I want to Frankenstein me a PC for free, NEED HELP!

[AbbathTheGrim]

JEMC said:

What you want to do is no easy task, are you sure that you want to do it? There's no guarantee that those trashed PCs will work.

Anyway, if you want to do it, here are some things that you should know about those compatibility problems.

Graphic Cards_ You shouldn't have any problems with them as long as the power supply is good enough and both the card and the motherboard aren't too old (more than 4 years).

Motherboard and CPU_ The easiest way to avoid any problems is to keep the whole package, keeping the mobo and the CPU that's in it. If you don't want to take that approach then you have to consider the "family" of that CPU and then look if the motherboard that you want can take that CPU. For example, if the CPU is an i7-920 then you have to look for a motherboard that has X58 written on it, or if it's an AMD Phenom II X4 940 then you'll have to look for a motherboard with AM2+ on it.

RAM_ Not much problem here as long as you don't start mixing them. Just look what kind of memory it is, DDR2 or DDR3, and be sure that your CPU/mobo work with that kind of RAM. For example, Intel's i3, i5 and i7 use DDR3 RAM but older CPUs like the Q6600/E6600 use DDR2. Remember also that RAM sticks go in pairs, unless it's an i7-920/930/950 in which case you will need 3 sticks.

You shouldn't have any problem with DVD's and Hard Drives as long as they are S-ATA.

In any case, remember that it's a very good idea to format any HDD you want to keep and install your copy of OS.

JEMC: Sorry for my late reply but I became kind of busy with other stuff as to dedicate proper time to the project. Thank you for that explanation, it gives me an idea. :) I still have some issues identifying some components. For example, I have been getting my dead computer opened and taking a look inside. The computer is rather old, bought it around 2004 or 05 and changed the motherboard around 2007 or 08. Seems the motherboard and the videocard are fused together in here. My old man talked to a friend of his and he will find me a new motherboard, power supply and more RAM, so seems I will revive the dead this next month. Still I want to try to build a new computer and I am using mine to learn about hardware.

My predicament now is identifying the CPU in the computer. I googled some pictures up of CPUs and they seem to come in different forms, but I fail to identify the CPU in my computer. I took some pictures of the interior of my fossil, care to take a look and help me out identifying it?

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

If the pics are not clear enough I could try to take better ones for you.

Also, you tell me that if I am to pair CPUs and mobos I need to identify their "code" and look for those inside their family. From the pictures, could you identify me the codes for the CPU and the mobo? I am not sure what is the mobo code among all that is written there and well, I don't even know where is the CPU as I stated above. lol

About RAM. Where can I find the information where it says what kind of DD it is? You say RAM sticks come in pairs or three at a time but my computer came only with a RAM stick, as you can see in pic #3. Maybe it is because the PC is old or they ripped me off, right?

I hope I didn't complicate things up. lol

@pezus: the goal is not to use any money. I don't plan to use it for gaming, I just would like to see if I can make myself a computer out of refuse.