I have a quandary, and since I know you're all so great at giving advice I though I'd ask you guys and gals. I teach IT courses with a local council, part-time in the evenings - the usual "computers/Word/internet for beginners" stuff - but I've recently been asked if it would be feasible to do a "Building/Upgrading a Computer" course. Now, the theory part of the course is the easy bit. The practical aspect is slightly more complicated. You can't expect somebody paying £30 (or less) a term to fork out for a system costing hundreds as part of the course; but that course would be useless without some practical aspect of putting a system together. So, here's my question to you: where could I get 10-15 reasonably new (2-3 years), free (or very cheap) systems that the students could strip and put together again? Obviously, they'd need to be working too - otherwise, it kind of defeats the object of the whole course! I'm stumped, so bit-tech, it's up to you!
Does the council you work for run a PC recycling scheme and would they redirect PC's that have been dumped to your course?
Good idea about local suppliers. Not sure how the council would feel about sponsorship, though. The trouble with the council is that they use Fujitsu PCs; the school PCs are RMs or Fujitsus, I think. I don't want to use "branded" PCs (like Fujitsu or Dell) because they tend to use their own form factors, coolers, caddies, PSUs etc - not much like building a custom PC.
Don't worry about "branded" computers. The basic components are the same. It doesn't even matter if they are a bit old. Basically the only difference between new and old hardware is speed and sockets. The basics are exactly the same in most cases. What will be special is the cases, but you'll never find a standard way of mounting components in a case anyway. Just make sure you show some examples of the different ways of mounting CPUs, for instance (Screws, tension levers and the new rivet system Intel uses). Who are the target group of the course?
I've just recently finished a uni project on something that involved this. The best places are local schools, colleges and business but there are also a surprisingly large number of recycling schemes for computers where you may be able to acquire a number of systems as you will effectively be recycling them. Also if there is a university near you then check with the seperate departments there. For example the engineering department here in Durham has a rather large collection of old systems around and are also upgrading and replacing a large number of others too and it wouldn't surprise me if many other uni's were doing the same.
I want to steer away from stuff from business, schools etc. because they tend to use branded (Dell, Fujitsu, RM, etc) equipment. My main beef with branded stuff (and please correct me if this is wrong), but in my experience it mostly tends to be based around strange form factors with custom heatsinks and ducting, cables that are exactly the right length and cases that are packed tightly with just the right amount of cooling. I think that stripping and rebuilding one of these PCs doesn't really reflect how they'd build their own PCs. In my mind, I had images of learners building the kind of PC we build here - albeit much further behind the bleeding edge. Thanks for your ideas, though - it looks as though I might have to have a bit of a rethink.
I had the same idea a while ago, about setting up a 'workshop for people to learn to build/maintain computers. As you know the problem is the cost, Everywhere that would give away, or let go cheap oldish computers will all have branded systems. No business near me pays for custom built units when dell sells a full setup cheaper. Really though does it matter? i think your thinking too much into it and seeing problems that arent really there. I mean a motherboard is still a motherboard regardless of its form factor, it still does the same job. All the components regardless of form still perform the same functions. Yes they may not be what you'd buy to build your own but they allow you to teach the fundamentals. Im sure if a student rebuilt a dell system, and was then given a load of newer hardware they would still be able to build a usable system.
To be honest, the course organisers may need to put in a long-term investment, and buy 5 each AMD and Intel systems, just socket 775 e2160's or similar, I reckon you could probably do each one for £200ish (cheap processor, 512-1Gb RAM, £20 GPU/onboard etc) You're right with the OEM systems though - they're similar enough to get people so far, but also dissimilar enough to confuse people - Dell Motherboards are backwards, so the GPU sits right-way-up instead of upside down in normal ATX systems.
It's actually the BTX standard. It's also used in newer custom cases. IIRC Lian Li had (Or have?) quite a few cases that are BTX. It's basically the same as ATX, but as you say, it's flipped.
Surely by showing the students that every manufacturer has their own take on how things go into a case would highlight that it doesn't matter - a motherboard is still a motherboard irrespective of how it is mounted? This would have the benefit of focusing on the component, not how it is mounted as well as removing the scare factor when they go home and open their case - it won't matter if it is different from the case they learnt on in class.
I got a pc from Ebay for £20. Company that puts new ones in for business and takes the old ones away. It is DDR and an old Athlon chip, but the memory still goes in the memory sockets and the cpu still goes in the cpu socket.
Yep even socket a boards are pretty close to what amd systems are today in respect of cpu socket design and power connectors.. maybe get a few old socket a's and maybe a couple lga775 boards to show the two main setups
back when i worked on a PC recycling course, we'd have the odd 'class' on PC building. best tool i ever came across was bringing in my own PC. that way, i could show off what was possible and how to break away from the beige box reality, and also the importance of simple things like cable tidying and air filters (mostly because we had an old dell machine donated to us one day, i cracked it open and found a block of dusty fluff formed inside the case. i showed people the collection of dust on my case filters, then showed them the Dell case explaining this was the reason why i have filters)
