[geeks] Refurbished PC Components

[Lionel Peterson]

On Jun 4, 2009, at 1:40 PM, Jon Gilbert <jjj at io.com> wrote:

> My boss is having me put together some mobo/CPU combos for upgrading  
> some photo kiosks. He wants me to use refurbished components from  
> Evertek.com.

Why?

To meet a certain price-point? Intel D945GCLF2 is very affordable  
($80?), as are the new Supermico Atom MBs (around $150), but it  
includes a great number of card slot options PCI, PCI-Express, dual  
channel memory, etc.

To retain compatibility with existing add-in cards? You are not still  
using ISA are you?

To re-use current memory in systems (you said this was an upgrade,  
right)?

To be driver-compatible with existing software image?

How many systems are we talking about - a hand full, a dozen or two,  
or hundreds?

> Given that these machines see extremely heavy usage and the  
> reliability of them is fairly critical, is it really a good idea to  
> go with 90-day-warranty refurbs?

Parts don't know what the warranty period is, they fail when they want  
to...

Refurb parts can at best be new old stock, at worst pulls from 24x7  
servers of manually repaired hardware that already failed once, I'd  
shy away from refurbs for business use myself.

> I don't even understand how a CPU can be refurbed.

You remove it, clean it, and make sure it still functions - for CPUs,  
refurb should mean tested.

> This just seems like a good way to make crash-prone, unreliable  
> computers. Am I just being paranoid?

No, you're right to be concerned - remember also, older hardware makes  
more heat, which requires more power and can stress the HW if not  
managed properly. Hardware like the Intel D945GCLF2 Atom MB/CPU combo  
can almost run on a tabletop with no chassis fan required.

Lionel