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So, I've got nine computers in FT cases

MichaelD

MichaelD

Lifer
Good morning AT,

So, you ever move or empty a storage unit and say "Where the hell did all this stuff come from?"

Oh man, how you forget how much crap you own! I recently took delivery of "my life"...my household goods that have been in storage while I was working overseas. As the movers were carrying stuff in, I kept seeing computer box after computer box (I keep all the boxes the cases ship in). And I'm going "Another freaking computer?? When did I get all this?" The answer is "over the course of 10 years or so." They are all in FT or pedestal server cases...I've got a pile of boxes roughly 5 feet cubed...what a mess.

Way back when, I used to do F@H and the only thing better than WUs is more WUs, right? I was building boxes left and right

I've got a couple of dual-Socket AMD servers and 7 PCs. The problem is that all the hardware in there is 6-10 years old. 🙁 Who's gonna buy this stuff? I can't afford the electricity to run them all now...don't have the space, either, so they've gotta go. It's been so long since I've used them that I can't remember the specs on any of them...which means I've gotta unpack/boot up each one. Like I've got nothing better to do...

With the cost of shipping a full tower/pedestal server, EBay is probably out, unless I'd be happy with a $5 profit. *sigh* CL, here I come.
 
So, is there a prize involved with F@H? Something like, if you dump $X into building computers specifically for F@H you get a plaque or a free lunch coupon or something?
 
Perhaps a local daycare/womans shelter/church might take them off your hands. Could even write off the donations come tax time.
 
Sentrosi2121 said:
Perhaps a local daycare/womans shelter/church might take them off your hands. Could even write off the donations come tax time.
Click to expand...

Hmm, that is a good idea. I've never itemized on my taxes before...I've always thought it was a slipperly slope and would get you audited.
 
If you value the PCs (assuming that they are in working order) at around $200/each, you've got around $1800 in donations.
They don't need to run Crysis2 at 60fps, but as long as they have an OS, they should be fine.
 
Whoops...forgot about the OS....yeah, about that....they're all running the same Corporate Copy of XP I got from work years ago...that would have to come off. Great. Back to Square 1. :thumbsdown:
 
Linux + Open Office could help out. Or just donate the boxes to the centers. They probably get some government grant for software. Can't hurt to ask around.
 
I would just test them and then sell them on CL as-is.

You could do a big packaged sale or break them up into individual listings, but you're gonna have to go cheap probably. But I mean if they are just going to collect dust, might as well just get rid of them to save you space and net you a small amount of money.
 
Schfifty Five said:
I would just test them and then sell them on CL as-is.

You could do a big packaged sale or break them up into individual listings, but you're gonna have to go cheap probably. But I mean if they are just going to collect dust, might as well just get rid of them to save you space and net you a small amount of money.
Click to expand...

That's probably what I'm going to do. They've got to be tested first; none of them haven't seen the light of day in 6+ years. I've gotta blank the HDs first, in any case, so the "testing" will be "built in." Some are nicer than others. The two pedestal servers, for example, are in nice, Chenbro cases...case is worth more than the guts. LOL!
 
MichaelD said:
With the cost of shipping a full tower/pedestal server, EBay is probably out, unless I'd be happy with a $5 profit. *sigh* CL, here I come.
Click to expand...

Looks like its time to make a late night trip to good will, or some other place that takes donations.

Friday night, say between 10pm and midnight, in and out within 2 minutes.
 
Never quite understood the fascination by some with F@H. Whats the point, other than heating up your house and increasing your power bills? Did people actually think they'd one day come home and see that their PC actually found the cure to cancer? Not being condescending, just curious.
 
Mxylplyx said:
Never quite understood the fascination by some with F@H. Whats the point, other than heating up your house and increasing your power bills? Did people actually think they'd one day come home and see that their PC actually found the cure to cancer? Not being condescending, just curious.
Click to expand...

People are geeks.
 
Contact the local police force and other public services. A friend of mine who's with the Toronto police force took a midtower off my hands to set up as a workstation at the office. Came and picked it up, too.

I, uh, made sure to run a 3x secure file deletion program before handing it over.
 
Mxylplyx said:
Never quite understood the fascination by some with F@H. Whats the point, other than heating up your house and increasing your power bills? Did people actually think they'd one day come home and see that their PC actually found the cure to cancer? Not being condescending, just curious.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. I stopped as soon as I realized how much it was increasing my power bills. I could have actually done more to cure cancer had I donated that money to a research foundation instead, and it would have been better for the environment as well.
 
I never did get the "folding @ home thing...the concept is wonderful, but I've never read about any benefit that was derived from it. No diseases cured, no illnesses cured, no wonderful breakthroughs in any field...just a bazillion watts used...to the benefit of the power companies.

:hmm: do I smell a conspiracy?

/tin foil hat.
 
BoomerD said:
I never did get the "folding @ home thing...the concept is wonderful, but I've never read about any benefit that was derived from it. No diseases cured, no illnesses cured, no wonderful breakthroughs in any field...just a bazillion watts used...to the benefit of the power companies.

:hmm: do I smell a conspiracy?

/tin foil hat.
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@home#Results

F@H is not the be all end all of medical research, but based on the papers they published(not counting the papers published in super computing journals) I think it is working quite well for them.
 
HAL9000 said:
I vote you superglue them together and turn them into a super computer... That's how that works right?
Click to expand...

Beowulf Cluster :hmm:

A Beowulf cluster is a computer cluster of what are normally identical, commodity-grade computers networked into a small local area network with libraries and programs installed which allow processing to be shared among them. The result is a high-performance parallel computing cluster from inexpensive personal computer hardware.
Click to expand...

url
 
^^Take one of those rack/shelf units and you pretty much have what my office looked like circa 2004/2005. Man, it was hot in there...
 
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