I didn't throw away any of my hardware, but I did trash a bunch of computer magazines that I had bought during the later half of the '90s.

Ever since I got back into retro PC gaming, I kept thinking about the reviews that I read back in the day, since they were what guided my hardware and game purchases at the time. I kinda wish I had kept the magazines so that I could see how those contemporary reviews stack up against my recent retro PC experiences.

I also regret selling my first two computers when the time came to upgrade them. But money was tight back then, so it's not like I had much choice.

There's been a few things. Like a few vlb video cards, 5.25'' 1.2 meg fdds and a XT class system with green monitor. But there have gone to that big retro trash bin in the sky and I try not to dwell on it too. They were not desirable back then. But I have keep/aquired a ton of old kit since then. Never got rid of any of my software or manuals though and have a a lot of Dos/win3.x era stuff as that is what got me into computers in the first place...😉

Do not even know where to start with what I regret throwing out either because thought was damaged or because did not know any better, top of the list would be Roland rap 10 card, 2 Packard Bell 486 machines, Tandy 386 machine (which was 100% functional) or a COAST module made by Corsair

My original 486 and 14" monitor.
Atari 2600 and games.
A box containing a few floppy drives and my LS-120 drive, dozens of magazine cover CDs, and loads of pirated malaysian CD games.

I've learned now to never throw anything away, I'll need it one day...

Vert first "real" PC was a 486 DX4/100. I eventually parted it when I built a 166 MMX system.
Money was very tight back then, but I wish I'd kept that 486 system together - just for the heck of it

I'll turn my own question around and say what I DON'T regret throwing out - two tape drives - the kind that ran off the floppy controller.
BAD technology - way too slow, and capacity was really not there.
But - I suppose better than nothing

Years ago I stuck either 3 or 4 AWE32 cards, some SB16 cards and some Pentium 1 stuff out to the curb.

Somebody was probably really, really happy to get them. I wasn't into retro computing back then and didn't even think about selling them.

A while later I gave away my CPU collection. Probably 20-30 CPUs ranging from 386 to Pentium 1 with a few upgrade CPUs included.

The stuff I throw out is usually always junk and not worth fixing.

AcerOpen mainboard equipped with an amd 5k86 & 64MB EDO ram.
Compaq Prosignia dual 486, EISA? with 4 hdd's on one raid? controller.
Olivetti m24, lacking the original monitor and the keyboard was missing a few keys.
CTX 17" monitor, which somehow failed to display the inputs, yet still gave an error message on screen. I had envisioned to fix it someday... oh well.
and several other CRTs & computers for which i don't remember the specifications,
including two 21" crts, which i'm pretty sure the actual display surface size is only 19" since the third one I kept is also marketed as 21" yet only measures 19". F'n marketing wankery.
😥

My 21" Lacie monitor and before that a 21" Sony with those grid lines. And a P3 Intellisation. But I have even less room now (I accumulate stuff...) so need to be sensible...

Honestly? Everything. I don't throw old electronics and things of that sort out anymore.

When I catch myself regretting dumping old hardware at an Ewaste facility (I had a big purge Socket 7 boards and AT cases in 2009/10 because I lost use of a storage shed) , I remind myself that if I had kept it, it would have just been more electronics converted to smoke and ash in the Camp Fire.

With "thrown out" I imagine you mean throwing it in the trash or have it recycled?

In that case I've only thrown away broken parts that are easy replaceable, like case fans or broken PSUs.

I've given away or sold parts and whole computers but I've not regretted it (yet). Everything went to other enthusiasts, so I'm just glad it all found a good home.

Due to a long distance move, I had to leave a lot of stuff behind. It was stored with a willing relative, and I hoped "someday" to get some of it, but they had to move before "someday" happened, and while some pieces might have gone to interested parties, I think in the main it was all scrapped.

2 Spectrum 48k, 1 48k plus, 2 interface 1s, 4 microdrives, 2o MD carts, 100 tapes.
2 zx81, external keyboard/recase. 16kb RAMpack.
3 Apple II 4 drives, one IIc monitor. One was a IIe, the others I'm not super sure, II color or something.
Microvax II
IBM 5160 and mono screen.
IBM 5170 6mhz. 8514 monitor.
Amstrad 1640, Amstrad 1512 and monitors.
Toshiba clamshell laptop, not sure if it was a T1100 or T1200 now, it was 8086 CMOS and CGA mono if I remember right.
286 motherboard with Harris 286 25Mhz.
386 motherboard with AMD 386sx40
DX2-66 system
Bunch of random parts including a nice 4 drive high density floppy controller.

The only things I super regret really are the 286 and 386 boards and the floppy controller. The other stuff I would kinda have liked to dink around with again but it didn't feel like too much loss, though I'd still have an order of favorites, the 5170 and dx2-66 would be at the bottom, 6mhz 286 is just turd slow, and the 486 was more deliberately left as a PC for them to use, put together out of spares, nothing special in it. Of course it would be nice to sell all that at current eBay rates and have the cash too.

My CT1600 SBPro2 that I bought in 1994. Even though I used it for many years, the card was kept in mint condition and so was the box, manual and everything. Until one day in the early 00's I just decided it was taking too much space and threw it in the trash. I don't know what I was thinking because for some reason I kept junk like winmodems and printers around but threw away the card... if I could travel to the past I would give my younger self a good kick in the ass for that.

Oh so much

Commodore 64
Colecovision
Amiga 1000 and monitor
Genuine Adlib card

Let me go off and have a cry!

I always regret something after recycling at work, but we cant keep all so things have to go. We tried giveaways earlier but people are not interested and we dont ship. Most things in the dumpster now are business stuff like HP dc7700, 7800 SFFs and HP laptops like 6735b, 6930p etc. I salvaged a lot of CPUs, ram and HDDs before they go, but have enough now. Also keep one or two of the best looking of each models and have done that since we started scrapping 486 and first gen Pentiums. Almost all i kept are Compaq/HP laptops, desktops and servers. That i really regret is letting go some tower servers such as Proliant 1500 and 4000/4500.

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I did a big clear out of my parents garage in 2010 (a year before getting into retro computing )of the hardware I'd collected for free between 95-06. A working Wang 286 would have been the earliest hardware but plenty of Pentium to Pentium3 era hardware as well, BUT they were thinking of moving and I live other side of the globe.
It's not all bad news though as I did part out a lot of the systems and kept the more exotic or useful parts which is still sitting in my parents garage as they never moved.

Now I don't throw much out, even dead hardware I keep. That way if work is throwing out a system I want I just exchange the parts from my "dead" collection They can still cross something off their list and I get something useful.

i kind of regret various things and PCs thrown years ago and yet realistically if i still had those 486's and the like would i actually be happier or more able to enjoy the hobby. probably not, so maybe it's ok to have let them go - just a shame some of them didn't go to other people to enjoy though, that's the regret part