EEVblog #627 – Dumpster Dive - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 12:59:02 am
content: .

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 01:20:03 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on June 11, 2014, 12:59:02 amProbably, but I've heard they are noisy, and that pretty much everyone replaces them.I'll try it though.QuoteFull HD Compression + saving to HD in real time, + the streaming feed (perhaps to multiple servers), + live video view, + playback video viewCurrent Q6600 PC is running 98% CPU usage and seems to be dropping some audio.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 01:29:05 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on June 11, 2014, 12:59:02 amActually, the stock heatsinks are pretty shit, and pushpin mounting is awful. Under heavy load the CPUs get very hot, very fast, while making a lot of noise. Nehalem is not a cuddly low power architecture.Good heatsinks are cheap.Dave, get a Hyper 212. Not many better heatsinks and certainly none with a better price.

author: Zad
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 03:23:39 am
content: To echo what Monkeh said, those Intel HSFs are deafening even at low speed, and not very efficient. I had a cheapish heatpipe HSF which I used on my old AMD X2-3800 which (with the supplied adaptor that I had miraculously kept!) does a much better job. With all 4 real and 4 virtual cores saturated it goes up to 70C or so, but at least I don't have tinnitus after 5 minutes running!Before investing much money though, I would check the CPU and motherboard actually still work. Stick the HSF back on and plug it into a 400W or so PSU. Even without a graphics card it should still beep several times if the CPU and motherboard switching regulator works (if the mobo has an onboard sounder) but it will need some memory in those slots or it may not even attempt a Power On Self Test.Wilfred, aftermarket toner is plentiful for big HP printers, and there is a strong market in things like fuser rollers etc. I think this series of printer is around 10 years old now, and the Chinese third party sources are well up to speed. Big battleship-built workgroup printers like these made their money for HP right at the beginning, unlike consumer gear which screws you for the toner. First hit I got on Aussie Ebay for black toner was $89 including free postage for what seems to be a genuine HP cartridge (6000 page capacity) from a big store.

author: Clear as mud
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 03:44:30 am
content: I got a big printer like that from a surplus auction recently. I bought a whole pallet of printers for $10, but the nicest and biggest one is a Xerox Phaser 6300, and I think it is even bigger than your HP. Probably a bit newer too, because it actually has a network connection, in addition to USB and parallel cable. You mentioned maybe they got rid of that HP because it doesn't work with Windows 7. I think there might be a similar issue with mine, but we got it to work just fine with the newer operating system after a bit of tweaking. I have absolutely no space for such a big printer, and replacement toner cartridges are really expensive. For now a friend is borrowing it, but I'm trying to sell it. You have to come to Oklahoma to get it! See pictures here:http://stillwater.craigslist.org/sys/4514677408.html.

author: 1.21 gigawhats
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 03:55:19 am
content: Hey Dave,If the motherboard is kaputski, you might struggle getting a new one as intel moved to socket 1155 a few months later. Let me know if you're interested in selling the CPU.Cheers,Mark

author: Legit-Design
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 05:30:23 am
content: For the dumpster room, maybe could try build some kind of door switch that remotely logs times the door was opened and how long it was open. Or it logs locally and sends everything every other minute or so, so it could be powered from batteries or rechargeables? Those eRic modules might be a good candidate to go through all that concrete. Also maybe log when the lights are on, and make a decision if someone dropped a huge load in there or just came to see if there are anything good.This as oppose to installing a camera in there.

author: sagdahl
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 05:35:56 am
content: Dave,I have used one HP 3700 with Win7 64-bit. No problem, but slow and new toners will cost.Use it to the toners are empty. Then return it to the dumpster.

author: centon1
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 07:53:44 am
content: Dave,FYI. In the rack mount 'server' case the Power supply goes front right and the Hard drives go back right.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 08:04:19 am
content: Quote from: sagdahl on June 11, 2014, 05:35:56 amNot that expensive when each cartridge yields 6000 pages, well as long as you don't buy OEM replacements

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 10:34:55 am
content: "Dave,I have used one HP 3700 with Win7 64-bit. No problem, but slow and new toners will cost.Use it to the toners are empty. Then return it to the dumpster."Correction, Use until the toners are empty and then tear it down.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 11:14:25 am
content: Just powered up the motherboard and it boots into the BIOS no problem!

author: delmadord
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 11:31:54 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on June 11, 2014, 11:14:25 amThat is funny...you can find better a better computer just thrown away that all computers still in use in my house combinedYou sure have some nice dumpster dive opportunities thereStill wonder why was it thrown away, though.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 11:39:22 am
content: Quote from: delmadord on June 11, 2014, 11:31:54 amYep, my only faster PC is my video editing machine with the 3770KI have a HD7850 video card for it, but probably gross overkill for this use. Might whack in an a much older fanless PCIEx16 card that is about 100th the speed.The SSD and HD from the current streaming machine (previous dumpster dive quad core Duo Q6600)will be transferred over, hopefully intact.It has 4GB of DDR3 memory which should be enough.

author: rob77
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 11:41:14 am
content: probably that i7 was a print server for that HP 3700 ? and the person ed-installing the print server was expecting some slow P4 under the heat sink and he just salvaged the ram, disks, the low profile PCI cards and the power-supply

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 12:43:27 pm
content: Quote from: rob77 on June 11, 2014, 11:41:14 amWhat a hilariously unlikely scenario.Anybody stupid enough to think that had a P4 wouldn't know how to use a screwdriver.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 12:54:27 pm
content: Quote from: rob77 on June 11, 2014, 11:41:14 amNo idea. Unless there is some other fault I haven't found yet. The RAM I can understand. Disks - maybe. The cards - maybe. The PSU - why?If you knew that much about PC's to take that stuff, why wouldn't you know that's a fairly modern USB 3 motherboard? Maybe they thought it was custom or something?Will get it fully fired up tomorrow.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 12:56:50 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on June 11, 2014, 12:54:27 pmMost likely cannibalised for other machines and then simply discarded to make room. Happens all the time.

author: Towger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 01:45:15 pm
content: Hi Dave,Have a look at vMixhttp://www.vmix.com.au/for the streaming machine. I have found is uses less resources than other video mixer software. You can mix the audio separately from the video or just have one audio input etc. So no more lost audio when you switch to the microscope input. Best of all it is made in Australia!

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 01:58:25 pm
content: Quote from: Towger on June 11, 2014, 01:45:15 pmThanks, will check it out.Need to try Xsplit and now this. Supports Youtube Live and my Avermedia capture card too! (but no screen casting?)Sounds like it needs a decent video card though for the compression, so I might just whack in that HD7850 after all.Wirecast was too many issues, and is not cheap. It's the one promoted and offered by Youtube, so I naturally tried that first.Open Broadcaster doesn't seem to do the job at first play. Maybe it can, but not at all obvious.

author: envoid
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 02:12:39 pm
content: If you plan to keep the printer let me know and I'll send you a JetDirect for it I still have floating around.

author: Steffen
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 05:17:48 pm
content: If you want good CPU coolers, Noctua is the way to to. Your i7-3770k has only 4 GiB of RAM? Up for 8 or 16 GiB, feels much better with Windows 7 x64. Even my i7-2600k has 16 GiB by default, I could go to 32 if I want. There can never be too much RAM.If you want that printer go to network: Raspberry Pi + Raspbian and CUPS printer server.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 05:20:02 pm
content: Quote from: Steffen on June 11, 2014, 05:17:48 pmSure, they have some good coolers. They're a little expensive for how they perform, especially on a salvaged system..

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 05:36:24 pm
content: That printer works well with Win7, XP and with anything that can speak HPGL5 or 6, it even will handle postscript perfectly.

author: xquercus
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 06:52:30 pm
content: Some of those used HP printers are just gems. It can be difficult to predict (for me at least) which of the new models are going to be gems and which are going to be lemons. When I purchased my most recent printer I went for a used LJ 4200 because of its good track record. I think it was about $300 shipped from a reputable eBay seller with toner AND duplexer. Yes, it's old, but even with the 70k page count I suspect it will last me a decade unless I have reason to upgrade.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 07:57:54 pm
content: Quote from: Steffen on June 11, 2014, 05:17:48 pmA cheap 212 Evo will do very well on a quad core and even work quite well for some 6 cores.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 09:37:24 pm
content: Circa 2004 corporate IT mandated us to replace our HP4000 "war tank" with a HP3700, and under average output (about 20k printouts/month) it gave us a lot of headaches. Due to this we still printed really important stuff on the HP4000 and left the 3700 for fancy colour printouts, until one day when the HP4000 required a major repair and IT refused to spend money on it. It was probably thrown out at the dumpster.That and the fact that someone else pointed out: the toners are really expensive.

author: 1.21 gigawhats
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 03:30:15 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on June 11, 2014, 11:14:25 amDammit! haha!Enjoy, should crunch a bit better than your old one.Cheers,Mark

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 04:40:09 am
content: Quote from: envoid on June 11, 2014, 02:12:39 pmYeah, keeping it. That would be cool, thanks, much appreciated.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 04:48:54 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on June 11, 2014, 07:57:54 pmI have one in my video editing machine, practically silent, very nice.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 05:10:58 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on June 12, 2014, 04:40:09 amGood for you, and don't throw it away when the ink runs out.$35 per individual cartridge or $140 for all four with 6,100 pages yield is just 2 cents per page.Black yields 6,100 per cartridge.Cyan, Yellow and Magenta yield 4,100 pages per cartridge.Hard to figure out the combined yield but they claim 6,100 combined on the 4 pack.Compared to inkjets yields of just a couple of hundred pages that cost around 10 to 15 cents per page.http://tonerandinkjetstore.com/index.php/catalog/product/view/id/1872/s/hp-3700-hp-311a-toner-cartridges-4-color-set/The only thing that can beat it in cost per page would be those continuous ink supply systems, but you have to replace chips on the headers and sometimes they make a mess.https://www.google.com/search?q=continuous+ink+supply+system&tbm=isch

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 06:32:23 pm
content: All he will need for the moment is a transfer kit, and that is a 3 minute job to change, and will give new life to the printer. Eventually you will need a fuser kit as well.

author: Steffen
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 07:07:29 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on June 11, 2014, 09:37:24 pmThat reminds me to one of our printer/copier rooms, which can be found at the end of a corridor. Above one Ricoh high volume office color laser printer was a printed paper: "Before printing on this printer, think twice whether it's really necessary to print in color: One toner cartridge costs 164€!"

author: hikariuk
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 07:47:56 pm
content: Quote from: Steffen on June 12, 2014, 07:07:29 pmRemembering to enable the "force black and white" option when you're only printing black and white documents is also a thing on some crappy drivers.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2014, 04:28:42 am
content: Makes no difference on colour lasers, they always use yellow even on a pure black and white print. Inkjets put most of the ink into a spittoon pad inside the printer as well.

author: pickle9000
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2014, 04:59:40 am
content: And of course the magic yellow on laser printers.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_steganography

author: hikariuk
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 13, 2014, 08:25:57 am
content: One of these days I will get round to buying a decent laser printer again. I miss our old Canon LBP-8 Mk III. That thing lasted for nearly 10 or 15 years - which is kind of the difference between a printer that cost about £1,500 new and one that costs £45.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 15, 2014, 08:59:39 pm
content: I've had my black and white brother HL-1240 since 2000 or so. Still works well. It has a separate toner and drum/photoconductor so you can have several toner replacements before the drum.