Using spare computer parts for PC? Help please.

[Kaolc]

Hey there! I've got some mixed questions related to computer building:

I've got a lot of parts lying around, a lot of RAM and a few graphic cards and hard drives.. Some of the hard drives are from a laptop and the rest are from a stationary PC.

Basically, my question is: Is there any way to use these parts? It would be awesome with a sort of "station" where I could plug in all my spare RAM and plug it into the motherboard of my stationary, but does a such thing exist? The same goes for graphics cards, and last but not least is there any easy way to use the hard drives with my current stationary PC? Any cheap solution, or am I not really saving money by doing this?

 

[patonb]

Depending on the drive, your mobo and spare cables, you should be easily able to reuse the drives.

Now RAM and gpus are different. Theres like a gazillion types of ram and 3 main catagories. GPUs need a spot on the mobo, so that can be v1 of 3 types of sockets, and older boards usually only have 1 or maybe 2 spots for them.

So what you really need to do is sit down and group your parts into the types of stuff it is, then you can make a better decision if what you want can be done.

Welcome to TF

 

[Kaolc]

Hey there! I've got some mixed questions related to computer building:

I've got a lot of parts lying around, a lot of RAM and a few graphic cards and hard drives.. Some of the hard drives are from a laptop and the rest are from a stationary PC.

Basically, my question is: Is there any way to use these parts? It would be awesome with a sort of "station" where I could plug in all my spare RAM and plug it into the motherboard of my stationary, but does a such thing exist? The same goes for graphics cards, and last but not least is there any easy way to use the hard drives with my current stationary PC? Any cheap solution, or am I not really saving money by doing this?

Thanks for the welcome! The forum sure seems nice and very active.. Which is perfect.
The RAM are really completely mixed up, and honestly the GPUs aren't worth keeping.. But the RAM are.
I recently saw a link to some kit you could use to turn your old hard drive into a USB-functional one, do you think that would work, since I don't have enough space inside the tower for them right now? Of course it would be slower, but do I have a choice? Could anyone recommend a good, cheap kit to use? The one I saw was for the stationary-type of hard drives, I'm not sure it would work with the ones I have from my laptop as they have a different plug.. Also, for the sorting into types thing I'm completely clueless, I'm really more of a software guy.. Until now. Could you recommend a guide or some other reading?

It's appreciated, so thanks for your help

 

[patonb]

Yha they'll most likely work. You have ide drives most likely, so you're alittle limited in what you can use. I found this dock on newegg that does both sata and ide as well as 2.5 and 3.5 drives:
Newegg.com - Sharkoon QuickPort Combo 2.5" & 3.5" Black USB 2.0 HDD Docking Station

Basically you just plug the drive in when you want to use it.

As for readings.... I use goolge and try many search words.

 

[Kaolc]

Alright! As far as I understood, what I have to do now is:

Throw out the RAM and graphics cards.. Ram isn't DDR3 and graphics are something close to GeForce 5600.. No thanks.

Find some way to use the HDs

The docking station you found seems a little expensive as the HDs I have are only 250gb each and paying 80$ to add 500gb seems just a little expensive considering I already have the HDs.. I'll search around, and would appreciate it if anyone on here knows of a good one. I'll post a picture of the plug on the HDs later on, but I think they'd go into the top part of the station you posted, not the one on the side.

 

[patonb]

I only found that one as an example of what you would need... definately not a recommendation as i have no experience with it.

Yha to use bthe station, you actually just slide the drive in plug first and it sits there. You only need 1 and switch the drives when you need the drive.