My first PC that I owned myself was cobbled out of used parts, I think for about $400 or $500.
Once I had a job, though, I went a bit nuts with upgrades.

By my sophomore year in college I had upgraded that humble PC to the following specs:

DX2-66
20MB RAM
SVGA
Soundblaster AWE 32
1 500MB HD
CDROM
250MB QIC tape drive
OS/2 Warp
It was a nice little system. I probably should have switched to PS/2 for gaming once 3d started being a huge thing, since that was what really started my problem with upgrades.

A hobby can cost some $ but it is easy to get carried away with this stuff. 😀

PeterLI wrote:

A hobby can cost some $ but it is easy to get carried away with this stuff. 😀

Quoted for truth my friend. That is for sure. At least I've more or less gotten a handle on my finances now.

Yep. I am going to drink a few beers now. ID weekend! Yahoo!

Would I let it go for what I paid for it, hell NO! Would I take current ebay prices for it, probably if one person came to pick it all up and I got paid cash.

I have been collecting for around 14 years, back when people would just give the stuff away to get it out of the house, shipping was dirt cheap, and ebay was still small. Sure the stuff takes up a lot of space, but its basement space nobody really cares about (mostly).

I go back and forth. Some days I regret the money spent, others not. I could have spent it on worse things, I guess.

snorg wrote:

I did some back of the napkin math one day to estimate what I've spent since 1989.
It's pretty bad. I don't want to think what that money would have bought if I had put it in a money market account or a Vanguard index fund and let it sit until now. At the time it didn't seem like much, but it all adds up.

But the value of your items has also gone up 😀

Haha 🤣 Never ! 😁 Big part of it are stuff that I desired since my childhood, and it took me so much time and efforts to find it at a fair price and make it works, that I can't possiby think of selling them. 😵
I wish it could last as long as me and last till I will be retired 🤣 (yep I'm crazy, sadly all good things come to an end 😢 )
Some of the components just dying alone whereas they worked great last time they were used 😵 (happen to me with 4 motherboards 😠 )

My ultrabook cost more that all my secondhand PC gear put together, as did my main PCs, and probably my WoW subs for the few years I played regularly.

Letting the old stuff go would free me time and space, the money is less significant. But it would be impossible to replace easily.

That said, I have now got to the stage of wondering about moving on. Haven't used the old gear for ages, most of it is packed away.

I would sell It all for what I paid for sure, I've spent too much time tweaking/testing and haven't spent enough time enjoying the computers.

Imagine how much money all your retro gear was worth when it was bleeding edge? Its not hard too imagine some collections would be worth well into six figures or even millions, its jaw dropping stuff how much computer gear depreciates.

I would be happy to regain what I lost in a house fire which would be around $5000-$7000 😮

That must have been painful. That is why I no longer collect (books, sound cards) or have expensive watches: too much stress. 😀

dirkmirk wrote:

I would sell It all for what I paid for sure, I've spent too much time tweaking/testing and haven't spent enough time enjoying the computers.

You would? I remember reading all your updates of your 386DX 😀 You really got all the best parts you could find. I'm sure one day you will have the time to sit down and enjoy some of the games 😀

I also play very little but for me the hardware and making YT video is just as much fun as playing these old games...

keropi wrote:

never!
I like my stuffz.

Me too.

My stuff isnt replaceble..for money

I've only been stocking up old stuff to be able to learn things about old hardware by playing with the actual old hardware!
But I see that I've stocked already way too much hardware, so I think that I'm gonna keep only 2-3 sets, let's say a Pentium 4 for Windows 98se, a Pentium 133 for dos and a k6-3 for everything else.
So when I finish being occupied by the military force of my county (obligatory service), I'll test all my old stuff, set it up and sell it...

most everything I got free/less than $20, so if I were to get a huge refund, probably around $80-$90.
i would love to get all my basement space back though.

I got most stuff pretty cheap so I'm not sure if I'd give it all up...it is a hassle moving it around and storing it and taking it out setting it all up putting it away again and setting it up again....it's a vicious circle 🤣...but if I could give it all up for cash I might one day only to buy it all back when I regret it a couple years down the road 🤣

I collected most of my stuff early before prices went up. I sold off a lot of my spares and unused parts and I think I pretty much broke even, but I do still have quite a lot. My bigger regret is all the money I wasted on new computer crap during my high school and university days.

I wouldn't sell any of it. I'm a collector (hoader). I need my stuff. I'm nothing without my stuff.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Prices are only going up so I don't think I would do it.

I got a nice little collection that will keep me busy for a very long time. I think I would regret selling it even for a few thousand dollars. What would I do with the money?

I do know lots of people that got burried and gave up their hobby 😒

/\ Truth /\

I have so much stuff back logged already, just waiting for my attention that I have actually begun to think of it all as my "post retirement" plan. It is absolutely amazing how many things I have been able to rationalize into "needing now" just to have it on hand for the happy time when I am able to finally get around to it.

If the time ever does come when I have the time, I am sure enough going to be ready! I couldn't sell it off- I would always regret missing out on all of the fun that I am storing up for later! 😎