Companies dumping machines?

ED E

First off, I hope this an ok topic to post mods, I've read the Charter/FAQ and it seem ok. If its not go ahead and bin it.

Righto, looking to set up a lan of ~6 machines + 1 "Dedicated Server"(valve games) for gaming with the lads. Only intend to use "older" games and ones with low sys requirements; eg: CSS. Thing is I'm a 5th year and can spend a bit for anything vital but I hope to get most of what I need from company moves/shutdowns/upgrades. CRTs are fine, think I've found some that'll do. Does anyone know any companies that are dumping machines? Have transport and can collect from anywhere around co Dublin. For reference I'm hoping to get 2.4ghz 256MB(Though 512 would be a real advantage) w/ a decent graphics card. HDD space requirement is limited, 40 GB would be plenty.

Any help much apreciated. If you dont have any info please just keep your eyes peeled. I'll sub this thread so I can get on any leads asap.

Thanks,
Lethal

Stephen

I doubt you'll find anywhere throwing out stuff that recent. Machines being dumped from where I work recently are awful junk heaps. The best of them are late pentium IIIs. Anywhere using Microsoft volume licencing can't legally give you an operating system with their junk machines either.

ED E

Stephen wrote: »

I doubt you'll find anywhere throwing out stuff that recent. Machines being dumped from where I work recently are awful junk heaps. The best of them are late pentium IIIs. Anywhere using Microsoft volume licencing can't legally give you an operating system with their junk machines either.

I dont mind if they format the drives/take them out.

aidan_walsh

From the last company I worked with that threw out machines, they were usually of the "bordering on teenage" variety.

partyatmygaff

best i ever got was a p4 2.4ghz with 512mb ram and a 9600 and that was back in the day when the nvidia 6 series were only new so it was a decent machine.
Found 2 17" CRTs aswell with that first pc

In the same place i got another pc which was border on crap

It ran windows 3.1 and had 32mb and had some ANCIENT Pentium running at 400mhz (atleast thats what i remember) and it had some weird millenium integrated graphics and a 3.5gb HD and 2 floppy drives
needless to say the second pc got smashed up pretty fast

the first one also died on me when its PSU exploded and i think has fried everything on the board.
But it lasted me 2 years as a backup pc
(Never really got why it was being thrown away since it was reasonable at the time)

BrokenArrows

you probably wont get pcs with decent graphics cards. most computers that companys buy they dont fit good graphics because its a waste of money.

all the computers at my work have onboard rubbish cards while the rest of the computer is fairly good spec.

bpmurray

... fewer & fewer companies recycle old machines. There's an organization based in the digital hub who would love to get old machines for our poorer relations in Africa and less well-off areas of the planet, but my employers for one, and plenty more, simply send off their old machines to recyclers who strip them down to their recyclable metal, and my corporate masters pay money for this, rather than take the risk of being sued for leaving a loose wire somewhere on the machine. (Was that sentence long enough?)

ED E

Might be sorted. Friend of a friends office may have some suitable stuff. And due to their uses should mostly have decent graphics.

Thanks for the input, If I get these I'll let you know.

Cuddlesworth

Crts and 15inch lcds are given to charity. We lease the rest of our machines. Most companys do, its so they hold less assets themselves for tax and liability purposes. Companys that are too small to worry about that tend to run machines into the ground and then donate to charity.

Not sure if I can say where, but a friend of mine works in security for a certain government department. Last year they were dumping Dell Optiplex GX270s and GX280s. Most were P4 HT processors, around 2.4GHz with 256 or 512MB RAM. It baffled me why they were getting rid of them. The GX280 is a i915 with PCI Express and DDR2! Saw one of them sitting in his house shortly after, complete with 17" TFT.

ewj1978

company im in at the moment is upgrading all their pc stock but the ol' ones are a heap of junk... P3-P4's with about 256mb and inbuilt graphics.... Could possibly play the valve games only on min specs so not much good for you.. sorry bud.

Saruman

You will be less likely to find good stuff now. A few years ago yes. Companies were spending money, now they are holding on to their cash and upgrading their IT is not their first priority.

ED E

Got one, mates old pc. His dad got a new one, but its pretty similar cept its running vista and has a widescreen TFT. Little wastefull but I'm not moaning. The old one I get is P4 2.6+(have to confirm), 1GB, and Nvidia 64mb AGP. It should be perfect for the older games like CSS.

May have more wednesday:)