Post your "Ghetto Mod" pics

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@ Steve Thats what I call real geekoid alchemy! very funny stuff...what the frig izzit all for?:eek:

lol aaaand dbz_ssj4
Thermal take level 1 definitely an epic win... truly a master work!!! heheheh

Also...dunno if I can post a link or not (so you'll have to fill in the "tt" yourself) but this guy decided to find "alternatives" to CPU heat sink grease. Man this is funny...and i think is appropriate for viewing from this site. You could call it ghetto heat grease...eneee way enjoy!

h**p://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=164465
 
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Steve's is too well thought out and clean to be a ghetto mod...one food stamp :D

Next time, use moar duct tape and cardboard :D
 
Aww man, I just took apart my ghetto PC last week, this thread is hilarious! I had old AMD cpu fans dangling just above the north bridge and RAM. I was pretty proud of that :D.
 
@tedzot: OMG that link. If I break something from falling off my chair laughing too hard, I know who to call.

Just kidding but DAMN that's funny stuff.
 
He truly did fail at one part though... He got a cut while doing this but wasn't ingenious enough to add BLOOD to the TIM testing!! And blood is anywhere you are, it's like the american express card or something.
 
I salute all of you who do it yourself.

Everyone cannot afford to buy things pre-made, and necessity is the mother of all invention, so you "ghetto" folk get more respect than someone with a fat wallet ever will. :p
 
decided I got tired of dust sneaking in through every crevice of my P180 and completely covering my GPU and H50 to the point of severely raising my temps. I have a ton of cardboard so I used that to cover all the openings in the case, along with replacing the hollowed PCI brackets with solid covers, and using the foam that comes at the bottom of motherboard boxes as filters.
How's this holding up for you? Did temps go up much?
 
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Here is ghetto. I live in the Soundview section of the Bronx. Cablevision encrypts all channels now, so you cannot even record basic broadcast channels with a tuner card. I switched to antenna for my HTPC but could not get channels 2, 7 or 11. So, I got an outdoor antenna and attached it to my fire escape and ran the wire through the window. Notice the two-tone buildings in the background. Obviously can't affort to paint it all at one time.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/saxYWwPFMbvPwSc1isJaiRwDWEffJ3c95S_jLszImKU?feat=directlink
 
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I salute all of you who do it yourself.

Everyone cannot afford to buy things pre-made, and necessity is the mother of all invention, so you "ghetto" folk get more respect than someone with a fat wallet ever will. :p

This. I'm one of these folks. My home is ~2mi outside of little Siler City, NC. Here's my monthly budget...

~$962 SSDI to my mother (our only real income)
~$265 in food stamps

Internet is usually around $65-$70/mo. (Verizon MiFi2200 -- far better than dialup!)
2x cell phones (ATT) are usually around $120/mo. (Mom's is a blackberry, and she's not giving it up.)
Food purchases can reliably spill over the food-stamp budget by at least $200/mo. (Thanks, Wal*Mart :rolleyes: )
Credit Card #1 gets $100/mo.
Credit Card #2 gets $150/mo.
Power company likes to pull anywhere from $150-$200/mo. In December and January, you can at least double that maximum figure, because we have no central heat -- woodstove and space heaters are it for us!

We are actually trying to pay down our credit cards so that the debt doesn't squash us like a bug.

Also: not included is a water bill (we have a well instead), sewer bill (septic tank system), mortgage payment (it's $1300/mo., couldn't pay it if we tried), or landline phone (company cut us off after we couldn't pay one month... strangely enough after all the punitive late fees and other BS we still couldn't pay it...).

Medication deserves its own heading. Mom has Medicaid (but no Medicare other than what pays for the Medicaid) so she gets her prescriptions at Wal*Mart for $2.50 each... except for one which is like $30 because Medicare won't cover it :rolleyes: gotta love it. I get mine at the UNC Hospitals pharmacy up in Chapel Hill... $4 a bottle is wonderful if you don't mind waiting (literally) a couple hours to get it. Bring a book! Also, they make you do the ol' paperwork dance once a year, not that horrible, but still one more hoop to jump through...

OK, as if that's not enough... I don't drive and my mother can't. Chatham Transit Network, our local public transit company, is horribly unreliable and a mess to deal with. If I call the day before I need to go somewhere, by 11am, then I can get there, although the vans are almost always a half hour late at minimum. Otherwise, it's anyone's guess as to whether I'm going anywhere that day.

On top of that, CTN charges money for their services... it's not that bad for one trip, but it adds up real quick. Wal*Mart (1.6mi each way, according to goooooooooogle maps) is $4 each way. Getting pills at UNC is $13... $6 each way, plus $1 to get me to Wal*Mart so that I can get on the right van for UNC. (Well, that's the "noon" van that leaves Wal*Mart at ~11am -- the return van drops me off at my driveway.)

I could go on for hours like this... but I think you get the picture well enough as it is ;)
 
@wolfofsin: missing picture is missing. Fun fact: my mother is from Oradell NJ (I think I'm spelling that right), and my father is from Fairlawn NJ. Bet you know where that is!
 
Here is ghetto. I live in the Soundview section of the Bronx. Cablevision encrypts all channels now, so you cannot even record basic broadcast channels with a tuner card. I switched to antenna for my HTPC but could not get channels 2, 7 or 11. So, I got an outdoor antenna and attached it to my fire escape and ran the wire through the window. Notice the two-tone buildings in the background. Obviously can't affort to paint it all at one time.

The HDHomerun Prime works with Cablevision in the Bronx. Cablecard is $2/month, Cross County Microcenter was selling the 3-tuner version for $210. You have to do a self install.
 
@Starhawk...LOL!!! Glad you like the link...funny thing is at about page 5 he tries again with different stuff...and one is mayonaise!!! HAHHAHAAH!!!:D:D:p

anyway...thanks for posting your story too...all the best to you and your MOM...
One thing that could help you out with no budget is being able to use old obsolete computers with a Puppy Linux operating systems. Just Google "Puppy Linux". Amazing operating system...had it running on a P3 with 64mb ram...and it was smoking fast. Those old computers are good again with Puppy. Anyway just a thought.

also check this out: http://sharethefiles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=94618

freeware galore

Again all the best to you.
 
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The HDHomerun Prime works with Cablevision in the Bronx. Cablecard is $2/month, Cross County Microcenter was selling the 3-tuner version for $210. You have to do a self install.

Yeah, I got an ATI cable card tuner now. Gonna get the HDHomerun Prime soon. But I still have the antenna on the fire escape. Needed 2 amplifiers to get it to work.
 
@Starhawk...LOL!!! Glad you like the link...funny thing is at about page 5 he tries again with different stuff...and one is mayonaise!!! HAHHAHAAH!!!:D:D:p

anyway...thanks for posting your story too...all the best to you and your MOM...
One thing that could help you out with no budget is being able to use old obsolete computers with a Puppy Linux operating systems. Just Google "Puppy Linux". Amazing operating system...had it running on a P3 with 64mb ram...and it was smoking fast. Those old computers are good again with Puppy. Anyway just a thought.

also check this out: http://sharethefiles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=94618

freeware galore

Again all the best to you.

Damn small Linux is great too :).
 
Sorry, no. I'm an artist, and my father is a professional artist (contractor for the EPA, doing posters all day), and I can tell you that at least for me, the UI for DSL (and DSL-N, I've looked at both) is horrible. Far, far too minimalistic to be user-friendly. It's sorta user-grudgingly-tolerable on a good day, but if you do much of anything it just goes GTFO.
 
Yeah, I got an ATI cable card tuner now. Gonna get the HDHomerun Prime soon. But I still have the antenna on the fire escape. Needed 2 amplifiers to get it to work.

I just got mine set up this week. The only problem I'm having at the moment is that windows media center doesn't view displayport-connected monitors as hdcp compatible. I can't find my dvi cable, though it's around here somewhere.

I also have all the stuff to upgrade my network, but haven't done it yet. I'm not having significant problems streaming over base100 and wireless g though.

I moved into the Bronx last weekend, and everything is in boxes.
 
Not sure this even qualifies for ghetto but here goes. I wanted to use the Lian Li Tool-less PCI device in my Lian Li PC-V1010. Even though Lian Li said it wouldn't fit I ordered one anyway. Turns out they were right. The screen holes when lined up correctly were about 2mm to far away from the PCI bracket so they wouldn't hold anything in place. After a lot of trial and error I got it installed. I used self-tapping screws like come standard with case fans and made new holes in the back of the bracket using a drill bit. Once they were aligned perfectly I held it all in place using card board and clamps. I should have took pictures of that, it looked ghetto for sure. Then I installed the screws and it works great. In a normal case that is compatible the little plastic bumps go in to holes in the case then you screw in on. The plastic bumps fit into the air vents on my case so I didn't have to sand them off. What do you think?

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Damn, this thread needs a revival!

System strapped to mobo tray from Inwin case that housed my Pentium III 450 MMX. The power & reset buttons and LEDs were ripped out and pinned against the board with a piece of plastic from the case. Fans are taped to a particle board shelf from my computer desk from 1993 (housed my AMD 386):
ghetto1.jpg


Fan is screwed into expansion slot hole. HDD screwed into mobo tray:
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A common mistake for people building open air rigs is that they forget that the entire system needs to be grounded with the PSU for safety and often, the barest metal is in the screw holes, touching painted metal surfaces won't do it:
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This is a black twist tie with the edges stripped off to reveal the metal tie underneath. Shoved into PCI-E 1x slot to bridge pins A1 & B17 so the board will accept a 16x card in a 1x slot:
n3svh.png

88317768.jpg


Force videocards to think monitors are plugged in by bending $0.05 resistor legs and jamming into a VGA adapter:
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I don't play hockey but I sure seem to have a lot of spare hockey tape...
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Question: why are you forcing the video cards to think there is a monitor plugged in? :?
 
Question: why are you forcing the video cards to think there is a monitor plugged in? :?

Yes, this is my $25 bitcoin rig/winter space heater/media server/internet radio streamer (total spent, including buying the motherboard, CPU, HDD, etc. and everything else. Already had the videocards and ram). Videocards need to think that monitors are plugged into them or the system will not initialize them as multi GPU configurations. The alternative is use a crossfire cable and enable crossfire but that doesn't work with 3 cards and causes instability.
 
ooh awesome, new ghetto pic(s) post.
squawked like a little girl when i saw that this thread got bumped, not disappointing either. fine work sir.

now let's see if all the right boxes are checked.
-cobbled together/dodgy as shit...check.
-possible safety hazard...check.
-liberal use of tape, cable ties, wire & rubber bands to keep creation from falling apart...check.

just so i'm clear, is that graphics card resting on the RAM sinks and edge of PCI backplate and connected to MB via PCIe riser card/cable?
 
ooh awesome, new ghetto pic(s) post.
squawked like a little girl when i saw that this thread got bumped, not disappointing either. fine work sir.

now let's see if all the right boxes are checked.
-cobbled together/dodgy as shit...check.
-possible safety hazard...check.
-liberal use of tape, cable ties, wire & rubber bands to keep creation from falling apart...check.

just so i'm clear, is that graphics card resting on the RAM sinks and edge of PCI backplate and connected to MB via PCIe riser card/cable?

Correct! Except the far end isn't resting on the ram sinks. Free floating baby! Nothing but hockey tape (wouldn't trust electrical tape of course) holding it on at a bad angle. It's free to swing in the breeze to help cooling.
 
Correct! Except the far end isn't resting on the ram sinks. Free floating baby! Nothing but hockey tape (wouldn't trust electrical tape of course) holding it on at a bad angle. It's free to swing in the breeze to help cooling.

good to know. kinda like boxer shorts...
i can't believe you posted that thing in the 'rate my cables' thread as well.
fucking hilarious. you get extra points for being a smart arse.
 
I'm going to have to agree.
Extra points for being twisted enough to submit it over there.
It is perfect over here, by the way....

Also, I owned a pair of those OCZ Reapers that I overclocked the holy hell out of and loved dearly until they finally went pop.

Now I don't overclocks my memory no mo.
 
Had a problem with my office getting really hot. I have 4 or more PCs running in this 10' x 12' room, so it's no wonder that even with the door open, it feels like a sauna in here at times. I was finishing up some siding on the outside, and bought a vented siding block, added some screen, and cut a hole into my office. I then took some 4" flexible dryer vent and attached it to a 4" ABS toilet flange. a little velcro, and TADA:

img1847w.jpg

img1848z.jpg

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This wasn't really a solution for PC cooling, though it does do a wonderful job on that CPU.

cpuidm.jpg


My old option to bring down the room temperature was to open a window, but that didn't do a good job of getting to the PC that was creating much of the heat. So certain parts of the office were really warm, and other parts were really cold. This tackles the heat production at the source, or at least the main source. My office now stays comfortable.

Don't mind the dust, have not had a chance to clean up since the project.
 
Sorry, no. I'm an artist, and my father is a professional artist (contractor for the EPA, doing posters all day), and I can tell you that at least for me, the UI for DSL (and DSL-N, I've looked at both) is horrible. Far, far too minimalistic to be user-friendly. It's sorta user-grudgingly-tolerable on a good day, but if you do much of anything it just goes GTFO.

I'm used to using linux with a minimal UI though, for what I do DSL works great but I agree that you probably can't get much real work done through it.
 
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My old option to bring down the room temperature was to open a window, but that didn't do a good job of getting to the PC that was creating much of the heat. So certain parts of the office were really warm, and other parts were really cold. This tackles the heat production at the source, or at least the main source. My office now stays comfortable.

Don't mind the dust, have not had a chance to clean up since the project.

+10 foodstamps for incorporating toiletry into design
 
Ok its me again and I found this link on the net...
figured it would fit on this forum for some gawd awful reason heheheh;)

learn how to make a wifi antenna out of parabolic Asian cookware :D

http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/

just make sure you wash the cookware BEFORE you use it hehehehe
 
OK, here's a weird one for ya'll (great way to start off a post amirite?).

So Mom needs a booklight. I go to Wal*Mart (needed to anyways) and the ONLY booklights they have are these pieces of absolute trash that don't even look good enough to be made in Taiwan (let alone China). They're incredibly horrible. I sigh loudly and buy one anyways, figuring that at worst I've simply made a $2 loan to the company. That's exactly what happened.

I get home and pull off the packaging, tear out the little "don't mess with me in the store" tab... and the three LR44 batteries are dead as a stick in the desert. Mind you, replacing those would cost me more than $5, and I spent $2 on the light itself (like an idiot). So, screw that.

So I built Mom a book light. The clip is from a different booklight that broke some weeks ago (the bendy part that holds the lamp fell off the clip). Broke up an old toy RC-car-type contraption for the integrated 2xAA battery holder (molded into the plastic base... not much left after I cut out the batt box). I found an old mostly-dead LED flashlight, pulled it apart, and found out why Brinkmann sells them for $20 -- they can get away with it. Little circuit board inside that in other models probably does something nifty, but why they need two transistors, two resistors, and a capacitor to turn a bloody LED on and off with a damn push-on push-off switch... I don't think I'll ever figure out that one. Handy flashlight, though, since it took 2xAA instead of 3xAAA.

Wrapped the LED, lens, and circuitboard all in an electrical tape / cardboard / electrical tape sandwich, and soldered on a couple wires from a dead PSU that I was going to scrap anyways (took it apart for the nifty blower fan that Dell put in it). The bendy part is a piece of Romex (2x14awg with a 12awg ground wire IIRC) that's been in my attic since about 1981 or so.

Superglued the switch and the clip to the battery box, and soldered on the PSU wires at both ends (plus from the box to the switch)... works great even if it looks like utter crap. I did cover the solder joints with electrical tape.

Here, I'll shaddup and give ya'll some pix. Pen in the 2nd pic is a Bic GripRoller Micro, for scale.


So... how'd I do? :D
 
has anyone thought about running their water cooling through the water that goes to the toilet? How hard would it be to insert your system between toilet tank and floor from whence the pipe comes?
 
has anyone thought about running their water cooling through the water that goes to the toilet? How hard would it be to insert your system between toilet tank and floor from whence the pipe comes?
Heh, that could be interesting. When I was in Japan a few years back, I found a bathroom where the sink drained into the toilet tank. Great way to easily/cheaply reduce water usage.
 
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Won't fit in? IT WILL FIT ON.

Home Depot aluminiuiuminum angle, rivets, Corsair H100 cooling a Core i7 2600k
 








cooling 12gigs of GSkill with variable speed controller



A map gas torch and a scroll saw work great with lexan
 
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