Bury them in the shed behind old junk. 😀

Bury the safe into cement.

I would rather stop worrying. Burglars are more probable than fire (and fireproof safes don't prevent cooking 😉)

I'll keep an eye on them...How long are you away and whats your address? 😀

Most people who break into your house are after quick cash or something they can turn into quick cash more often than not because of a drug habit. Doubtful they have a discerning eye for your rare CPU collection or would even have the intelligence to appreciate it.

Leave them boxed and in the closet!

and fire.... I'm deducing there's a 99.9% chance your CPU collection will be safely sitting there upon your return 😀

We were burgled earlier this year and all they took was a ring. My retro PCs and MIDI setup was untouched thankfully!

Pretty sure most burglars just want cash, jewellry and car keys. TVs and consumer electronics are worth peanuts these days.

If my house burned down in a fire, whether or not my vintage hardware burned down with it or not would be the last thing on my mind.

I can't understand your worries. I know many people aroung the world live in houses with a wooden front door locking on a wardrobe lock and a garden door barely locking at all... Are you one of them?

Where I am from we live in multi-storey buildings with a 3mm thick steel doors downstairs and a 3-4mm door with a safe lock to the flat, the first and the second storey flats have bars on the windows and our garages are giant safes of steel and concrete... That's why Russians never think about burglary. Personally, I can't sleep unless I know there is metal between me and the outer world.

btw, there are stories about "noviye Russkie" who used armor to enforce their outer door ...)

rgart wrote:

I'll keep an eye on them...How long are you away and whats your address? 😀

Yes, yes, yes, how long are you away and what's your address? And what CPUs do you have? And what's the combination number of your safe?

Oh, and rgart, about the loot we're going to share, I think we better discuss it through PM. 😉

Seriously, feipoa, I think the probability of a house catching fire is not that high. I left the house empty for several days quite often last year, and it's still intact. I guess you should stop worrying. As for putting the CPUs in a safe, is your safe heavy enough that the burglar would have trouble lifting it? It seems it's more likely for a burglar to try to crack the safe open instead of bringing the heavy thing along.

Depending on the size of your collection you should consider asking a trusted friend to keep it in his/her house while you're away, just for the peace of mind - some of my friends do that with their personal computers and hard drives.

My basement was recently broken into and some hardware stolen 🙁 It wasn't my most "valuable" collection, but I am missing a TNT2 Ultra that's not even supposed to be there, but I can't find it anywhere else. I know I'm missing a P2-233 slot1 proc, some tv tuner cards and a bunch of IDE disks...the most frustrating thing is, I'll never know for certain what was taken 🙁

bjt wrote:

TVs and consumer electronics are worth peanuts these days.

Unless you got Apple stuff. They love that

Showing my ignorance here, but how much can a vintage CPU be worth?

boxpressed wrote:

Showing my ignorance here, but how much can a vintage CPU be worth?

Look up the prices for an Intel 4004 sometime.

Great Hierophant wrote:

boxpressed wrote:

Showing my ignorance here, but how much can a vintage CPU be worth?

Look up the prices for an Intel 4004 sometime.

Not as vintage, but still a fascinating classic: an early K7 ES can be sold for several hundred dollars (recent, real price).

Anyway, if it were me, I'd try to have someone I trust to watch over my house. If that's not possible, I'd pack up my most precious stuff and entrust them to someone I could, um, trust. But I also like the suggestions of PeterLI and Stojke. Bury them like a time capsule (which they already are!) 😀

I imagine the talk between two burglars:

"Ya know, I borrowed a safe from some guy on Banana Street yesterday. Lifted that freaking 100kg, took it to my half-broken van and drove to the countryside with saliva hanging from my mouth. Then I cut it with angle grinder for several hours. I thought there would be some money or some freaking jems. And there was nothing but freaking processors, so old they are less than useless... Threw away the whole lot. 🙁 "

OP, I suggest cancelling your holiday as the lowest risk option. This will allow you to personally guard your vintage computer collection 24/7 in case of a theft, and relocate them immediately in case of a fire.

It really boils down to if I beleive there is a greater risk of fire or burglary. I will have an absent minded relative staying at the house in my absence. She has been known to leave the patio door wide open at night and to also leave the stove on. As such, I predict the risk of burglary and fire are about equal. Path of least resistance for me is to do nothing about the treasured collection. When said relative departs, I suppose there is a greater risk of burglary compared to fire, in which case, best to leave the CPUs boxed up out of the safe.

boxpressed wrote:

Showing my ignorance here, but how much can a vintage CPU be worth?

...and a burglar will have an iPAD constantly checking the current prices of various things on e-bay?
They'll just take the stuff they can carry and toss everything that's worthless later...

Get rid of the relative. Couple of PIR's and read switches on the doors with an audible monitored alarm 😀