[SOLVED] Do you hang on to too much hardware?

[wogfor]

I seem to have a stack of outdated hardware that is no longer used, and this ranges from a couple of motherboards to CPU's and 4 or 5 graphics cards. The cards range from a GT 710 to a GTX 1060, that all work with the exception of a GTX 950 SSC. My oldest CPU is a Pentium III. I also have a stack of hard drives, some work, some don't and are of mixed types, internal, external and some are older IDE drives. There are even a couple of monitors and more than a few optical drives.

What is wrong with me? Am I a hoarder? Part of the problem is not knowing the proper venue for disposal or recycle of the material, and some nostalgia - you know, parts from my first build, etc.

Are there others of you who suffer from this affliction?

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

I have : 3 ryzen sytems running so all boxes for those parts plus:
Giga 990fxa-ud3 w/box
Giga 970 gaming Sli w/box
Asrock 970 3.1g w/box
Asus m5a99fx no box
Ram w/plastic
2x crucial set ddr3 2x8 1866 cl9 balistix
Evga ddr3 2x8 2400
G.skil ripjaws 2x8 1866 cl10
Gtx 1070 ti , gtx 1060 6gb, and a gtx 960 4gb box's
Fx8350, 6350, 6300 all with box's and coolers which there is a couple that still have the factory thermal paste on.
Corsair water cooler box's
Psu box's ,Fans and the list go on.
The wife is always telling me to get rid of the box's and I tell her I'm not going to just throw the box's out and was thinking about seeing what I could get for
My 990fxa-ud3, 8350, g.skill trident x 16gb 1866 cl8
So ya YOUR NOT ALONE.

 

[wogfor]

I didn't mention the boxes! I am running a Ryzen system and 2 older Athlon systems, Still have my FX-6350 that I may upgrade into one of the Athlon systems someday.

Still, why do I keep the boxes for all three of the power supplies?

I didn't keep the box for my AIO cooler which I hope I wont regret in the case of a warranty issue...

 

[DSzymborski]

Don't feel bad, I would wager most hobbyists suffer from this affliction. I still have my old Commodore 64 and this weird PC-compatible Commodore in a box here somewhere.

 

[CountMike]

It's not all affliction some of it makes sense.
Keeping boxes all working parts come in is good thing, specially if they are still within warranty period. Other parts sell better if boxes and everything else in them.
Keeping working GPU or two helps with troubleshooting.
When I collect enough working parts even if they are obsolete I put together a machine and donate to needy.
I always keep one working system for reserve and also made one file server from some other parts.
Couple of years ago, I collected all non working parts that were left over thru years of fixing computers and sold them to gold and precious metal recyclers as the will not come for one part only, made few bucks out of it.

 

[thx1138v2]

How can anyone have too much computer hardware? I've still got an IBM AT case with a Pentium Pro in it and it still runs. Painfully, but it runs. And another machine still runs Windows 2000.

And I've got a lot of other hardware - mobos, modems, DRAM, etc.

I was thinking of donating it to some charity but had second thoughts. Since what I have is really, really slow I figured donating it to some charity that would give it to someone who would spend a lot of time on it would be counter productive for that individual. Especially so in today's world of back-to-back hardware/software releases. Whatever the individual would learn from it would be outdated before they even started. IMO if you want to donate computer equipment, donate money instead to buy up to date hardware/software so they can learn current info.

It's like this: why give someone a computer with a 386 processor (which I have) when they can't find a
replacement for when it goes down. They'll have a lot of time invested in something they can't replace or use.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

It's hard to find a threft store here in the Denver Co area that still takes computer parts.
But I think alot of my holding on to the boxes is the thought that if I was buying used hardware I would buy parts that was in it original box before I would buy a part buy itself.

I bought my 2001 chevy suburban and might have paid a little more for it from a private seller that had All the maintenance records since he bought it at 30,000 miles.
So im the 3rd owner.
I bought it @186,000miles and have only put 10,000 on it in 2-3 years. ( i live 3.5 miles from work then leave it for 4-6 days there then back home when I return with only errands after return )

Looking through those records if he took in in for any issue fixed or noise not found he had them do a oil/filter change.

Can't get that on used hardware but would still take a chance if the price is Right and in box for used hardware.

Have A Great Weekend Guy's!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[USAFRet]

Old hard drives are fridge magnet donors.
I have a stack of old laptops over knee high out in the garage. A couple of them even work...😉
Monitors i generally use until they actually die.
I too still have the Commodore 64 (and a VIC20) in their original boxes.

And of COURSE, the big plastic bin of unknown cables and chargers.

Next year, for the household tech refresh, I have no idea what I'm going to do with my current i7-4790k system.
The current HTPC (i5-3570k) works just fine, I have no need for a file server (QNAP NAS does that)...