Question What to do with old parts

jhansman

Platinum Member
Feb 5, 2004
2,768
29
91
My new build is done and all my old parts (Phenom II, Asrock 890 FX, 16 GB DDR3, HD 7700 w/ 1GB RAM, Anteck 550w PSU) still work fine. Kind of a shame to have them sitting around when all it would take is a case to build another system from them. I thought about a media server, but my new build handles that job nicely. So, what to do with all this aged but working hardware? Maybe I'll go by the local church and see if they would want/need a PC. I'd buy an inexpensive case and build it for them; better than having them collecting dust. ;)Any ideas?
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,326
10,034
126
Yeah, that's a tough one. IMHO, AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+ still has some life in it... for the appropriate person / user. It wasn't a bad time in computing technology, and it sounds like your rig is DDR3, so it's outdated, a little bit, but not THAT outdated, that it's no longer useful.

I have a couple of AM2+/AM3/AM3+ rigs, that I've offered for the price of shipping to the DC TeAm in our thread for such things. One of the boards has 4x PCI-E x16 (x8/x8/x8/x8) for quad-GPUs, and the other board, has a 990FX chipset, and 2x PCI-E x16 slots, and an x16 (x4 electrical) for a third GPU. Could be nice little mining / DC boxes. Shipping the old heavy cases that they are in currently, is prohibitive, and the cases' conditions aren't great either.

So, yeah, hard to say what to do with them. Too new to be sent to the recycler, they still have some "tech life" left, but too old to be using as a primary rig.

If you had kids or grandparents or something, I'd say, buy a cheap ATX case with a window, and one of those 3x RGB fan kits, preferably the type with the RF remote-control, rather than mobo control, since mobos of that era didn't have the interface header for modern RGB stuff, and build a blinged-out rig for grandparents or kids. They'll never know the difference, technology-wise, as far as the CPU/RAM/mobo goes, as long as it's working properly. (Unless they're a real tech-head, in which case, they're probably reading this right now, LOL.)

Edit: There was someone here, that built / refurbished old PCs, and gave them away at a local Food Pantry. I've thought similar, though I have yet to take action on that idea. I must have nearly 15 "browser-box"-class rigs in my storage, but nearly all with SSDs, so they wouldn't be half bad. (I think that the worst, is either my SFF AM1 quad-cores, or my Ivy/Haswell dual-core Celeron/Pentium rigs. Which isn't really all that bad, for a basic PC for someone that might not be able to afford a "premium" PC. They could have their kids use it for homework..)

Edit: Speaking of which, I'm just going to leave this here, as a sort-of plug. (Mods, forgive me.)

www.internetessentials.com

Comcast/XFinity's low-cost internet program, you have to qualify (Medicaid / Food Stamps recipients are now eligible too!), but if you can get it, you can get Comcast internet for $9.95 / mo all-in, no caps, no taxes, no equipment fees, no credit checks. There are some limitations, besides qualification (can't have subscribed to Comcast in the last 90 days, can't have outstanding debts to Comcast less than a year old, must be in an area served by Comcast, etc), but on the whole, I think it's a good thing.

It's very, very, minimal service, only 15/2 speeds, but it's WAY better than nothing, for families that might have kids that have a REQUIREMENT to do homework online (not unusual these days). Regular $70/mo internet can be too expensive for some folks, even especially seniors living on SS, etc.

(No, I'm not receiving anything for this. Just trying to pass along a Good Deal when I see one. And I'm a happy customer too, using it right now.)

Edit: So yeah, that being said, maybe you could help a senior in your area, sign up for that Comcast program, and then give them the PC, and set it up for them. They might give you cookies!
 
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ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
37,760
18,039
146
Donation isn't a bad idea, maybe a learning build for family member or friend. Kiddos get a kick out of putting together PC's sometimes, my kids certainly do lol.
 

Insert_Nickname

Diamond Member
May 6, 2012
4,971
1,691
136
Donation isn't a bad idea, maybe a learning build for family member or friend. Kiddos get a kick out of putting together PC's sometimes, my kids certainly do lol.

^^This.

Though you may consider if that 16GB DDR3 could be used somewhere else. F.x. as an inexpensive upgrade for a Haswell-era system.
 

hoorah

Senior member
Dec 8, 2005
755
18
81
I refurb a lot of old systems. If its anything decent for gaming, I will usually put an ad up on FB/craigslist and set the price exceptionally cheap, then wait for the buyer to be a kid looking to play games. Listing it really cheap I often get a lot of people that just want to resell it, which I ignore. I enjoy really making someones day when they get a fantastic deal (or even free) on a gaming PC when they don't really have the means to build one themselves.
 
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jhansman

Platinum Member
Feb 5, 2004
2,768
29
91
All great suggestions, thanks. my wife and I lost our son several years back, and I've wanted to donate his electric guitars (both very nice); there has to be some young prodigy out there who has all the talent and drive but cannot afford an instrument. However, my wife will not give them up, so valuable are they sentimentally. Seems a shame to me, but there it is. So, there must also be a family in need of a computer. I suppose I could sell the lot on CL for a hundred bucks or so, but donation seems the better option. I reckon I'll start with the local churches and see where that goes.
 

mopardude87

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2018
3,348
1,575
96
Not sure where this went since the last post but yeah if you have trouble donating the parts, sell them for pennies on CL. Chances are if someone is interested, they prob really need it and when they inquire about them give them your lowest price and give them a deal.

I have done this on older stuff myself especially when its like your stuff.