What would you do if you had these parts lying around?

[philosofool]

I've got some old parts lying around and I'm starting to wonder if there's some use I could put them to.

Athlon X2 3800, 2.0 Ghz dual core
BIOStar nForce 520 Motherboard w/ 2 SATA ports.
(This POS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138077 )
2GB DRR2 RAM (don't recall the frequency)
nVidia 8800 GTS 320MB that's hot and loud
450 W PSU of dubious origin

I don't have a hard drive, a monitor, or a case, and only sort have an optical drive.

Imagine that you had these lying around and had a bug to play with some computer parts. What would you do with them? I'm not opposed to spending a little money to make something cool.

 

[Blain]

Athlon X2 3800, 2.0 Ghz dual core
BIOStar nForce 520 Motherboard w/ 2 SATA ports.
(This POS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138077 )
2GB DRR2 RAM (don't recall the frequency)
nVidia 8800 GTS 320MB that's hot and loud
450 W PSU of dubious origin

I don't have a hard drive, a monitor, or a case, and only sort have an optical drive.

Imagine that you had these lying around and had a bug to play with some computer parts. What would you do with them?

I would sell them off and build an AMD E-350 based rig.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Do you actually _need_ anything?

You could make a big, noisy HTPC / streaming media box.


> I would sell them off and build an AMD E-350 based rig.

Good idea. that could be a small, quiet HTPC.

 

[Spikesoldier]

sell/trade the 8800gtx for a more power efficient card and turn machine into a server/nas.

the zacate idea is a good one too. i have a zacate rig doing HTPC duties and for the money, performs very well. zacate i think would also do well in a server/nas role.

edit: if you go zacate, consider the following: upgrade your main rig to 8gb and gut the 4gb to put in the zacate setup.

 

[philosofool]

Do you actually _need_ anything?

Mostly I wanted to hear what sort of creative ideas you guys had.

However, I kinda need a NAS. I currently backup my important files to my 200GB drive, but the rest of my family has no such option, and I would sort like to have my favorite files backed up to a different machine in case something really kills this one. Plus, it's getting a little cramped in this rig.

How would adding the following work to make this a NAS?
1.5TB 5900 RPM HDD
4GB USB stick for FreeNAS
Wireless Network Card (any advice here?)
A Case ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147073 )
Cheap Video card. Do you think I could cannibalize a mobile GPU from a now defunct laptop?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

why not just get a cheap GPU instead of ripping one off of s laptop. Im not sure if that would fit into the mobo

 

[philosofool]

why not just get a cheap GPU instead of ripping one off of s laptop. Im not sure if that would fit into the mobo

Cost of adding the mobile GPU: $0 and fifteen minutes.
Cost of adding a new, cheap GPU: $30 and five minutes.

 

[mfenn]

Cost of adding the mobile GPU: $0 and infinity minutes.
Cost of adding a new, cheap GPU: $30 and five minutes.

Fixed that for you. Even if the mobile GPU isn't soldered onto the board, it would be in an MXM slot, not a PCIe one.

Also, why would you want to make the server wireless? Just plug it into your router with an Ethernet cable.

 

[philosofool]

Fixed that for you. Even if the mobile GPU isn't soldered onto the board, it would be in an MXM slot, not a PCIe one.

Also, why would you want to make the server wireless? Just plug it into your router with an Ethernet cable.

That answers the question about using the mobile GPU.

My wireless router, an airport express, does not have extra ethernet ports. Also, I would prefer to have the option not to put it in the same room as my cable jack. Some day that might be my living room.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Folding or a file server.

 

[mfenn]

That answers the question about using the mobile GPU.

My wireless router, an airport express, does not have extra ethernet ports. Also, I would prefer to have the option not to put it in the same room as my cable jack. Some day that might be my living room.

Sucks about your router. 🙁 Maybe it's just the IT guy in me speaking, but I would never want a server to be wireless due to availability and performance concerns.