What do you do with your old video cards?

[fffblackmage]

I have several old video cards lying around and so I started wondering what everyone else does with their old video cards.

The three cards I have lying around are a friend's GeForce 4 Ti4600 8x, a X1950 Pro and X1950XT 256MB. By the time I upgraded from the X1950s this past summer, it didn't seem worth the trouble trying to sell them for a few bucks, so I ended up keeping them.

 

[Seero]

I have several old video cards lying around and so I started wondering what everyone else does with their old video cards.

The three cards I have lying around are a friend's GeForce 4 Ti4600 8x, a X1950 Pro and X1950XT 256MB. By the time I upgraded from the X1950s this past summer, it didn't seem worth the trouble trying to sell them for a few bucks, so I ended up keeping them.

I have several PCs lying around ... still have a running Pentium 2 sitting somewhere in the house with windows 98 ....

 

[SlickR12345]

I know its dangerous to throw them in your normal garbage and not eco-friendly and plus I'm a recycling man so it feels wrong to just trow it, but after a while of keeping them I just throw them into the garbage anyways!

 

[nitromullet]

Unless I want to keep using the card I always sell them before they lose too much value. Having them just sitting around isn't doing anyone any good.

 

[san1s]

I give them to the rest of my family

 

[Wogdog]

Same as above, I let my family have them. When I went to the 5770 my brother got the 8800 GTS.

 

[Via]

Since my Geforce 3 blew up on me I always keep a capable backup card on hand. Right now it's my old GTS 320.

I actually still have my 7800 GT. I keep thinking I need to take it to my dad's house, because he only has 6150 integrated.

But I worry that the 7800 GT might suck the life out of his cheap PSU. So I haven't done it.

 

[novice]

Since my Geforce 3 blew up on me I always keep a capable backup card on hand. Right now it's my old GTS 320.

I actually still have my 7800 GT. I keep thinking I need to take it to my dad's house, because he only has 6150 integrated.

But I worry that the 7800 GT might suck the life out of his cheap PSU. So I haven't done it.

Why don't you order your dear old dad a decent PSU, and give him the PSU and video card as a gift? I give away my old video cards to family or friends all the time. Stomp out integrated video and let the people see what their PC's are truly capable of!

 

[Schmide]

I always give them away.

 

[Via]

Why don't you order your dear old dad a decent PSU, and give him the PSU and video card as a gift? I give away my old video cards to family or friends all the time. Stomp out integrated video and let the people see what their PC's are truly capable of!

I also have an old PSU (Smartpower 2.0 500W) that I could take and throw into his PC, but you know dads.

If anything went wrong he'd never let me hear the end of it.

 

[akugami]

I voted sell but in truth, I try to upgrade when one of my friends (not hardcore gamers) wants to upgrade his computer. I then offload my older parts to that person. I don't actively sell on any forums. Still a sale though. I do keep a few older parts that are very basic as spares in case I need to do some troubleshooting.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

I also have an old PSU (Smartpower 2.0 500W) that I could take and throw into his PC, but you know dads.

If anything went wrong he'd never let me hear the end of it.

that's very true

 

[BladeVenom]

I use them in a spare/older computer. If not that, they I give them away. I don't upgrade every six months, so it's not like they are worth that much when I'm done with them.

 

[BFG10K]

I sell them.

 

[ShawnD1]

I know its dangerous to throw them in your normal garbage and not eco-friendly and plus I'm a recycling man so it feels wrong to just trow it, but after a while of keeping them I just throw them into the garbage anyways!

I threw a GeForce4 Ti 4400 in a camp fire once. It smelled horrible. I probably have cancer now.

I generally keep my old video cards. They eventually get used in another computer or given away to someone who needs one. Right now my media computer is using a top of the line GeForce 7950GT

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I tend to just keep my cards and put them in an old PC (Lanbox, parent's computer or the closet). If the cards are dead I heat gun the GPU off the board and make some sort of jewelry for my girlfriend (ear-rings if I have two of the same card or a necklace if its one of a kind).

I then responsibly dispose of the boards at my local hazmat facility.

 

[bobsmith1492]

So far I sold my x1950xt to my boss' son and have a 5900 (Nvidia that is) lying around; it's AGP or it would have just gone in a computer I fixed up and sold.

 

[Ika]

I kept my 8800GTS 320mb when I upgraded to an HD5770 because I think there's something wrong with it. There's a strange single artifact and I have suspicions about the VRAM going bad, but I was never able to confirm it.

 

[tvdang7]

x850xt,x1800 xt x1900xt ,4850 all sitting around since its not worth anything.

 

[bobsmith1492]

x850xt,x1800 xt x1900xt ,4850 all sitting around since its not worth anything.

4850 is a good card! 1900xt can do the job too. Find a friend with a high school kid and they'll be all over those.

 

[RussianSensation]

I sell my cards and put those funds towards the upgrade. Even if you can sell a card for $50-65, it's $65 towards a newer card Beats the hell out of just keeping it in a box stashed away. At least someone out there is enjoying the card as well. I generally sell all my system parts when I upgrade. This way the card is part of the overall system package. But I also haven't had any problems selling the videocards standalone as well (Kijiji.ca, Craigslist.ca).

 

[TJCS]

If it has a good salvage value, I will sell it. If not it goes into the server machine in the house.

 

[Tsavo]

I just toss em in the trash.

I had a 5870 that I junked when I got my 5890.

 

[JoshGuru7]

I throw them away unless one of my family members needs it. When I junked my 8800 GTS SLI each of my sisters got an upgrade. However, I will second the notion that just giving computer hardware to people is often a good (bad) way of putting you on the hook for tech support indefinitely. In some cases it may be better to just get a cheap new warrantied system and let Dell or HP handle the tech support.

 

[frostedflakes]

List them in the AnandTech freebies thread. Even if it's old, I have trouble throwing away working hardware, it just seems like such a waste. You'd be surprised, there are people out there who still have a use for older parts like this.