Today I finished my part of the donor computer project - a friend put out
a call about a week ago looking for a stick of DDR3 and a modernish
smartphone to be shipped abroad for another mutual friend who is
not in a great position in terms of finances, health or communicative
ability - apparently their long time desktop PC had finally bit it and
they were relying on a busted Note 3 for basically all contact with the
outside world. The problem with the PC was traced down to the SDRAM so it
was thought it could be replaced and it could limp along for a bit longer.
I may be all about disaster computing and bringing tired old machines out
of retirement, but to expect someone in their position to have to rely on
something like that as, again, *their only means of communication* doesn't
sound like a very good outcome. Well, some months back when I was working
on a cheap, entry-level, modernesque build, I picked up a damaged Z270
chipset mobo for free, and grabbed a used Kaby Lake Pentium and a couple
sticks of DDR4 to see if I could get an LGA1151 up and going for less than
a hundred bucks. The mobo, a Gigabyte Z270XP-SLI, was basically the same
as the one I use in my modern PC (built in '17) except with a different
color scheme, so getting it going would have been a pretty huge coup - but
of course I stuck it in a drawer, and forgot about the entire kit until
this DDR3 thing came up. I offered to try my best to repair the board, and
send the entire kit instead of just a stick of DDR3, since they really
needed an entire computer not just for reliability but for compatibility's
sake.
Yeah well it was too damaged for someone with my skills and resources to
repair - the socket is actually full blown missing a pin, bent to the
point of breaking off before it came into my hands. Feeling pretty
defeated, I got ready to pack up a spare stick of DDR3 and ship it off
when, as if on cue, one of the recycling centers with which I do business
sent me a message that they had recently come into possession of a variety
of ex-mining rigs that they were piecing out, and asked if I would be
interested in a Gigabyte Z270P-D3 in well-used but good condition. After
some going back and forth on the price we settled up and I ordered one.
The unit I ordered showed up yesterday morning, just in time to miss the
holiday USPS crunch. I opened up the box and couldn't have been happier -
many of the units I'd seen pictured were coated in mineral oil, or had
obvious signs of overheating, but besides a little bit of dust, this one
was in as good of shape as anyone could have hoped for from a second-hand
motherboard. I finished testing it, as well as the RAM and CPU, this
morning, everything working out wonderfully. The kit should be ready to
ship out Monday morning, hopefully arriving in its new home overseas
safely and in short order.
Build List - Partial
Gigabyte GA-Z270P-D3 (rev 1.0) LGA1151 Mobo
LGA1151 Kaby Lake Pentium G4560
2x4GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4
Recepient will be providing their own storage, PSU, and other accessories.
