DAVE I HAVE THE PERFECT SOLUTION. (Sorry for yelling). :) If you get a couple running with cheap SSD’s ($35), donate them to a charity via GIVIT (this is an organisation that has a database of items that charities require, locally in your area). These PC’s could help people escaping Domestic Violence, youth services, etc. I am a semi-retired electronics technician here in Canberra. Myself and my wife gather up old MacBooks (2010 and onwards). Do board repair under microscope, overhaul and upgrade with new SSD’s, then donate to charities in our local area, via GIVIT. Most of the MacBooks we overhaul, go to domestic violence shelters, so the ladies escaping DV, push onto to study at local TAFE/Universities. These MacBooks make a really BIG impact!!!!! For example we are dropping off 3 MacBooks, to a newly opened youth Center in Canberra. It’s only myself and Kaz, we are not a charity, we are not a company, we are a philanthropic hobby. We push out 15 MacBooks a year via GIVIT. If you want to know further info checkout our Facebook site “MBK Pizza”. Cheers Shane. :)
We have much the same thing up here in the PNW, started twelve or thirteen years ago. I volunteered in the triage and plug'n'pray sections. We'd get a lot of stuff like this stack donated in, even have a couple trucks and will go to your office and pick stuff up. I confess, I was there more for the volunteer's discount in the store front and I kept an eye out for the more 'unusual' machines, such as the ones Compaq made that look like either toasters or mantel radios. Tried to keep as much 8-bit stuff from being parted out to the recycle bins. Caught myself a (it's in storage right now) DEC Alpha PC with the dual firmware function. It's functional, someday I may try to get it back into working configuration. Sadly, these days recent most of the weird stuff goes right into the bin.
Not really a rich vs. poor thing... businesses trash machines like these by the dozen all the time, just need to know where to look. They're long out of warranty and one off indeterminate repairs are super expensive to do in house, so they buy new on a pre-planned cycle (5-7 years typically). Used to be a 5 year old machine was totally useless for home use, but with tech these days they aren't half bad if you're just doing basic stuff. You'll typically see machines like these going for $25-50 each if you buy by the pallet at a surplus store. Smaller batches just get dumpstered because it's not worth the hassle for a couple hundred bucks. There's also services that will recycle old junk for free in exchange for a certificate that the hard drive was destroyed (so IT doesn't need to worry about it when decommissioning machines). They'd be a good place to research and call up if you are looking for a deal.
@@PaulMorgan1 I live in the Caribbean. Business here are not as wealthy and generally do not dispose of much until its truly dead. The one exception is the University but its never accessible to anyone who is not inside.
@@PaulMorgan1 It depends on what kind of business we are talking about. Small business, generally, would get rid of computer when it is useless and/or broken and you cannot pass it to lower ranks. State institutions are pretty much the same. Big companies would sell their old stuff to recycler or, rarely, to own employees and not just toss it into garbage. It is area and state-sensitive I guess but even prototyping company I used to work for would never just throw out computers that still work. There is always some secretary or receptionist that could use it when it became too obsolete for your engineers and executives.
There must be some big companies in that business park. Cheaper and easier to dump them than to pay/hire someone to sell them. You'd think theyd at least donate them to a local school or library tho
starting with windows 8 the product key is embedded into the bios. You can use belarc advisor to pull the windows key from the bios. Windows 10 during a fresh install should auto detect the product key and activate.
If you have that purple windows 8/10 sticker, your windows install will activate automatically after you install windows 10 as long as BIOS is in UEFI boot mode.
As a HP/Compaq Certified Tech from the old days circa 1999 (HP)/2002 (Compaq) to 2010, these units have a Windows 8 key embedded in the HP Bios that would allow the installation of Windows 8 or Windows 8 upgrades to the Windows 7 OEM without needed to purchase additional keys. (edit dates, had to look them up again, no wonder I retired after my stroke) This was also a option for folks that still wanted the XP environments for software to run in compatibility mode. (clarification - This was meant as the Explorer Based frontend (Shell) founded with Windows 95. Not the NT kernel that all version of Windows since Windows 2000 are based on now.) My mistake for not clearing that up. - See John Francis Doe below Windows 7 was nothing more that an updated Window XP Core and interface. With the launch of Windows 8, the development of the Metro (tiles) UWP Interface and updates to the kernel (core OS functions) that continue to this day in Windows 10. (edit - Windows XP Core should be NT. other edits for clarification) So, yeah, you could load a HP OEM Windows 8 or 8.1 build, and still be within licensing agreement per HP TOS and Microsoft EULA. (edit - added EULA as that is different from Sales TOS) Also, you are correct, most companies did not want to have to teach a user class for the new interface on Windows 8, which is why desktop (classic mode) became an option in Windows 8.1.
恵勇気 Nonsense. Windows 7 includes most of the "least privilege" security features from Vista, but with a special loophole to not prompt for certain Microsoft programs by default. Windows 8 added the UWP stuff and removed the start menu (available as 3rd party add on, though). Windows 10 added all the mandatory "telemetry" that make it absolutely unacceptable for any business with anything they want or must keep secret, and it's on even in the highest tier enterprise licenses. Plus the Windows 10 mandatory updates that frequently cause instability and downtime, requiring special countermeasures (WSUS servers or similar) to keep away from production. With Windows 7 updates ending soon, Windows 8.1 with selective update policies will give companies a few extra years to find a way to either convince MS to remove the crap or switch to another OS altogether. There is an option to pay Microsoft to extend the Windows 7 and 8.1 deadlines if transitions to the next higher option are impractical. Now of cause salespeople have sweet talked a lot of people into not knowing the dangers and upgrade to Windows 10 anyway, even though this stuff is written right inside the EULA contract terms.
Downgrade is basically you are Licensed for Windows 8 and are allowed to use a lower version. Businesses usually use an older version for app compatibility.
Actually it looked like all those systems had a COA, the color changing "Windows 8 Pro" sticker is the COA and at least for the big OEMs (Dell, Lenovo, HP) the actual license key is embedded in the bios area encrypted/signed by a per-OEM cert. If you can find install media you can install Windows 8 and upgrade to 8.1 and it should automatically activate. Edit, missed James Davies comment below
Windows 8 had a embedded product key in the motherboard when purchased from a large odm (HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc.) , and professional models offered downgrades to 7 for years. My company offered downgrades until the hardware stopped supporting 7.
oh and FYI: since Windows 8 the Windows Certificate is in the BIOS of the Motherbard. So if you install the Windows 8 Version on the sticker, it is automatically activated.
@Dave Micolichek Well, there is the M$ Media Creation tool, wich allows you to make the Windows Installation legally. The Magic is in the BIOS and all you need to do is chose the right version of Windows...
@Dave Micolichek As I understand it, the upgrade to Windows 10 automatically sets the installation to the same type and legallity as what you're upgrading from. However, there are reasons to be very suspicious of exactly what Win10 is sending back to The Vole.
7:27 that graphics card on the left is an HD5450, the exact same model (sapphire) of videocard I used up until November of last year. Now I've got an RX570 8GB. Bit of an upgrade
A few years ago i used to volunteered for a charity op-shop. The manager found out that I.T. used to keep all the old computers in a store room, so she arranged for them to be sent to me to be fixed and sold second hand in the shop. All of the computers were small form factor HP's, and everyone worked perfectly, all I had to do was format the hardrive (I.T. never wiped the hard drives on the old computers) and reinstall Windows XP. I used to also install Open Office, and we used to sell them for $80 each. Just about every single machine sold the day it was put out for sale. The manager and I left around the same, and there were about 30 computer setup and ready to be sold. The new manager through every single one to the tip.
Love it! I procured four hp6000s myself - the same way, for the same price, here in NZ!!! Since 1999, I've only had to buy one laptop new. Everything else I use to run my home and business has been free, sponsored by ex corporate or private people with too much money! Combined with open source software and free networking software, I can run an annual seven figure company with zero computer overheads! Twenty years ago, the same setups I use today would have cost easily $25000, plus the almost compulsory ongoing "support contracts". Today, it's a thousand times faster, a thousand times more reliable and, is ultimately free; apart from my time.
ebay absolutely murders you with fees, along with shipping prices that keep climbing, amount that with some states forcing sales tax for out-of-state customers
I still can find some good deals on used laptops there. In my country one would cost $500 without warranty, on US ebay it's possible to find for $300 + $100 shipping and tax, so I can make $100 if everything is fine.
Ebay fees are quite reasonable.... You only pay when you sell, so it's the BUYER who pays the fees, not the seller (because even a half-smart seller allows for the fees in the price). Same with shipping costs... use calculated postage so that the BUYER pays the shipping, or just sell locally. It's better to sell and make something than to not sell and make nothing.
Speaking of those business desktops, I picked up a fairly modern (at the time) Lenovo ThinkCentre on eBay for $60 about 3 years ago, figuring I could upgrade it later. I just ordered a $30 upgraded CPU off eBay. I'm so excited to try it out.
The reason is simple: Many IT departments didn't want their users to user Windows 8, and Microsoft knew this. So, you could purchase a PC "with Windows 8", but they provided a serial number for Windows 7 as well. Now, this isn't really unique to Windows 8 though. If memory serves me correctly, and it may not so please don't shoot me, you could get a Windows XP downgrade from Vista, a Vista from 7, and so forth. Downgrading for deployment reasons is actually fairly common practice.
I remember when a secondary school I attended bought Acer PCs with Windows 7, but ordered them with XP preloaded (as the installations had the Acer branding and all, but also the Windows domain logon), then when they wanted to upgrade to Windows 7 Enterprise, they just sold ALL their XP systems to other teachers and replaced them with Lenovo desktops and HP laptops, probably as part of that write-off thing, and/or some MOE requirement.
At 10:05 i have to say that integrated graphics (iGPU on Intel Core Processors) will be disabled if there was a physical video card inside. So many people were handling it wrong, connecting the monitor to the mainboard instead of the dedicated graphics card and wonder why there is no signal shown on the screen.
Oh yea, those PCs are really nice! Great when you just need a computer to do a random task, they are so versatile! My school threw out a TON of these, and we (computer club) saved a few of them to use as servers.
I had a similar experience with almost the exact same machines. They were AMD A6 dual core machines though, 4 of em all working, from the same time period. I use them as network rendering machines.That way I can continue working on my main machine while those 4 render. I wasn't even dumpster diving though. Just happened to be in the right place at the right time. They have shit onboard graphics and I didn't upgrade them. I put 16GB of DDR3 in each one and cheap SSD's, cleaned em up and put new thermal paste in. That was 5 years ago. They're still going strong. A nice little stack of render nodes for free.
5 років тому
How did you connect them together? As in what software.
Professional OEM versions of Windows have always included downgrade rights, because when businesses add new clients, they generally keep all clients running the same OS for simpler administration.
It's actually very very common for corporate users to specify a specific OS. After 7 came out, we still used XP, and had to specifically order machines with XP from HP to work with legacy applications.
All those ones with the silver borders have awful power supplies - they love to just die spectacularly. We had a bunch of them at my job and we have been losing about 15 of them a year for the last three years to bad power supplies.
There's an idea for Dave's next video. These are Delta supplies, which are generally well constructed but on the cheap side in terms of parts, so I kind of suspect dodgy caps. (By _failing spectacularly,_ do you mean they literally go bang?) Failing that, some components may be undersized or badly cooled. The last power supply defect I had was an ultra-compact Fujitsu Esprimo Q910 (same generation, i5-3317U). Unplugged for 10 minutes so it can be moved to another space, plug back in, dead as a doornail. *facepalm* Apparently these are quite notorious for blowing their switching MOSFETs, and people have been modifying them for use with external laptop power bricks as the PSU is only generating 20 V internally anyway, so it's basically repackaged mobile tech. These are fairly neat little machines otherwise. Other than that, the (now exotic) 15 V supplies used by older Toshiba business notebooks have proven a bit unreliable, more specifically the Sanken OEM'd ones. "Just" bad caps, but ultrasonically welded business = hard to open. These machines (e.g. Tecra S10) have straight terrible battery charging algorithms, too - they'll charge an old battery until the overheat protection kicks in. (To make matters worse, they tend to drain their batteries in about a month as they draw about 4 mA even when off, so you either have to charge them regularly or leave them powered all the time.) *Those* would have needed a BIOS update to limit charging of old batteries, not the Fujitsus that did end up getting one recently (but where I've never seen anything critical happening). They are getting a bit old now, but they still have some really nice keyboards and are only ever being used for office and internet stuff anyway.
10:00 it doesnt work like that, usually, when you put a dedicated gpu in the onboard graphics are disabled, also many of the old cards are dual monitor only
Its crazy that in this day and age there isn't a mandate for businesses to recycle their old PCs in order to get their tax write off. I used to volunteer with a computer recycler over 20 years ago and they were one of the first to setup a free Internet cafe type space for people to learn about open source software and computers in general, all with ex-business PCs.
well....if you think about this, they were left in a place where it is likely someone might see them and decide to keep them. So in a way it is recycling. Like putting stuff on the side of the road with a "free" sign...there is always someone who will take it....
That's a nice haul. Do those CPUs have VT-D? Would make a nice VM setup. Been toying with buying a bunch of these for that purpose, would make a nice lab environment to test out virtualization setups.
What I like about HP compacts back from many years ago was that they didn't mount the hard drives right ontop of the Northbridge controller like they did on the Dells where they'd get hot, overheat and break down.
Those PCs are gold to any engineer. Use them for testing hardware under different configurations and loads. Quickly swap the box out for one with more/less RAM, different graphics card, etc - that way you can troubleshoot misbehaving software & hardware fast. Like when you were testing your rendering settings.
Make a CentOS cluster. Not sure if youd have much need for it, but it might be a good way to learn about parallel programing and HPC (if you're into that). Maybe not with this lot, but something to keep in mind when you come across a score of heterogenous machines. Also be on the lookout for network switches- that would make building a hobby cluster a bit simpler.
I have a VMWare cluster running on three of the HP SFF 8300 desktops. Just maxed out the RAM and added a 4port GigE card for storage and VMotion. Five years later they are still cracking.
This HPs, if you ignore the PSU (half of it is devoted to move air in the bays) are alsmot passive cooled. Heatsink is very big, and fan does not do much heavy lifting. I ve never hear fan noise coming from one of those. And 4 DIMM slots, thank dyou very much. Not to mention how easy is to work on them.
The big manufacturers don't put COAs on their boxes anymore (from about W8)... Generally gets loaded in the BIOS. You can generally request a downgrade on the OS if you're a corporate customer it was very popular during vista (to XP) and 8 (to 7). A number of reason for doing this could include: Legacy APP compatibility, keeping your environment consistent if you had to add an extra machine/s, or because the OS is garbage (Vista or 8). I haven't done it a while but From memory its still licensed to run 8.
well they kinda are... but if they are listed for sale it's because they are looking to make a buck off them. You got to find them in the wild like this!
I doubt you'll get 5 screens off those machines. The cards are usually take your pick of 2 out of the 3. On my HP machine - generation before this - you can't use the integrated graphics if you have a dedicated graphics card. Incidentally, 16GB is nowadays significantly better than 8GB with Windows 10. By the time you have a few tabs open in Chrome you're usually using 7GB+. I've been thrilled by with the machines I've got with 16GB. It just takes it away from that threshold of using swap files. Chuck in a $50 SSD and these machines will fly.
On the PC with 4 memory slots, put in 4 extra gigabytes, buy a small cheap SSD, load a lightweight linux, such as MX-linux, and you've a wonderful machine.
The oem bios level MS licensing lets you install windows 8 or usually also 10. It will automatically activate and choose the correct version (pro in this case). Win7 requires a HP oem version or a vanilla version with a tool to change the SLIC to use the bios license.
just want to point out that a lot of modern motherboards do still have physical serial and sometimes even parallel(LPT), but they are just on headers on the motherboard, where you need to provide your own connector as opposed to it having a space on the faceplate
Do you not have something similar to WEEE in Auz? Over here in the UK companies aren't allowed to just chuck it equipment and electrons out, they have to be recycled.
we had a new shipment of computers for the uni and the prof tasked me with building a cluster from the old ones, so I had a stack of computers like that humming away for about a year
I buy large quantities of used PCs from local companies, these HP 8xxx appear often and are great computers, perfectly fine for office tasks in 2019, especially in combination with a SSD.
It looks like the non working one used to have an external graphics card and might have the internal disabled. Try putting one of the external ones in and see. Fans also usually spins at full tilt before the bios is initialized fully, and the missing graphics card might halt the bios before the fan controller is started, hence full wack on cpu fan.
@ do you have any recycling centers close to where you live?I've never been lucky enough to find computer components in a dumpster but recycling centers are crawling with the stuff
I'm watching this on a very similar computer, HP SFF 5300, Core i5. I upgraded the video, RAM, and added a second internal HDD. I've been using it for several years now, and expect to continue using it for things like UA-cam for the forseeable future. Pretty solid little machine.
They are only quiet unless for whatever reason the hp logo at boot does not appear and the fans ramp up to very high rpm for like one min then they start to ramp back down to low rpm.
That's great, looks like the two biggest bottles necks have already been removed from these PC's. Windows & the mechanical HD. It's now ready for Linux + SSD and these will fly.
Hardly anybody wants a Linux PC... won't noticeably speed it up anyway. Installing a SSD is obvious but still need a storage drive (which will easily fit).
@@johncoops6897 If you are not a gamer, Linux is the best option. Those machines don't have the power to run the latest games, so they would make great Linux machines. I totally agree with Tommy. I'm sure Mint will install just fine on those machines.
@@czarzenana5125 - yeah yeah, blah blah, but there is no need to downgrade to Linux... ... simply because the latest version of WINDOWS will install and run just fine on those machines Bonus: you even get a licence for Windows as well! So they would make great Windows machines.
boot SSD (120GB) with Windows 10 Pro, 500GB HDD, as well as a GT1030, and that thing is ready for a few VMs, or as a general purpose PC when fitted with 16 or 32GB of RAM.
@@johncoops6897 There's no downgrading when your OS is for free and open source. Since there is a license paid for closed software Wintendows, you could make a dual boot. Most people have more appliances at home running Linux, they just don't realize it.
@10:00 I also have a refurb HP desktop from an electronics recycle shop and at least on my model, if you install and use an external graphics card, the BIOS hard-disables the onboard video. It was in the BIOS apparently--it wasn't just the fact that I run Linux. I've never tried Windows on that box but I don't expect it to work. But at first I was also excited about getting a few extra monitors involved...
Windows 8 & 10 product keys are loaded into the motherboard. You can actually run the Windows 10 installer on these systems and it won't require a product key! Really neat. You can search this by the keywords "ACPI Product Key". You can use software like RWEverything to read these keys, but they will still be OEM locked.
I could not even list all the stuff I've pulled out of dumpsters. My current tv, stereo, and speakers would be a start, though. And all my power tools. ALL of them, and I've got quite a few... What really surprises me is that most of it required little to no attention to be fully functional.
I get heaps of my stuff from the domestic hard rubbish collections. My last haul included 2 year old Yamaha 7.1ch receiver, Dimplex portable a/c, $1000 gas heater, about 20 power tools (some old), hand tools, storage shelves, speakers... absolutely tons more stuff. Even got a variety of life ammunition (for which I have no rifles).
Our company periodically has internal auctions for such equipment - I got a Dell 9020 SFF PC from one. Makes more sense than just scrapping stuff in a dumpster. The Dell SFF PCs are just as nice in their internal construction.
6:44 that computer was purchased December 28, 2013 and warranty expired February 15, 2017. I was buying PC's that where down gradable to Windows 7 because we skipped Windows 10 and where waiting to upgrade to Windows 10. Oh and as mentioned if you put NVidia GTX 1050 (low profile) it only draws 75w of power. I usually also put in an SSD and you get a decent gaming machine. I turned mine into a 3D Render farm :)
I recently learned this with an HP laptop that's a few years old: They often stopped adding Windows license stickers on the case and instead put the license key in the BIOS. I had to do a fresh install of Windows 10 and got concerned because I couldn't find a license key to type in. But Windows never asked for a key: It found it in the BIOS without being prompted to, and it basically told me "nah, we're good mate". ;D
I have one of these 6300s that I bought from Goodwill for $25 US (no memory or HDD). WHat is the best (that is price/performance) graphics card to get for one of these?
John Tarbox a low profile GTX 1050 Ti like this: www.gigabyte.com/au/Graphics-Card/GV-N105TOC-4GL (Other brands like MSI, Zotac and probably others make them too, but the Gigabyte ones are what I’m most familiar with) The pictures show it with the full height bracket installed, but you get the low profile one in the box. You just need a small screwdriver as well as a small hex head or pliers to change it over. Low profile 1650’s are supposedly on the way, but who knows when they’ll start appearing on store shelves, not to mention pricing isn’t great on those.
we have a network booting setup of empty epsilon at work, which is a spaceship bridge simulator (all open source runs on Linux windows or android), that,d be a nice application if you can find 5 touch screens and a beamer or other large main screen (and like that kind of thing).
When I worked for an HP distributor, HP loaned us a high end 3D workstation (J-class I think) in the noughties (with FX10 graphics, the card alone was thousands), I think the whole unit cost over £15K the way it was configured. It was used to demo for customers. It was only supposed to be a 6 month loan but they didn't ask for it back. After a year we asked them what they wanted us to do and they said "Keep it". Chump change for them, and they probably could care less about a 1 year old machine.
Just the other day i bought one of those from a refurbisher. A old HP with a gen 4 i5 processor and actually even a SSD. Cost me about €250 with shipping
COA/Licence key is electronic on those machines, grab a HP restore disk for 7 or 8, you can even throw 10 on them and it'll pick up the E licence. The 6300 SFF is a pretty good machine, nice solid little workhorse of a box, won't set the world on fire from a benchmark point of view but that's not the point of a business desktop anyway, they're just meant to be solid, reliable and get you through the expected lifetime until you hardware refresh.
Windows 8 pro is still better than win10 and all the datamining, or OS-as-a-service thing. You don't want this. i have it on a thinkpad tablet, it changed my mind on why i shunned win8.1, but it is like the last decent one they made, you can still turn off unwanted services.
DAVE I HAVE THE PERFECT SOLUTION. (Sorry for yelling). :)
If you get a couple running with cheap SSD’s ($35), donate them to a charity via GIVIT (this is an organisation that has a database of items that charities require, locally in your area). These PC’s could help people escaping Domestic Violence, youth services, etc.
I am a semi-retired electronics technician here in Canberra. Myself and my wife gather up old MacBooks (2010 and onwards). Do board repair under microscope, overhaul and upgrade with new SSD’s, then donate to charities in our local area, via GIVIT.
Most of the MacBooks we overhaul, go to domestic violence shelters, so the ladies escaping DV, push onto to study at local TAFE/Universities. These MacBooks make a really BIG impact!!!!! For example we are dropping off 3 MacBooks, to a newly opened youth Center in Canberra.
It’s only myself and Kaz, we are not a charity, we are not a company, we are a philanthropic hobby. We push out 15 MacBooks a year via GIVIT. If you want to know further info checkout our Facebook site “MBK Pizza”.
Cheers Shane. :)
Good for you Shane. Ethics and landfill reduction.
We have much the same thing up here in the PNW, started twelve or thirteen years ago. I volunteered in the triage and plug'n'pray sections. We'd get a lot of stuff like this stack donated in, even have a couple trucks and will go to your office and pick stuff up. I confess, I was there more for the volunteer's discount in the store front and I kept an eye out for the more 'unusual' machines, such as the ones Compaq made that look like either toasters or mantel radios. Tried to keep as much 8-bit stuff from being parted out to the recycle bins. Caught myself a (it's in storage right now) DEC Alpha PC with the dual firmware function. It's functional, someday I may try to get it back into working configuration.
Sadly, these days recent most of the weird stuff goes right into the bin.
never really thought about it like that , thanks for sharing
Dave Jones eevblog don't ignore this comment. ⬆️⬆️⬆️
I was going to suggest just that. Best use of surpluss machines there can be! :o)
"That's a little bit, how ya doin. Bobby Dazzler. Like a bought one." 10:32
Three in a row!?!? It's like Dave tweaked out a bit there.
Andrew Delashaw Bob’s your uncle!
Four! There's the "Let's go for broke" one too.
We need to play ‘Stralia bingo, little bobby dazzler, in like Flynn, she’ll be apples, no worries, give it a burl, etc, etc.
The more obscure the better, with "half a bee's dick" being my favorite.
Really helps working in a rich zone. That will never happen where I live.
Not really a rich vs. poor thing... businesses trash machines like these by the dozen all the time, just need to know where to look. They're long out of warranty and one off indeterminate repairs are super expensive to do in house, so they buy new on a pre-planned cycle (5-7 years typically). Used to be a 5 year old machine was totally useless for home use, but with tech these days they aren't half bad if you're just doing basic stuff. You'll typically see machines like these going for $25-50 each if you buy by the pallet at a surplus store. Smaller batches just get dumpstered because it's not worth the hassle for a couple hundred bucks. There's also services that will recycle old junk for free in exchange for a certificate that the hard drive was destroyed (so IT doesn't need to worry about it when decommissioning machines). They'd be a good place to research and call up if you are looking for a deal.
@@PaulMorgan1 I live in the Caribbean. Business here are not as wealthy and generally do not dispose of much until its truly dead. The one exception is the University but its never accessible to anyone who is not inside.
@@PaulMorgan1 It depends on what kind of business we are talking about. Small business, generally, would get rid of computer when it is useless and/or broken and you cannot pass it to lower ranks. State institutions are pretty much the same. Big companies would sell their old stuff to recycler or, rarely, to own employees and not just toss it into garbage. It is area and state-sensitive I guess but even prototyping company I used to work for would never just throw out computers that still work. There is always some secretary or receptionist that could use it when it became too obsolete for your engineers and executives.
There must be some big companies in that business park. Cheaper and easier to dump them than to pay/hire someone to sell them. You'd think theyd at least donate them to a local school or library tho
EEVblog #1337 - Dumpster Diving Entire Freakin' IBM POWER9 Supercomputer Cluster!
"I think I need a truck for this"
@@ruikazane5123 No worries, will be in the dumpster beside that.
@@VincentFischer Fell there of a truck, probably. You know,... one of... those... truck trucks.
@@SCHLMF Ist das eine Simpsons referenz? Ich werd grade ganz nostalgisch
@@VincentFischer ua-cam.com/video/kccONko4xYE/v-deo.html
starting with windows 8 the product key is embedded into the bios. You can use belarc advisor to pull the windows key from the bios. Windows 10 during a fresh install should auto detect the product key and activate.
you will sometimes need the computer manufacturers specific boot iso, although ive seen a modded one that works with most pc oems
@@kolby4078 haven't run across that since Windows XP.
Specific brand boot isos died with the dinosaurs
@@SomeMorganSomewhere they exist for 7
No need for software to get the hardcoded Win8+ key:
wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey
That building has the best dumpster ever! I would live in that dumpster lol!
That dumpster probably throws expensive dinner banquet every night!
Can I be your neighbor?
You need to put in a web cam in the dumpster room for up to date information.....
I was just thinking this
There is one PC used already then, Dumpster cam monitor/recorder.
Just need to find the other 5 more pointless uses.
If you have that purple windows 8/10 sticker, your windows install will activate automatically after you install windows 10 as long as BIOS is in UEFI boot mode.
Fedora Gnu/Linux works far better, it's what i'm running now.
@@madscientist132 Not even Arch smh my head
@@madscientist132 Depends
I'm really glad Microsoft still lets this happen :)
@@fellenXD Yeah where's the "Btw I use Arch"?
As a HP/Compaq Certified Tech from the old days circa 1999 (HP)/2002 (Compaq) to 2010, these units have a Windows 8 key embedded in the HP Bios that would allow the installation of Windows 8 or Windows 8 upgrades to the Windows 7 OEM without needed to purchase additional keys. (edit dates, had to look them up again, no wonder I retired after my stroke)
This was also a option for folks that still wanted the XP environments for software to run in compatibility mode.
(clarification - This was meant as the Explorer Based frontend (Shell) founded with Windows 95. Not the NT kernel that all version of Windows since Windows 2000 are based on now.) My mistake for not clearing that up. - See John Francis Doe below
Windows 7 was nothing more that an updated Window XP Core and interface. With the launch of Windows 8, the development of the Metro (tiles) UWP Interface and updates to the kernel (core OS functions) that continue to this day in Windows 10. (edit - Windows XP Core should be NT. other edits for clarification)
So, yeah, you could load a HP OEM Windows 8 or 8.1 build, and still be within licensing agreement per HP TOS and Microsoft EULA. (edit - added EULA as that is different from Sales TOS)
Also, you are correct, most companies did not want to have to teach a user class for the new interface on Windows 8, which is why desktop (classic mode) became an option in Windows 8.1.
恵勇気 Nonsense. Windows 7 includes most of the "least privilege" security features from Vista, but with a special loophole to not prompt for certain Microsoft programs by default. Windows 8 added the UWP stuff and removed the start menu (available as 3rd party add on, though). Windows 10 added all the mandatory "telemetry" that make it absolutely unacceptable for any business with anything they want or must keep secret, and it's on even in the highest tier enterprise licenses. Plus the Windows 10 mandatory updates that frequently cause instability and downtime, requiring special countermeasures (WSUS servers or similar) to keep away from production. With Windows 7 updates ending soon, Windows 8.1 with selective update policies will give companies a few extra years to find a way to either convince MS to remove the crap or switch to another OS altogether. There is an option to pay Microsoft to extend the Windows 7 and 8.1 deadlines if transitions to the next higher option are impractical.
Now of cause salespeople have sweet talked a lot of people into not knowing the dangers and upgrade to Windows 10 anyway, even though this stuff is written right inside the EULA contract terms.
Downgrade is basically you are Licensed for Windows 8 and are allowed to use a lower version. Businesses usually use an older version for app compatibility.
exact reason we used windows 7 for so long, a lot of 3D software was only stable with windows 7 and 8 was problematic for quite a few years as well.
Actually it looked like all those systems had a COA, the color changing "Windows 8 Pro" sticker is the COA and at least for the big OEMs (Dell, Lenovo, HP) the actual license key is embedded in the bios area encrypted/signed by a per-OEM cert. If you can find install media you can install Windows 8 and upgrade to 8.1 and it should automatically activate.
Edit, missed James Davies comment below
win7=okay
win8=trash
win9=dead
win10=tbd
Windows 8 had a embedded product key in the motherboard when purchased from a large odm (HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc.) , and professional models offered downgrades to 7 for years. My company offered downgrades until the hardware stopped supporting 7.
Additionally, the Win8 CoA in the BIOS will also allow installing and automagic activation of Windows 10!
oh and FYI: since Windows 8 the Windows Certificate is in the BIOS of the Motherbard.
So if you install the Windows 8 Version on the sticker, it is automatically activated.
Stefan Payne Windows 10 works as well.
@Dave Micolichek Well, there is the M$ Media Creation tool, wich allows you to make the Windows Installation legally.
The Magic is in the BIOS and all you need to do is chose the right version of Windows...
@Dave Micolichek As I understand it, the upgrade to Windows 10 automatically sets the installation to the same type and legallity as what you're upgrading from. However, there are reasons to be very suspicious of exactly what Win10 is sending back to The Vole.
Is Ben Heck still living in that room?
7:27 that graphics card on the left is an HD5450, the exact same model (sapphire) of videocard I used up until November of last year. Now I've got an RX570 8GB. Bit of an upgrade
A few years ago i used to volunteered for a charity op-shop. The manager found out that I.T. used to keep all the old computers in a store room, so she arranged for them to be sent to me to be fixed and sold second hand in the shop. All of the computers were small form factor HP's, and everyone worked perfectly, all I had to do was format the hardrive (I.T. never wiped the hard drives on the old computers) and reinstall Windows XP. I used to also install Open Office, and we used to sell them for $80 each. Just about every single machine sold the day it was put out for sale. The manager and I left around the same, and there were about 30 computer setup and ready to be sold. The new manager through every single one to the tip.
11:03 - usually when an external graphics card is present it will disable the integrated graphics present on the intel CPU.
Same is true for AMD APUs. Radeon cards keep VGA usable on the 6300s.
Love it! I procured four hp6000s myself - the same way, for the same price, here in NZ!!!
Since 1999, I've only had to buy one laptop new. Everything else I use to run my home and business has been free, sponsored by ex corporate or private people with too much money!
Combined with open source software and free networking software, I can run an annual seven figure company with zero computer overheads!
Twenty years ago, the same setups I use today would have cost easily $25000, plus the almost compulsory ongoing "support contracts".
Today, it's a thousand times faster, a thousand times more reliable and, is ultimately free; apart from my time.
Those things make great home servers.
ebay absolutely murders you with fees, along with shipping prices that keep climbing, amount that with some states forcing sales tax for out-of-state customers
I still can find some good deals on used laptops there. In my country one would cost $500 without warranty, on US ebay it's possible to find for $300 + $100 shipping and tax, so I can make $100 if everything is fine.
Ebay fees are quite reasonable.... You only pay when you sell, so it's the BUYER who pays the fees, not the seller (because even a half-smart seller allows for the fees in the price). Same with shipping costs... use calculated postage so that the BUYER pays the shipping, or just sell locally.
It's better to sell and make something than to not sell and make nothing.
How common is it for the buyer to pull a fast one and claim the item never arrived/was damaged in shipping?
@@uK8cvPAq - why do you care? There is seller protection, providing that you can prove that you shipped (posted) the item to the buyer.
@@johncoops6897 It just seems like such a hassle for such a risk.
Oh wow the Video quality is so good. Is it just me noticing now or has something (with the compression maybe) changed?
Speaking of those business desktops, I picked up a fairly modern (at the time) Lenovo ThinkCentre on eBay for $60 about 3 years ago, figuring I could upgrade it later. I just ordered a $30 upgraded CPU off eBay. I'm so excited to try it out.
Startups could greatly benefit from dumped office equipment.
The reason is simple: Many IT departments didn't want their users to user Windows 8, and Microsoft knew this. So, you could purchase a PC "with Windows 8", but they provided a serial number for Windows 7 as well.
Now, this isn't really unique to Windows 8 though. If memory serves me correctly, and it may not so please don't shoot me, you could get a Windows XP downgrade from Vista, a Vista from 7, and so forth.
Downgrading for deployment reasons is actually fairly common practice.
I remember when a secondary school I attended bought Acer PCs with Windows 7, but ordered them with XP preloaded (as the installations had the Acer branding and all, but also the Windows domain logon), then when they wanted to upgrade to Windows 7 Enterprise, they just sold ALL their XP systems to other teachers and replaced them with Lenovo desktops and HP laptops, probably as part of that write-off thing, and/or some MOE requirement.
At 10:05 i have to say that integrated graphics (iGPU on Intel Core Processors) will be disabled if there was a physical video card inside.
So many people were handling it wrong, connecting the monitor to the mainboard instead of the dedicated graphics card and wonder why there is no signal shown on the screen.
I love these things at work, Dell+HP.
Not surprising that it's dusty, some of our work computers haven't been cleaned since they bought them.
Oh yea, those PCs are really nice! Great when you just need a computer to do a random task, they are so versatile! My school threw out a TON of these, and we (computer club) saved a few of them to use as servers.
I never cease to amaze myself over what you find in Australian office dumpsters. In my country you never find anything, not even garbage.
I had a similar experience with almost the exact same machines. They were AMD A6 dual core machines though, 4 of em all working, from the same time period. I use them as network rendering machines.That way I can continue working on my main machine while those 4 render. I wasn't even dumpster diving though. Just happened to be in the right place at the right time. They have shit onboard graphics and I didn't upgrade them. I put 16GB of DDR3 in each one and cheap SSD's, cleaned em up and put new thermal paste in. That was 5 years ago. They're still going strong. A nice little stack of render nodes for free.
How did you connect them together? As in what software.
Professional OEM versions of Windows have always included downgrade rights, because when businesses add new clients, they generally keep all clients running the same OS for simpler administration.
It's actually very very common for corporate users to specify a specific OS. After 7 came out, we still used XP, and had to specifically order machines with XP from HP to work with legacy applications.
All those ones with the silver borders have awful power supplies - they love to just die spectacularly. We had a bunch of them at my job and we have been losing about 15 of them a year for the last three years to bad power supplies.
There's an idea for Dave's next video. These are Delta supplies, which are generally well constructed but on the cheap side in terms of parts, so I kind of suspect dodgy caps. (By _failing spectacularly,_ do you mean they literally go bang?) Failing that, some components may be undersized or badly cooled.
The last power supply defect I had was an ultra-compact Fujitsu Esprimo Q910 (same generation, i5-3317U). Unplugged for 10 minutes so it can be moved to another space, plug back in, dead as a doornail. *facepalm* Apparently these are quite notorious for blowing their switching MOSFETs, and people have been modifying them for use with external laptop power bricks as the PSU is only generating 20 V internally anyway, so it's basically repackaged mobile tech. These are fairly neat little machines otherwise.
Other than that, the (now exotic) 15 V supplies used by older Toshiba business notebooks have proven a bit unreliable, more specifically the Sanken OEM'd ones. "Just" bad caps, but ultrasonically welded business = hard to open. These machines (e.g. Tecra S10) have straight terrible battery charging algorithms, too - they'll charge an old battery until the overheat protection kicks in. (To make matters worse, they tend to drain their batteries in about a month as they draw about 4 mA even when off, so you either have to charge them regularly or leave them powered all the time.) *Those* would have needed a BIOS update to limit charging of old batteries, not the Fujitsus that did end up getting one recently (but where I've never seen anything critical happening). They are getting a bit old now, but they still have some really nice keyboards and are only ever being used for office and internet stuff anyway.
10:00 it doesnt work like that, usually, when you put a dedicated gpu in the onboard graphics are disabled, also many of the old cards are dual monitor only
Its crazy that in this day and age there isn't a mandate for businesses to recycle their old PCs in order to get their tax write off.
I used to volunteer with a computer recycler over 20 years ago and they were one of the first to setup a free Internet cafe type space for people to learn about open source software and computers in general, all with ex-business PCs.
well....if you think about this, they were left in a place where it is likely someone might see them and decide to keep them. So in a way it is recycling. Like putting stuff on the side of the road with a "free" sign...there is always someone who will take it....
So do you clean em and sell em, part them out, both or return them to the dumpster room?
Don’t you get a 2215 error when changing the battery? I can’t find a solution for that error.
That's a nice haul. Do those CPUs have VT-D? Would make a nice VM setup. Been toying with buying a bunch of these for that purpose, would make a nice lab environment to test out virtualization setups.
What I like about HP compacts back from many years ago was that they didn't mount the hard drives right ontop of the Northbridge controller like they did on the Dells where they'd get hot, overheat and break down.
Those PCs are gold to any engineer. Use them for testing hardware under different configurations and loads. Quickly swap the box out for one with more/less RAM, different graphics card, etc - that way you can troubleshoot misbehaving software & hardware fast. Like when you were testing your rendering settings.
In UK if we sell old stuff we it becomes a taxable income. So in the bin it goes
Wow, you have some of the most interesting garbage I've ever seen, lol. That's great!
You can still extract a windows 8 key from those - its OEM in the BIOS or something.
I found a rack mount server from 2007 and ups a few months ago. Dont know what i am going to do with it yet. Still need to reformat so it is usable.
Dave, distributed computing might be an interesting project for them... just as a proof of concept that it works
I'd really love to see people play around with this. I'm sure you can do some cool stuff for not much!
The Windows 8 license is embedded in the BIOS, that's why you're not seeing CoAs on most of them.
Like most post 2012/2013 pcs with OEM COAs
You can only make some kind of harddrive archiv out of them do they have wake up on LAN ?
Make a CentOS cluster. Not sure if youd have much need for it, but it might be a good way to learn about parallel programing and HPC (if you're into that). Maybe not with this lot, but something to keep in mind when you come across a score of heterogenous machines. Also be on the lookout for network switches- that would make building a hobby cluster a bit simpler.
I have a VMWare cluster running on three of the HP SFF 8300 desktops. Just maxed out the RAM and added a 4port GigE card for storage and VMotion. Five years later they are still cracking.
This HPs, if you ignore the PSU (half of it is devoted to move air in the bays) are alsmot passive cooled. Heatsink is very big, and fan does not do much heavy lifting. I ve never hear fan noise coming from one of those. And 4 DIMM slots, thank dyou very much. Not to mention how easy is to work on them.
Love it when you upload videos
Of all the great stuff you find in dumpster
The big manufacturers don't put COAs on their boxes anymore (from about W8)... Generally gets loaded in the BIOS.
You can generally request a downgrade on the OS if you're a corporate customer it was very popular during vista (to XP) and 8 (to 7). A number of reason for doing this could include: Legacy APP compatibility, keeping your environment consistent if you had to add an extra machine/s, or because the OS is garbage (Vista or 8). I haven't done it a while but From memory its still licensed to run 8.
Well, that's depressing... I've been searching for a cheap system for PFSense on Craigslist for months. People think these are worth $120 each.
well they kinda are... but if they are listed for sale it's because they are looking to make a buck off them. You got to find them in the wild like this!
Not that cheap to run 24/7 though!!
im curious to know the use of 4 sata port in a sff, when you have only 2 slots on the case for Sata devices (1hdd 1dvd)
You could always throw in a dual eSATA slot bracket... Besides, the board may also have been used in a roomier machine.
I doubt you'll get 5 screens off those machines. The cards are usually take your pick of 2 out of the 3. On my HP machine - generation before this - you can't use the integrated graphics if you have a dedicated graphics card. Incidentally, 16GB is nowadays significantly better than 8GB with Windows 10. By the time you have a few tabs open in Chrome you're usually using 7GB+. I've been thrilled by with the machines I've got with 16GB. It just takes it away from that threshold of using swap files. Chuck in a $50 SSD and these machines will fly.
Holly crap where do you find this stuff?
On the PC with 4 memory slots, put in 4 extra gigabytes, buy a small cheap SSD, load a lightweight linux, such as MX-linux, and you've a wonderful machine.
tape 3 of them together and make a more useful apple cube computer thing :P
You can date the PC’s by simply looking for the Blue usb3’s sockets at the rear,older stuff is usually the plain usb 1 or equally plain usb 2.
The oem bios level MS licensing lets you install windows 8 or usually also 10. It will automatically activate and choose the correct version (pro in this case). Win7 requires a HP oem version or a vanilla version with a tool to change the SLIC to use the bios license.
did they scrub the drives
just want to point out that a lot of modern motherboards do still have physical serial and sometimes even parallel(LPT), but they are just on headers on the motherboard, where you need to provide your own connector as opposed to it having a space on the faceplate
dave do ur building has 1 dumpster room or does it few more??
Only the one dumpster room
Where do I find these dumpsters?
Licence keys are in the BIOS.
How are the batteries doing?
For that one that didn't work, it sounds like the power supply cable to the CPU is off, the little 4pin job near the cooler
Do you not have something similar to WEEE in Auz? Over here in the UK companies aren't allowed to just chuck it equipment and electrons out, they have to be recycled.
Is it legal to dump dive into WEEE?
we had a new shipment of computers for the uni and the prof tasked me with building a cluster from the old ones, so I had a stack of computers like that humming away for about a year
i wish i had dumpsters like that in my area good find! Do the HD's still work and have info on them?
You didn't even watch the video did you? There are no HDDs, dummy.
Keep up the dumpster dive vids, these are fun!
I buy large quantities of used PCs from local companies, these HP 8xxx appear often and are great computers, perfectly fine for office tasks in 2019, especially in combination with a SSD.
It looks like the non working one used to have an external graphics card and might have the internal disabled. Try putting one of the external ones in and see. Fans also usually spins at full tilt before the bios is initialized fully, and the missing graphics card might halt the bios before the fan controller is started, hence full wack on cpu fan.
thats very good far better than the free PCs you get in my town these would likely be P4 ones. shame one was no good.
i just went to the recycling center today and there was 7 lga 771 servers and a big box of 1.2 TB sas drives
@ do you have any recycling centers close to where you live?I've never been lucky enough to find computer components in a dumpster but recycling centers are crawling with the stuff
Does your building disposal contractor e-recycle, or were these going to landfill?
Neither. Anything put in that room is "recycled" by other staff.
Maybe you can do some cluster computing?
I'm watching this on a very similar computer, HP SFF 5300, Core i5. I upgraded the video, RAM, and added a second internal HDD. I've been using it for several years now, and expect to continue using it for things like UA-cam for the forseeable future. Pretty solid little machine.
Win8 and beyond don't come with CofA stickers. The OEM versions are keyed off the bios.
One of the best dumpsters in the world where Dave frequently scores a lot and we get to see what's inside.
They are only quiet unless for whatever reason the hp logo at boot does not appear and the fans ramp up to very high rpm for like one min then they start to ramp back down to low rpm.
That's great, looks like the two biggest bottles necks have already been removed from these PC's. Windows & the mechanical HD. It's now ready for Linux + SSD and these will fly.
Hardly anybody wants a Linux PC... won't noticeably speed it up anyway. Installing a SSD is obvious but still need a storage drive (which will easily fit).
@@johncoops6897
If you are not a gamer, Linux is the best option.
Those machines don't have the power to run the latest games, so they would make great Linux machines.
I totally agree with Tommy. I'm sure Mint will install just fine on those machines.
@@czarzenana5125 - yeah yeah, blah blah, but there is no need to downgrade to Linux...
... simply because the latest version of WINDOWS will install and run just fine on those machines Bonus: you even get a licence for Windows as well!
So they would make great Windows machines.
boot SSD (120GB) with Windows 10 Pro, 500GB HDD, as well as a GT1030, and that thing is ready for a few VMs, or as a general purpose PC when fitted with 16 or 32GB of RAM.
@@johncoops6897
There's no downgrading when your OS is for free and open source.
Since there is a license paid for closed software Wintendows, you could make a dual boot.
Most people have more appliances at home running Linux, they just don't realize it.
@10:00 I also have a refurb HP desktop from an electronics recycle shop and at least on my model, if you install and use an external graphics card, the BIOS hard-disables the onboard video. It was in the BIOS apparently--it wasn't just the fact that I run Linux. I've never tried Windows on that box but I don't expect it to work. But at first I was also excited about getting a few extra monitors involved...
The defective one has a dead PSU.
These computers' PSUs just fall like flies, we had them in our fleet at our workplace.
Windows 8 & 10 product keys are loaded into the motherboard. You can actually run the Windows 10 installer on these systems and it won't require a product key! Really neat. You can search this by the keywords "ACPI Product Key". You can use software like RWEverything to read these keys, but they will still be OEM locked.
Usually when the fan is running that fast usually means its a bad power supply.
I could not even list all the stuff I've pulled out of dumpsters. My current tv, stereo, and speakers would be a start, though. And all my power tools. ALL of them, and I've got quite a few... What really surprises me is that most of it required little to no attention to be fully functional.
I get heaps of my stuff from the domestic hard rubbish collections. My last haul included 2 year old Yamaha 7.1ch receiver, Dimplex portable a/c, $1000 gas heater, about 20 power tools (some old), hand tools, storage shelves, speakers... absolutely tons more stuff. Even got a variety of life ammunition (for which I have no rifles).
@@johncoops6897 Yup, that sounds pretty familiar.
Our company periodically has internal auctions for such equipment - I got a Dell 9020 SFF PC from one. Makes more sense than just scrapping stuff in a dumpster. The Dell SFF PCs are just as nice in their internal construction.
6:44 that computer was purchased December 28, 2013 and warranty expired February 15, 2017. I was buying PC's that where down gradable to Windows 7 because we skipped Windows 10 and where waiting to upgrade to Windows 10. Oh and as mentioned if you put NVidia GTX 1050 (low profile) it only draws 75w of power. I usually also put in an SSD and you get a decent gaming machine. I turned mine into a 3D Render farm :)
I recently learned this with an HP laptop that's a few years old: They often stopped adding Windows license stickers on the case and instead put the license key in the BIOS. I had to do a fresh install of Windows 10 and got concerned because I couldn't find a license key to type in. But Windows never asked for a key: It found it in the BIOS without being prompted to, and it basically told me "nah, we're good mate". ;D
I buy these for our school, we pay around £120 for the similar 8300.
Would you be willing to get rid of one of 6300 or at least the mobo
Think about all your Sydney viewers before you say shipping is too expensive. ;)
The way you say HP...
Its amazing :)
I have one of these 6300s that I bought from Goodwill for $25 US (no memory or HDD). WHat is the best (that is price/performance) graphics card to get for one of these?
John Tarbox a low profile GTX 1050 Ti like this:
www.gigabyte.com/au/Graphics-Card/GV-N105TOC-4GL
(Other brands like MSI, Zotac and probably others make them too, but the Gigabyte ones are what I’m most familiar with)
The pictures show it with the full height bracket installed, but you get the low profile one in the box. You just need a small screwdriver as well as a small hex head or pliers to change it over.
Low profile 1650’s are supposedly on the way, but who knows when they’ll start appearing on store shelves, not to mention pricing isn’t great on those.
we have a network booting setup of empty epsilon at work, which is a spaceship bridge simulator (all open source runs on Linux windows or android), that,d be a nice application if you can find 5 touch screens and a beamer or other large main screen (and like that kind of thing).
Still using 2005 pc for my amateur radio station out in Rural Australia, we don’t get good dumpster to go chasing in out here.
When I worked for an HP distributor, HP loaned us a high end 3D workstation (J-class I think) in the noughties (with FX10 graphics, the card alone was thousands), I think the whole unit cost over £15K the way it was configured. It was used to demo for customers. It was only supposed to be a 6 month loan but they didn't ask for it back. After a year we asked them what they wanted us to do and they said "Keep it". Chump change for them, and they probably could care less about a 1 year old machine.
The windows 8 license key of these machines might be stored in the BIOS. It might not be necessary to buy a license.
Yup, windows 10 will activate with that automatically.
Just the other day i bought one of those from a refurbisher. A old HP with a gen 4 i5 processor and actually even a SSD. Cost me about €250 with shipping
Hi Dave : Put hard drives in them, install education Linux, and give'em to a local school.
COA/Licence key is electronic on those machines, grab a HP restore disk for 7 or 8, you can even throw 10 on them and it'll pick up the E licence.
The 6300 SFF is a pretty good machine, nice solid little workhorse of a box, won't set the world on fire from a benchmark point of view but that's not the point of a business desktop anyway, they're just meant to be solid, reliable and get you through the expected lifetime until you hardware refresh.
Windows 8 pro is still better than win10 and all the datamining, or OS-as-a-service thing. You don't want this.
i have it on a thinkpad tablet, it changed my mind on why i shunned win8.1, but it is like the last decent one they made, you can still turn off unwanted services.