[DEAD] Windows 7 Core 2 desktops starting at $55 ( $49 after promo code) free ship

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Boze

Senior member
Dec 20, 2004
634
14
91
Yeah I couldn't agree more... these are extremely powerful processors. I just pulled the trigger and bought one with a 500 GB hard drive, when it arrives I'm going to see what kind of video card I can put in it. I have a few power supplies lying around the house, I might drop an old 500 watt one in, get a GTX 970, install Steam OS and give it to my brother for a gaming machine for his birthday.
 

gdiamond3

Junior Member
Sep 18, 2015
5
1
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It's probably obvious but i can't find it but where is the product key information.Thanks in advance
 

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
12,968
221
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I just did some shopping for used DDR2 RAM and I found some name brand 4 x 1GB DDR2 800 kits (from ebay sellers with good ratings ) ranging from $12 shipped to $16 shipped.
 

Hugo Drax

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2011
5,647
47
91
LOL why buy thin terminals when you can get those machines for pennies on the dollar.
 

BenJeremy

Senior member
Oct 31, 2004
718
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Wont an android box work for this? They are cheap.

Yeah, Android TV box with Kodi FTW...

The only problem I have so far is the poor build quality of one of the boxes I have, resulting in "sparkles" in the video. That is more of a matter of bad manufacturing. Find a box with good reviews and you'd be set - plus you can pick up a cheap Bluetooth Android game controller and play Android games on it.
 

Tsavo

Platinum Member
Sep 29, 2009
2,645
37
91
I grabbed a Thinkcentre 3 GHz model for $62. SSD + spare 1tb drive + 4gb ram will make this a pretty decent Linux/Windows dual boot random project box.

I've been wanting to fiddle around with SDR stuff, and this is a really cheap way to do it. I'll post pix and small review when I get it.
 

Tsavo

Platinum Member
Sep 29, 2009
2,645
37
91
Got it today. From order to delivery was 6 days.

Mine is a Thinkcentre with a C2D E8400. 3 GHz. I screwed up and got a 1GB model. Spring for more ram. 4GB from Amazon is $28...which I ordered today. Total of the box is $90. The PC itself was only $62 delivered.

It includes a refurb license for Windows 7. W7 was installed but not activated. I'm guessing I can use this code for any PC...maybe someone can clarify here. The refurb sticker is next to the OEM sticker which was Xed out with a marker, but is still legible.

Anyhow, it came nicely boxed and with a cheapo kb and mouse. The PC itself is SFFish, and has room for 1 half height PCI card and 1 half height PCI-E card. It has exactly two SATA ports. I'm going to pull the DVD drive and put a 1TB drive in there to go alongside a 128GB SSD that's already in installed.

It has 4 RAM slots, but the box wouldn't boot with 4GB sticks, so I am guessing it maxes out at 8GB...I can't remember memory stuff from the C2D era.

It feels fleet enough. LinX is 17Gflops which is an utter pipsqueak in modern times, but it'll more than suffice for what I want it to do. It idles at 35 watts and pulls 75 watts in LinX.

My PC is labeled as Grade B. It has a small 3-inch long scratch on the top of the unit, but it is otherwise perfect. The interior of the PC including the PSU are spotless and dust free. I could spend maybe 1 minute with a can of black Krylon and pledge to make this thing look like new.

It has an Intel Gigabit NIC, so swapping it over to Suse will be a breeze. It'll make a great little SDR box which is why I bought it.

These old Thinkcentres are built like tanks, and this is no different. It takes seconds to get at the RAM and drives.

It's not quite silent, but it's not a bother, either. It's a pretty good deal, provided that the W7 refurb license isn't bound to it.
 

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
12,968
221
106
(Another cheap Alternative for Game streaming clients might be this PowerColor HD5450, but I haven't done any testing yet).

I ended up buying the above card for use with one of my SFF Core 2 desktops.

So far so good.

I am able to stream Skyrim at 1280 x 1024 ultra from a 4.3 Ghz G3258/R7 250X host computer. (I haven't tested 1080p yet.) Hardware decode was confirmed via going to "Settings" in Steam. Then clicking on "In home Streaming" then clicking on "Advanced Client options" then checking "display performance information". Hit F6 in game and Steam will show various info including whether decode is working via software or hardware, bit rate, latencies, etc

It also does a good job playing Team Fortress 2 natively (CPU: E8500 with 4GB RAM) at 1280 x 1024 low.

If a person can get that card for $10 After rebate, free shipping (and it does go on sale for that price quite regularly) then I think it is a really good deal.

P.S. Recently, I noticed Power Color changed the cooler on that card (It now has the bigger passive heatsink shown below)

14-131-338-20.jpg


The card I bought has the smaller passive heatsink though.
 
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