I've had a lot of stuff pass through my hands, but I'm a neat freak so I usually get rid of it if I'm not using it after some time or upon stripping out the stuff I need.

I would be happy with just 1 P2/3, 1 P4 or s462 Athlon, an uber Windows XP rig and a modern Windows 7 rig. There's only so much I can use or play with given the limited time I have while not working/ the wifey.

sgt76 wrote:

I've had a lot of stuff pass through my hands, but I'm a neat freak so I usually get rid of it if I'm not using it after some time or upon stripping out the stuff I need.

I would be happy with just 1 P2/3, 1 P4 or s462 Athlon, an uber Windows XP rig and a modern Windows 7 rig. There's only so much I can use or play with given the limited time I have while not working/ the wifey.

Same here, but I already have those 4 comps built. 🤣 I've tricked out a P1 DOS/Win95, P3 Win98, AMD 3200+ Win98/XP and a new Sandy Bridge running SLI with Win7/XP. I've recently thought about keeping those 4 rigs and selling off everything else. Maybe I'm a little burned out on retro as I rely haven't messed with my old rigs in quite some time.

bushwack wrote:

Same here, but I already have those 4 comps built. 🤣 I've tricked out a P1 DOS/Win95, P3 Win98, AMD 3200+ Win98/XP and a new Sandy Bridge running SLI with Win7/XP. I've recently thought about keeping those 4 rigs and selling off everything else. Maybe I'm a little burned out on retro as I rely haven't messed with my old rigs in quite some time.

Hmm, I've got the circa '99 Slot 1 P3, my uber P4 per in my sig, my daily rig with a Phenom 955/ GTX460 and about 5 other assorted rigs. Also thinking of getting rid of some stuff and rationalizing my collection.

My Phenom system may be getting a bit long in the tooth also for high end gaming... I can feel it playing The Witcher 2 now. So a new Bulldozer rig may be in the coming which means even less space for the older stuff (I don't mess up the rest of the house and keep everything in my study).

I understand your points of view, and agree with them. I know very well I have more stuff I'll never use but I think it's a shame to bin hardware that's in perfect working order. I've thought about selling it on Ebay or maybe VCF, mostly to keep it out of the hands of scrappers. I wouldn't even want to sell them for $$$++, but discarding hardware that's in perfect working order is just a shame.
I still have a LOT of the really old 3.5in harddrives ranging from just 20MB to, say, 800MB but just haven't have the heart to discard it all (and I'm pretty sure I'll be using at least a couple for a 386 or 486VLB rig).
Same thing with AT Pentium boards, even though they aren't that usable from a retro perspective (except for the Socket 4/5 boards perhaps...and the HX boards and early VIA boards that support 32bit memory bus instead of the usual 64bit...and the 1 or 2 AT pentium boards with 6 SIMM slots instead of the usual 4, 🤣), but still a waste to bin them.

What I have done is limit the amount of hardware intake and discarding hardware that is defective in some way.

So most of the hardware I have laying around is either to be used in future rigs, for spare parts or for testing purposes.
When I was testing for the unlocked Deschutes, I was using a Chaintech board which seems to be pretty good actually! And the neat thing is, I received a whole pile of the boards! Around 8 or 10 or so, and I think they are very good BX boards, definitely one of the better ones (4xDIMM slot, 3xISA, not all but at least some support Coppermine, good tweaking options in BIOS, etc) and theres no way I'm going to toss boards like these.
But that's also part of the "problem", I'm a hoarder by nature, always have been. Might be something to do with how my childhood was or something 😜
But the good thing is, as swaaye mentioned, the acute urge to keep collecting is now gone, as theres little left for me to collect.
Sure, theres a LOT of stuff I don't have yet, but the thing is, I don't need to have everything, I just want to have enough, enough to be able to replace broken parts when I need a replacement so I can keep rigs in working order 😀

One other reason for me to keep more then a handful of rigs is that I have LAN parties with a couple friends and still, one day (lol), would like to try a 9x (Edit:Of course I meant Windows 9x, not have 9 rigs in a LAN! 😜.) LAN with some old games, perhaps Unreal 1, Interstate 76 or Z and for a LAN you need more rigs 😉.

@bushwack:
May I ask why you keep your graphics cards in a database? I remember having kinda tried the same, but the will to organize in such a neat (;)) manner is just no match for my chaotic character 😜
My lists were always incomplete and keep getting lost, 🤣.

Do you keep lists of other hardware as well?
What do you use your list(s) for exactly?

I'm actually very interested in hearing stories of others with a larger collection and how they manage it!
Pics are welcome! 😁

Cheers for the replies, I enjoy reading them! 😉

Tetrium wrote:

@bushwack: May I ask why you keep your graphics cards in a database? I remember having kinda tried the same, but the will to org […]
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@bushwack:
May I ask why you keep your graphics cards in a database? I remember having kinda tried the same, but the will to organize in such a neat (;)) manner is just no match for my chaotic character 😜
My lists were always incomplete and keep getting lost, 🤣.

Do you keep lists of other hardware as well?
What do you use your list(s) for exactly?

I'm actually very interested in hearing stories of others with a larger collection and how they manage it!
Pics are welcome! 😁

Cheers for the replies, I enjoy reading them! 😉

I started with a game database first, I wanted to keep track of what manuals for the games without boxes. I keep all my manuals tucked in a closet. I have 600+ PC games, not including Steam, GoG and downloadable games. In the database I keep track of the title, price paid, date purchased, place purchased, type of box, type of case manuals, other literature, ect.

A couple years ago I was laid off so I drug out all my video cards, and cataloged them to see exactly what I had. In the DB I also have purchased price and where, and other notes.

After so many items it helps to pull up the list to make sure I don't buy a duplicate game or card, and if I do sell any I can see if I turned a profit. I've bought games just to get the box or maybe the original case, and this way I can see quickly what I have or what I need. I haven't bought that many games lately though, as I almost have every game between 95-99. 🤣

My unhealthy, large collection of old hardware simply came about as a result of my inability to throw junk away.

GXL750 wrote:

My unhealthy, large collection of old hardware simply came about as a result of my inability to throw junk away.

Lol, sounds familiar 😜

So want to share with us an example of your maddening hoarding/collecting habit?

One other reason for me to keep more then a handful of rigs is that I have LAN parties with a couple friends and still, one day (), would like to try a 9x (Edit:Of course I meant Windows 9x, not have 9 rigs in a LAN! .) LAN with some old games, perhaps Unreal 1, Interstate 76 or Z and for a LAN you need more rigs .

Hey thats one of my reasons. Of course I've stuck to using XP its also an excuse to play with a Domain but I definately have a P3 866, Celeron (Tualatin) 1.3Ghz, P4 1.6 (MSi), P4 1.6 (DFI), P4 2.0, P4 2.4 available just for this reason. Admitedly there isn't much love and dedication to these rigs as people tend to have particularly the P4 2.0ghz mainly cause its a compaq board which means I totally despise it and for good reason the BIOS is terrible I think.

I really should set up 9x on some of my slower rigs afterall maybe one day I will be able to try out Sim City 2000 Network Edition, I've really wanted to try that out forever. Also I've been meaning to have fun trying to run NT4 and 95 on the same box.

Part of the reason that I collect stuff although I'm a little unsure how I got so much stuff I was just trying to get something faster and I would never chuck anything out that worked properly I think I chucked out stuff that kindof worked. Somehow though visiting VOGONS made me realise I like older hardware then PIII/P4 and so thats where I goto uni and I find a socket 7 system being chucked out and I just have to have the motherboard.

However I don't even think about grabbing crappy OEM hardware (IBM PS/2 is excluded because it is special) just because there is a socket 478 dell mobo doesn't mean I want it slightly particularly after the CPU and RAM has been raided. I did grab an MSi 478 mobo but thats totally different thats completely allowed. I really do want more older stuff like Socket 5 but I have no idea where I'm ever going to find some.

I don't think I have insane amounts of hardware though just a bit. I might have more Intel PRO 100 network cards then anyone else maybe because at uni there were 19 being chucked out and I wanted the antistatic bags they were in and I couldn't just leave them there they might get lonely. So now I think I never need another PCI 100mbps NIC since I have about 30 spare.

awergh wrote:

I really should set up 9x on some of my slower rigs afterall maybe one day I will be able to try out Sim City 2000 Network Edition, I've really wanted to try that out forever. Also I've been meaning to have fun trying to run NT4 and 95 on the same box.

One reason for me to delay this plan is because I'm not sure how well XP and 9x (ME in particular) network together. My guess is that ME and XP should be relatively easy to network with a bit of google search, though networking XP's together is a piece of cake usually 😀

awergh wrote:

However I don't even think about grabbing crappy OEM hardware (IBM PS/2 is excluded because it is special) just because there is a socket 478 dell mobo doesn't mean I want it slightly particularly after the CPU and RAM has been raided. I did grab an MSi 478 mobo but thats totally different thats completely allowed. I really do want more older stuff like Socket 5 but I have no idea where I'm ever going to find some.

Same here. I was gifted 2 perfectly functioning P4 rigs, one I decided to scrap and the other one (which had a fresh install of XP on it and was perfectly fine in every way except that it was old) I gave away!

If I find something that is non-standard, I'll just scrap it for parts and dispose of the rest. Nice cases though I'll keep (even though lately, I've been DROWNING in ATX cases!).

awergh wrote:

I don't think I have insane amounts of hardware though just a bit. I might have more Intel PRO 100 network cards then anyone else maybe because at uni there were 19 being chucked out and I wanted the antistatic bags they were in and I couldn't just leave them there they might get lonely. So now I think I never need another PCI 100mbps NIC since I have about 30 spare.

LMAO!!
How familiar! 😜

A couple days ago I bought a second hand rig, untested. I didn't even bother to see what was inside it, I just wanted the XP sticker on the side, the rest I considered bonus! 😜

One reason for me to delay this plan is because I'm not sure how well XP and 9x (ME in particular) network together. My guess is that ME and XP should be relatively easy to network with a bit of google search, though networking XP's together is a piece of cake usually

Being me for networking 9x I will use an NT4 Terminal Server mmmmmm NT4 and have it as a legacy domain for 9x and NT4 boxes. I guess I'm not really bothered with networking it with XP/7. I expect I will have a shared directory on the NT4 Server which I dump stuff into. Or I can dump directly onto the 9x box. I don't actually need to have it work both ways.
Some people would call this the hard way of networking but I just find Domains so much more interesting and fun then workgroups. Of course I have killed 9x installs in the past using System Policies but surely that won't happen when I play around with it again right???????? hahahah

If I find something that is non-standard, I'll just scrap it for parts and dispose of the rest. Nice cases though I'll keep (even though lately, I've been DROWNING in ATX cases!).

How many cases do you have to have to be drowning in cases.

A couple days ago I bought a second hand rig, untested. I didn't even bother to see what was inside it, I just wanted the XP sticker on the side, the rest I considered bonus!

Definitely heard other people do this

"How many cases do you have to have to be drowning in cases."

About this many

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! There's a couple of Dell GX1's in the bottom right of that pile. 😠

A few weeks ago I saw this documentary about young UK people going to third world countries. They worked the same jobs as the locals and got the same pay. The idea was to highlight the poor working conditions.

One "location" was somewhere in Africa and involved old IT hardware.

Kids taking apart computers for spare parts (using tools to rip off electronic components from the PCB, burning components which releases toxic fumes, stripping cables to get metal).

The thing is that it's illegal to export IT hardware into these locations with recycling in mind. You are supposed to pay for this to bedone locally, professionally and safely.

However there are a "shonky" organisations which operate under the theme of "give us your old hardware, people in Africa can use these for education and for business."

Reality is however that most of these computers are useless and it's really just a hidden scam to get around paying for proper recycling.

Somehow a lot of people think that Africans fall over themselves when someone gives them a Pentium 2 PC.

They showed PCs that came from UK schools and police stations. I’m sure these departments wanted to do something good by “donating” them to Africa. Just shows you that things are never as they seem…

But realistically, the PII PC could be a nice machine if that's all you've got, but only in a select few cases.

I read something once where someone wanted to set up a single PIII era server and then use 486-Pentium era computers as clients to connect to it, and put the clients in remote villages in India. That seems like a good use of the hardware.

However, 99 percent of it is going to be improperly "recycled" as you mention. The aftermath is horrifying too. You end up with areas that are literally filled with toxic dust and sludge. Lead from electronics, cadmium from batteries, who knows what else.... This really needs to be done properly or not at all.

sliderider wrote:

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! There's a couple of Dell GX1's in the bottom right of that pile. 😠

Who cares about the optiplexes, look at all those yummy AT cases!
And look at the rest of the photo....yummy AT cases, may you rest in peace

James Burgett would shake his head in disbelief because of all that some people do when it comes to "recycling" computers.

Tetrium wrote:

sliderider wrote:

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! There's a couple of Dell GX1's in the bottom right of that pile. 😠

Who cares about the optiplexes, look at all those yummy AT cases!
And look at the rest of the photo....yummy AT cases, may you rest in peace

I died a little bit inside when I realized those beautiful cases were going to be destroyed. 🙁
Now I just wanna go around and buy up hardware to keep it from death. 🤣

Thankfully I still managed to save quite a bit of AT cases from the scrappers 😁
And believe me, there were people telling me it would be "for the best" to throw away all that garbage I'd collected from the streets!
Thankfully I didn't! 😀

I ran up to the attic to make a couple quick snapshots of AT cases

Here you see a big tower in the middle!!

Alright, that's just a pile of boxes that appear to be breaking Newton's law of graphics...I mean gravity! 😁

The rest of the attic is a mess right now, so the AT cases are a lil hidden away.

Theres a couple here:Clicky here, and here!, hidden away here, and 2 more here, with Commodore logo!

Saved from those brute neanderthal retroscrappers!!!1

Man, that's just crazy! In a good way of course 😁. BTW, that pile of old PC cases in what looks like some African location is nothing. Next weekend I'll go to my favourite Temerian dumpsite and take some pics...

sgt76 wrote:

Man, that's just crazy! In a good way of course 😁. BTW, that pile of old PC cases in what looks like some African location is nothing. Next weekend I'll go to my favourite Temerian dumpsite and take some pics...

Please do!!! 😁 😁 😁