What can I salvage

[Thestevenzimmerman]

Hey guys,

first off thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to help me with this. I have been considering trying to salvage what i can from my Gateway FX6800-01E desktop and put it into a new case with better cooling. Really I have 3 questions, the first being could i salvage the innards from my PC and transplant them into the new case with a GT660TI? Is it worth salvaging these things or should i simply be saving up all new stuff? and what can I salvage out it?. I was considering picking up the Rosewill BLACKHAWK-ULTRA case to start slowly getting a more modern rig (piece-by-piece).

Again thanks for any advice or suggestions you guys may have, this will be my first time attempting to build a PC.
(http://techwiki.hardwarecanucks.com/product/0NDEyNTAzNTgx/Gateway-FX6800-01e/#spec)

 

[Wolfshadw]

I really don't see anything wrong with your current system. Yes could take the entire system innards from your current case into a new case. The only issue might be the front panel connections (Power/Reset/Activity Lights).

-Wolf sends

 

[obsama1]

Sell the 4850 on eBay. Might make a few bucks off of it. The mouse and lkeyboard will be good a s a backup. HDD and optical drive are #1 things to salvage. Saves about 100-$120 bucks right there. Sell the CPU on eBay. Everything else is meh. What will you use this PC for? If video editing or rendering, get the i7-3770K. If gaming, get the i5-3570K.

 

[manofchalk]

What you are asking about is a case transplant, not really "salvaging". Yep, provided all the parts are ATX standard, you should just be able to move them into another ATX case. You can put in a 660Ti without any issues I can see.

As for whether to just get an entirely new rig or not, that depends if your satisfied with the rig as it is.

Thats one impressive looking case... Make sure to research it first and read some reviews (Not on Newegg, proper review sites) on it to make sure its not all show.

 

[Thestevenzimmerman]

Best answer selected by thestevenzimmerman.

 

[Thestevenzimmerman]

Well, I purchased the HAF922 after considering that the other case might have been overkill for my needs. I have everything moved over to the new case and plugged in with the exception of the 4 pin atx power connector that goes to the MOBO. The Gateway case held the PSU at the top of the case and the HAF922 holds the PSU at the bottom and is somewhat taller than the old case which leaves my ATX cord about 2 inches short. Going to check FRY's tomorrow to see if there is an extension cable or if i have to purchase a new PSU (the cords coming out of the old PSU are hardwired it looks like).

 

[manofchalk]

You should be able to get an extension cord quite easily, I would have thought one would come with the case.

Though considering the PSU is from a pre-built and (very) likely is of low quality, maybe a new PSU would be the best option.
From what I can gather from the specs of the machine its ~3yrs old? That's around when you should start considering replacing a PSU anyway, with 5yrs being the stage where you definetly should.

 

[Thestevenzimmerman]

going to look at replacing the PSU altogether, what size PSU would be sufficient for a single card setup (660ti) in the haf922 with 4 fans running and 12gb of ram? also i need to find out how the cords for the power switch, reset, and fan led switch are supposed to be connected to my MOBO, is there a site i can look up this sort of information or is it something i'll just have to figure out? and thanks again for all the feedback and help.

 

[manofchalk]

600W is sufficient, though I suggest a 650W for the added overhead and typically better variety and features. RAM and case fans use so little power its almost not worth factoring them into a PSU requirement. Biggest consumers are the CPU/ GPU. So base any decisions on PSU off their total consumption. Make sure its at least 80+ Bronze and preferably modular. Good brands for PSU's are Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, PC Power and Cooling and Silverstone Strider.

Front I/O switches such as power and reset buttons connect to the mobo here.
http://www.pcper.com/files/imagecache/article_max_width/review/2012-03-24/IMG_8423.jpg
Its usually in the bottom right corner of the motherboard. The little diagram underneath it tells you which headers correspond to what. There should also be another more detailed diagram in the mobo manual.

The fan LED switch doesnt connect to the mobo. If the 922 is anything like my HAF-X, there should be a 2 pin male header (different from the usual fan header) coming from the front fan, and that connects to the 2pin female header from the front panel. Look in the case manual if you are unsure.

 

[Thestevenzimmerman]

Got everything up and running the case is substantially louder than my old one (which only had one fan and a tiny one at that). Everything is running pretty well with the exception of my GPU running hot ran speccy to check temps in the new case and my running temp is around 66c after turning fan on 100%. Is that normal?

 

[manofchalk]

I think that the GPU fan being at 100% may have something to do with the extra noise...

Anything up to ~75c is acceptable under full load. Above that and you should consider getting better cooling or replacing the card entirely. The GPU is a HD4850, quite an old card. Nowhere near as power efficient as modern cards, so it ran hotter as wasted power is converted into heat.

Although if you are referring to the 660Ti, that is strange. Set the GPU fan to normal speeds, then use a program called Furmark to stress it to 100% for about 10min. If the max temperature stays under 75c, there isn't really an issue with the card running hot. Also what are your temps at idle?

 

[Thestevenzimmerman]

it's a sapphire 4850 with 1gb, I apparently had a bug that was causing my GPU to show 99% usage. I downgraded to CCC 10.10E and it helped a lot. I still left my gpu fan at 100% but now my temps at idle are 42 (put in a 200mm fan at the bottom and blowing down out of the case) and under a load (playing borderlands @ 1080p with 2x AA, high on everything except shadows and ambient occlusion) it stays around 65c. I'll run furmark after my kids get in bed.

 

[Thestevenzimmerman]

ran furmark @ 1080p with GPU fan on auto and the card got to 80c after about 12 mins but hadn't risen above 80c in 5 minutes.