Message: Merging 2 PCs Into 1 and Glass Recycling (Pre-2013 Task)

The good PC (left), the bad PC (centre) and the being merged (right)
Image from Locky's English Playground

One of the many many tasks I had to accomplish before 2013 was to merge two PCs into one. I had to do that because the cheap RAM I bought from Taobao was later found not so compatible with my PC and it freezes often so often that I couldn't bear with it any more. It happens that another high performance well-functioning but inexpandable mini-case PC was available, so the best solution is, get a bigger case and combine the two PCs together.

Inside the good PC, P5QL SE
Image from Locky's English Playground

I know my bad PC super well as I have upgraded and fixed it tens of times, but the good PC one was new to me. One thing that I realised was that my own PC's motherboard was using a 8.9 inch X 9.6 inch XFX's nForce 630i GeForce 7100 micro ATX motherboard whereas the good PC was the Standard ATX motherboard (ASUS P5QL SE) with a dimension of 12 inch X 7.6 inch, and because I have decided to keep the good PC's motherboard and discard the bad PC's one, the new case that I had to buy must fit the Standard ATX Form Factor (which shouldn't be too difficult) and take future upgrades into the account.

After getting the case, stripping down the motherboards was the main deal.

Can you see the word "Chassis"?
Image from Locky's English Playground

I was careful enough to have taken a few photos of the internal wirings before removing them. There I learnt a word, CHASSIS, which actually means the computer case (as seen in the photo above) and it supplies the power to the computer case. Directly above the word chassis is actually the speaker's power, then  Besides that is the F_PANEL, the front panel, which supplies power to parts such as the LEDs and lights of the case.

The motherboard layout
Image from ASUS

It does come with very small pins and I had to be very careful when inserting them into the slot. A wrong pin in the wrong slot might end up breaking the fragile parts.

USB connection to the motherboard, 9 pins but the connector looks as if there are 10.
Image from Locky's English Playground

The 9-pin USB connectors are supposed to be easy provided you have a good eye.

Inside the new case
(Clockwise)  2 DVD drives (1 o'clock position), card reader (3 o'clock position), 3 hard disks(5 o'clock position),
power supply unit (7 o'clock position), display card (9 o'clock position), CPU fan (10 o'clock position)
Image from Locky's English Playground

After removing all the parts, the next challenge was to assemble the parts from 2 PCs back into one in a new case. This part of the operation was pretty smooth and straight forward and it was all so fun to do.

Image from Locky's English Playground

And this is how the end product looks like. 

Brand New Computer (left), bad PC (centre), good PC (right)
Image from Locky's English Playground

And what is left behind un-added is an old display card and a not-so-good GTR PSU. The PSU is kept for future testing, but the display card, together with extra mouse and wires, are NOT going to the bin to pollute the environment.

Forsa and GTR
Image from Locky's English Playground

Some of you might have noticed that there are several ways to recycle your computer parts and other stuff in Hong Kong.

The easiest way is go to Mobile WEEE  to check out which collection centre is nearest to you, then you just have to bring along all the recyclable goods such as used computers, electrical appliances, fluorescent lamps and rechargeable batteries to the collection centre.

Upcoming schedules
Image from wastereduction.gov.hk

Because I have missed the chance on that date, so my next choice is to find the non-mobile collection points, and this is the one I found in Wan Chai.

One of the 4 computer products collection point in Wan Chai
Image from wastereduction.gov.hk

Of course, the extra computer parts are taken to the collection point for recycling, which will either be reassembled with other donated parts into good PCs and given freely to the children in need, or properly dealt with in order not to prevent dangerous metals such as mercury from polluting the environment.

Image from wastereduction.gov.hk

From the same website, I also found the collection point for glass bottles. I have always wanted to recycle glass bottles but in the past, I could only painfully see them end up in the trash can, this time, it is different.

Hong Kong is well-known at the international level for its lack of effort in glass recycling. You see recycling bins everywhere for paper, metal and plastic, but not for glass and milk carton. People in Hong Kong who want to recycle glass, must at least do some homework and Google their answers.

Glass Collection Point in hotels
Image from EPD

There are a number of collection points in hotels, but whether they accept foreign donation of glass bottles, I am not sure.

Image from EPD

Luckily, I did manage to find one collection point in Wan Chai, right at the Refuse Collection Point at Southern Playground in Wan Chai, and so I took all the glass bottles there for recycling.

Glass bottles after parties
Image from Locky's English Playground

It was a little heavy, but knowing that I am doing the world a lot of good, my heart felt warm and I will continue with the glass recycling.

A basket and a stand indicating the spot of the collection point
Image from Locky's English Playground

What surprised me was how the collection "spot" literally is a spot. Readers of this post, I hope you can share this page to all your friends so that they can support this glass recycling program, otherwise, the government wouldn't care much about this topic, and we won't know where to recycle our glass waste.

Let's protect our environment starting from 2013!!!

If you wan to find out more about glass recycling, do read Hong Kong's Glass Recycling System.

Vocabulary:
chassis -- (n) computer case

Resources:
Technology: How To Speed Up Your PC @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/10/technology-how-to-speed-up-your-pc.html

ATX @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX

ASUS P5QL SE @ ASUS
http://www.asus.com.au/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5QL_SE/#download

XFX nForce 630i / GeForce 7100 @ CNET
http://reviews.cnet.com/motherboards/xfx-nforce-630i-geforce/4505-3049_7-32810416.html

Mobile WEEE Collection Centre
https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/workplace/mwcc_detail.htm

EPD Waste Reduction Collection Points
https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/apps/vicinity_result.jsp?collection_type=outlet&material_type=col_computers&district_id=2&view=Go&textonly=0

In Hong Kong, a Wasted Chance to Recycle Glass @ The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/business/global/in-hong-kong-a-wasted-chance-to-recycle-glass.html

Environment: Tetra Pak Carton Recycling @  Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2010/11/environment-tetra-pak-carton-recycling.html

Glass Container Recycling Programme @ EPD
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/eco_responsibility/n_gcrp.html

Glass Collection Spots @ EPD
https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/apps/vicinity_result.jsp?collection_type=collector&material_type=glass&district_id=0&view=Go&textonly=0

Hong Kong's Glass Recycling System @ Hk-Asia City
http://hk.asia-city.com/city-living/article/hong-kongs-glass-recycling-system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case