im guessing its going to be around 400mhz - 800mhz machines. this is gr8 as i can muck around with some of them, overclocking e.t.c and see how everthing works without worrying. it also means i can build a pc for my little sister.
Thanks Anti-Trend! I will try that. I live in Charlotte, NC and there is a lot big name tech companies near me. I will post here what I was able to get Thanks again, you've been a great help. I didn't know where or how to start.
A Beowulf cluster is a distributed computing network. Basically a bunch of Linux boxes that are networked together to make one powerful [super]computer. They are used for research, complex CG rendering, and load balancing for enterprise class networks. Also, glad it worked out for you, ProcalX. And happy hunting Vitalik22!
