Recycling my old desktop's parts

G

Gidge

New Member
Obligatory - I'm new to the forum, please let me know if there's anything I've missed in the forum rules and I'll happily update my post!

I'd like to get some hardware advice on what I can easily recycle from my old PC. I don't use the desktop anymore so I'm thinking of installing Kodi (or alternative) partitioned with Steam OS and using it as a media center / steam games console

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I'll start with what I've got currently:

Dell XPS 420
Owner's manual: http://downloads.dell.com/manuals/a..._xps_desktop/xps-420_owner's manual_en-us.pdf
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Dell TP406 motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad E8500
4 x 1GB DDR2
Asus GeForce GT 610
SAMSUNG TS-H493 optical drive

I don't know what other parts are important but the RAM and Graphics card are the only things I've changed since purchasing from Dell

Everything works on the machine except since yesterday... it doesn't boot.
I am convinced that it's just not booting because of the front USB panel, mainly because, when I last used the PC last year it would completely die whenever a USB was plugged into the front. Yesterday I stupidly forgot about the issue and plugged a drive in again (was backing up files) it instantly died and after taking it out it still doesn't power on but flashes an amber light around the power button.
(I'm not looking for help fixing it, but I'll be trying to get it to boot this afternoon - saying that, if anyone has any recommendations for this then I'll happily take the help!)

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What I want to do:

Rather than fixing it, my ideal plan is to rip out what I can and build a new machine - this case is really big and I'd like a more lightweight case to put under my TV

I was looking at buying a new computer with about £500/$700 budget but decided it'd be more fun and cheaper to mess with something I already own... I've only ever changed parts before and never built my own so I have very little idea where to start with migrating the existing parts!

Right now I just want to get an idea of what's possible and then I can take a look around and find out how much it'll cost but I really need some advice with a few things:

Are there any parts that will be difficult to re-use?
Anything that I'd be much better off just buying new?

There's a few things like the processor's heatsink which are very big - can I replace these with smaller parts if I want to put it into a smaller case?

Any advice that can help me along the journey?
 
This platform is old and outdated and not worth putting money into. Best bet is to build a new system. As far as your old computer goes, you most likely have a short in one of the usb ports and that will cause the pc to shut down when plugging in anything.
 
johnb35 said:
This platform is old and outdated and not worth putting money into. Best bet is to build a new system. As far as your old computer goes, you most likely have a short in one of the usb ports and that will cause the pc to shut down when plugging in anything.
Click to expand...
voyagerfan99 said:
Yes. Everything in that machine is old.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the responses, I was hoping not to need to buy something new but thank you for the advice!
 
As stated, nothing in that PC is really worth keeping.

The CPU won't fit into any new motherboards, the RAM is DDR2 where the latest platforms use DDR4. The GPU is pretty low end and you can likely get the same performance out of the integrated graphics on a new CPU. The motherboard doesn't accept many CPUs that are much faster than that if it's a C2Q (If it's really the E8500 then that's a dual core). The PSU is likely pretty outdated and there are much more efficient models on the market (which would pay for themselves by upgrading). Also, it may be the culprit for your PC not booting at all. The hard drive is pretty old, failure rates go up a lot for older drives so it's likely worth it to get a new HDD or SSD.

You could probably re-use the optical drive and maybe the case.
 
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