Computer Parts Question

[Quad08]

I've wanted to build my own computer for awhile now, but due to the fact that I am 1) new to the whole 'Construct Your own Computer' thing and 2) being a college student who pays his own way and can't afford to by the parts.

However, a classmate of mine in college has just offered to give me two broken PC's he has laying around his house for free, so I can get parts off of them. He claims the parts inside the computers are 'top notch' and they broke from viruises within the hard-drives.

My question is...

How can I tell what kind of parts they are? For example, can you tell a 1gib stick of ram from a 2gib stick?


Thank you for any information you can provide

 

[Hateren47]

Often parts are labelled some way or another but in case of RAM you can always put in one stick at a time and boot to BIOS to see how much it is. If you have serial numbers (that are not self explanatory) you can always look those up.

 

[StBishop]

As Hateren47 said, there will usually be stickers telling you what they are, if not then with a serial number.

If they're actually top notch, you should be able to see the brand quite easily, most of the best equipment comes from reputable companies in my experience.

If you're uncomfortable with testing things Google is your friend. If you can't find stickers, (and assuming you goto college/uni/highschool) find the nerdiest nerd in the whole place, say hi, ask for some help and offer a beer or some snacks and see if they can help.

 

[xxxDarkUtopiaxxx]

RAM modules are easy - their capacity, speed and timings are always on a sticker on each module. Some HDDs also have a sticker, but more usually its a game of "shove it in and see what the BIOS says it is". CPUs (once dug out from under the cooler) will have their model number (and often batch number and origin) etched onto their IHS (the metal plate covering the top), any other info you need is then just a Google away. Optical drives usually give you the gist of what they can do via logos printed on the front of the drive tray (eg. CD, DVD-RW, BluRay...).

Motherboards are a bit trickier - usually the model number is gaudily silkscreened across a bare patch of their PCB but sometimes (especially with OEM boards in Dells, HPs etc.) all you'll find is a cryptic code like MS-7032 which can be Googled to give you the specs. Problem is, there's lots of other info silkscreened onto a mobo so it can sometimes prove hard to work out what numbers pertain to the model

Expansion cards are usually the worst, often with no model numbers printed on them. Graphics cards are usually distinguished by the hoofing big cooling gear attached to them; if you're lucky said cooling will be hidden under a plastic shroud emblazoned with stickers gaudily proclaiming the manufacturer and, if you're really lucky, model number. Unlike motherboards graphics cards depend on the model number above all else; different manufacturers will use different PCBs and different cooling solutions but the performance of the card depends on its model (eg. 7900GS, HD4850) rather than manufacturer, as that tells you what silicon is under the hood. Downside is that finding out what that name is often entails installing it into a machine...

 

[Quad08]

Thanks for all the helpful advice people!

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Assuming this person you're getting the components from is being entirely truthful, there is absolutely nothing wrong with those computers - they "broke" because the hard drive, which contains the OS and all, got corrupted with malicious software and other crap. So in other words, they aren't broken at all, the problem is with the software installed making the computer not work anymore.

Formatting the hard drive and starting over will generally render "broken" machines of that variety functional again - if this individual has actually purchased several new computers after breaking the OS on the old ones, they've been wasting their damn money, heh. Advantage you I guess.

 

[Danzaivar]

Download Ubuntu, load the computers with Ubuntu in (Loads the operating system off the cd) so it's virus free, then go into the system info tab to look at the specs.

The physical hardware might have a label on it saying the specs of a piece but they don't NEED to be there.

 

[Wolfram23]

Assuming this person you're getting the components from is being entirely truthful, there is absolutely nothing wrong with those computers - they "broke" because the hard drive, which contains the OS and all, got corrupted with malicious software and other crap. So in other words, they aren't broken at all, the problem is with the software installed making the computer not work anymore.

Formatting the hard drive and starting over will generally render "broken" machines of that variety functional again - if this individual has actually purchased several new computers after breaking the OS on the old ones, they've been wasting their damn money, heh. Advantage you I guess.

That's what I was thinking too! You'd have to be some kind of dumbass to not know how to either format the HDD and reinstall your OS, or even just buy a $50 new HDD, but instead to go spend hundreds on a new machine. I'd say the older PCs aren't top notch, at best they're good, because seriously... nobody's going to waste thousands of dollars (cost of "top notch" these days) when the only thing wrong is a HDD.

Anyway, IMO first thing to do is boot them up as is, and go into BIOS (usually hit Delete). In there you should be able to find info on the CPU, mobo, and RAM. Other than that, the above posters have all given pretty good suggestions on checking out labels and model numbers, then just google it.

If you make a list of all the parts (CPU, Mobo, RAM, GPUs, Power supplies) and post that, we can probably help make a decent choice of what to use and what to replace. Alternatively, do that at www.tomshardware.com forums which are really really helpful.