Oldest piece of hardware you still own(and use)?

AMD64Blondie

Golden Member
Apr 20, 2013
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For me...it's a toss-up between the PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 SLI PSU in my backup Linux PC.
(the PSU I bought in June 2005),
and my 1991 IBM model M PS/2 keyboard..which I bought in August 2007,and I'm typing on right now.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
48,387
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Probably my wife's Hackintosh from 2011. Sucker just won't die!

I used to have a huge collection of computer antiques, but then I digitized everything & shrunk my inventory when I went through my digital minimalism phase (turns out being a minimalist just means you have no hobbies other than having a clean-looking home & feeling smug about it, lol). I kinda regret selling my G4 Cube tho.
 
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brainhulk

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2007
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2006? Core 2 quad Q6600 msi laptop. Added ram and swapped in a SSD. Loads Win 10 faster than everything else I have. I can't believe it's still working so well.
 
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Tweak155

Lifer
Sep 23, 2003
11,447
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Hmmm yeah I cycle stuff out regularly. Does it count if my wife still uses it? Have a 970gtx that I bought on release in 2014 that's still kickin'. Gets used daily (although not for gaming :) ).
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
37,733
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Full time use: probably a 2011 Lenovo Edge 14 laptop. now it's on secondary pihole duty, just sits in the basement tucked away doing dns filtering.

Another part time use legacy pc. system board is 2006-2007, ddr2, E8400, use it for testing other hardware...most disk drives....and wiping old drives.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,363
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For stuff I bought new, a Soundblaster 5.1 speaker set I got in 2004. For total age, a model M keyboard built in 89 I think, but I got it 10-15 year ago or from the thrift shop.
 
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Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
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For stuff I bought new, a Soundblaster 5.1 speaker set I got in 2004. For total age, a model M keyboard built in 89 I think, but I got it 10-15 year ago or from the thrift shop.
I think my keyboard is the oldest thing I use too. Strangely, it's nothing special. I don't think it's mechanical or anything. The most similar keyboard I could find is this:


Except mine is white, not as fancy, and has no label. I think mine was in the bargain bin because the Caps Lock light doesn't work. Otherwise, it's been a great keyboard for at least 16 years. o_O
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
48,387
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2006? Core 2 quad Q6600 msi laptop. Added ram and swapped in a SSD. Loads Win 10 faster than everything else I have. I can't believe it's still working so well.

The Q6600 is & was a beast...iirc I gave my C2Q Hackintosh to my in-laws & they're still using it lol.

Although I forced everyone in my family & extended family to switch to chromebooks a few years ago. Along with Roku TV's & iPhones. Sooooooo much less tech support required now lol.
 

FaaR

Golden Member
Dec 28, 2007
1,056
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My old NES is packed away in a closet, that one is from 1986... :D And, a very badly mangled Amiga A500 from 1987 - although the motherboard was replaced in that one at some later point so it's not actually quite that old. Just the casing, keyboard and that stuff. Still worked though, last I used it, maybe 15 years ago now... Wish I'd taken better care of it way back when. Stupid me!

I also have a color laser printer which is from, uh, 2006, I think, but I never really use it. Don't have much need for paper printouts... Last time I did, years ago, it was wonky and would not grab papers on its own out of the paper magazine anymore. You had to hand-feed it through the slot on the front.

The printer I bought together with a monstrous Dell XPS gaming PC (not a very good buy), all I have left of that one is the dual NV GTX 8800 GPUs that came with it. Neither of those boards work properly anymore, one causes random system crashes and the other displays repeating green pixel garbage on the screen (as well as random system crashes...)

Of the stuff I use at least somewhat regularly it's probably my PS3 "Slim" (not very slim though) which is oldest, not sure when I bought that one actually. 2010 maybe? Can't even remember when the Slim model first came out. I wouldn't have bought it if my launch PS3 hadn't YLODed on me...

My Apple Thunderbolt Display and Time Capsule are both from 2011 and I use both all the time, so they're pretty old now too by modern consumer electronics standards (had a Sony Trinitron 14" TV once that I used for 18 years straight if not even longer...)
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
62,678
11,018
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I get rid of stuff every time we move...3 times since 2012...so most of my "antique" tech has long been recycled, but I still have (and use) a set of Boston Acoustics speakers that I got with a Gateway PC in the mid-90's...the sound isn't nearly as good as it once was...but neither are my ears...
 
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Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,402
8,038
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Oh, hardware! Hmm... I have a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard with a PS2 connector, which is connected to a KVM switch, also real old.


For software:

Microsoft FoxPro 2.6a for Windows. I have a few apps developed in it that I've ported to Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0, but the screens, if I want to modify them, I have to use FPW 2.6a to do it. Can't do that on a Windows 10 64bit machine, but I have a few 32 bit machines I can use for that. I also use Pagemaker 6.5, another 16bit program, but it's a hair newer than FPW 2.6a, which is from about 1995.
 
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LikeLinus

Lifer
Jul 25, 2001
11,518
670
126
Probably an Intel 2500k (2011) that I have running in my Supermicro SC846 NAS. Actually, everything in that server is from the same time period. Otherwise, I upgrade everything else fairly often. Getting ride of the hardware this weekend though.

I picked up a Supermicro CSE-826 2U 12 bay case for cheap ($80). Barebones with just the chassis, caddies, fans, and backplane. Project this weekend is to convert the 846 to a 24 drive DAS pass-through to the 826.
 

pauldun170

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2011
9,133
5,072
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Hardware I still own and actively use? Craftsman wrench from the 50's
Computer Hardware I still own and actively use? Altec Lansing ATP5 speakers from 2001. Hooked up to my primary PC
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,194
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www.anyf.ca
Hmmm probably my Pfsense firewall, it's a core2duo based 1U box. Not sure how old my Dell switches are, they were bought for cheap on Ebay as used. My other servers are self builds and were all built in the last 10 years. (I kind of lost track, but some might be pushing 7+ years now)

As for as peripherals, I also have Altec Lansing AVS500 that are my main speakers and actually sound better than anything new in that price range today. I think they're probably from like early 2000's era? I have a Microsoft Ergo keyboard that's probably from early 2000's as well but think the speakers are older.
 

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,244
10,748
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I have huge 5.25 (?) floppy-drives from the 1980's but not sure what I even could use them for other then door-stops.

Pretty sure the oldest piece of PC equipment I actually use daily is believe it or not my original (and working perfectly!) Logitech MX-518 optical mouse purchased when I was playing Oblivion.

I also have a Toshiba HD-DVD PATA drive (RIP) in my backup desktop along with a Pioneer 16x BDR drive.
 

Eno Safirey

Member
Dec 14, 2012
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Logitech MX-310 corded optical mouse. Paid $2 at a thrift store around ten years ago.
Best mouse I've ever owned- refuses to wear out.
 
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TheVrolok

Lifer
Dec 11, 2000
24,254
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Have a set of 5.1 Altec Lansing speakers I bought probably 18 years ago I still use for a gym computer.
 

Newfangle9

Member
Sep 23, 2012
56
9
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I still use my NEC MultiSync LCD 2690WUXi 26" monitor that's got to be close to 15 years old now. I paid 1,200 dollars for the damn thing and it still looks fine, no dead pixels or anything. I would like to go to a 4k monitor, but I paid so much for this one I'd feel bad getting rid of it.