So who owns a Frankenstein box?

By that I mean a clone built from components cannibalized from previous incarnations or multiple computers or junk or something you found in a remainder bin at a pawn shop.

Theoretically, I'm still using my original computer because it still retains some parts - the floppy drive, some cabling.

Its first incarnation was a clone assembled from components from three different stores.

In its second incarnation, it got SCSI and network cards that had last seen life in an Alpha server, a second IDE hard drive, a (crappy) video card, a (busted) sound card. Later it lost its SCSI. Eventually upgraded to Windows NT.

In its third incarnation, it got a much larger IDE drive, a good video card, a really nice sound card and some RAM. Upgraded to Windows 2000.

In its latest incarnation it got a new chassis, new motherboard, new CPU, new RAM. Now the video and sound cards actually work as designed.

For my birthday I'm thinking of giving it more RAM and a faster CPU.

So what's your monstrosity like?

I replaced one thing after another. Recently the last thing left from my original 1994 PC croaked : the floppy drive.

So the oldest thing in my current box is the Mother Board, I replaced the case and most other parts to get a completly silent PC (most Macs are noisy by comparison).

We nicknamed him Snoop Dog, though I can't for the life of me remember why. He assembled six boxes for us out who knows what - probably crap he had left over from looting the dumpsters behind circuit city and radio shack, and a roll of duct tape. They all stopped working shortly after we fired him (he kinda stopped working much sooner).

I've got duct tape holding cabling away from one of the fans.

All my computers are homebrew (except my laptop, thats a toshiba). Actually looking around for new parts for my main system as it MOBO ate itself a while back. Been living off my laptop for the last couple weeks.

Specs on the new box... hopefully

ABIT IC7-MAX3 MOBO
Intel 2.8G processor
512m ram
ATI 9800 vid card
21" monitor
Creative Labs Live platinum
120gig drive
200gig drive
DVD rom
CD Burner

of my computer. The floppy drive is from '92, the case is from '98 and the MB, processor, and memory are a month old. Frankenstein computers save so much money over buying new each time and you can remain bleeding edge speed-wise without breaking the bank. I'd pit my computer against a top of the line Dell any day.

My desktop machine always has the best parts because I use it constantly. As I upgrade it, I upgrade my wife's machine or the file server. Haven't bought a complete new computer since 1987.

I recently assembled a new system, originally I thought I could use an old ATX case, but it turned out that the power supply did not have the CPU power connector that most new motherboards require. So, I got myself one of those funky aluminum cases with a big window on the side and lit up internally with a nice violet neon light.

The system itself is:

MSI NEO-FST2R mobo
2GHz Athlon64
512MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM
DVD+RW
80GB IDE hard disk

It's currently dual booting Windows XP and FreeBSD 5.2.1 (for AMD64-bit CPUs).

from about FIVE 'pooterthangs AND it owns *three* hard drives!

I have: The hard drive from my first Pentium PC (which was my fifth computer) its original HD (EMonster) *and* a brand spanking new hard drive, put in last year... and a $600.00 HP printer, a *humongous* monitor, software out the WAZOO...

But it will never replace my first computer in my affections...

My first love was a Commodore 64 with daisy-chained HDs strung all over the place, souped up and hooked into a PET, a C=120 and *gasp* a blazing fast 2400 - baud modem! That thang RAWKED!

Funnily enough, now that I have several *thousand* times the computing power and memory... I don't do nearly as much *stuyff* on the new system...

I'm like the guy with a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow limo who sighs for his long lost junkyard Firebird coupe.

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