I store parts in clear plastic bins for different part types. I try to organize things in a way that makes it easy to narrow down which bin things are in. For example, S7 ATX motherboards in a bin, PCI sound cards in another bin, etc.

All PCB hardware (motherboards, video cards, etc) are stored in anti-static bags within the plastic bins. The exception is RAM where I use smaller rigid plastic bins and don't both with anti-static bags for most of it.

For CPUs I use either rigid plastic cases or anti-static foam to protect CPU pins. Those go in small anti-static bags. I label those bags so I know which CPU is in which bag. For other hardware I don't bother with labelling them since I can usually tell what it is by it's size and shape.

For motherboards, I stack multiple motherboards in each plastic bin. In between each board I use anti-static bubble wrap to prevent any damage.

My parts storage is pretty granular. I even have dedicated bins for things like IDE ribbon cables, FDD cables, etc. This way if I need to find a particular part, it's easy to find.

I store it scattered all over the place in a mess that has got more messy every day over the last 10 years or so. I dream of having it all tidy and organised one day! It is still astonishing to me how much mess I can make with this hobby. I'll be following this thread closely with hope for a cure!

I do at least try to keep my favourite motherboards in separate cardboard boxes and I have a lot of CPUs that I try to keep in loads of shallow plastic document drawers designed to keep papers organised. You can get a lot of CPUs in a small place without stacking them that way.

I love the thought of having it all organised in plastic bins like Shponglefan and might actually get there one day.

Mp10, there is a big plus side to not keeping track of it all. You forget what you have and get to rediscover it all over again, no joke I've had some great moments rediscovering things I had no idea I owned!

Just boxes and more boxes,a big mess, impossible to find anything, most of time i just buy again cables or accesories even i know.i already have

love my collection

theelf wrote on 2026-06-12, 21:49:

Just boxes and more boxes,a big mess, impossible to find anything, most of time i just buy again cables or accesories even i know.i already have

love my collection

Can relate to this, although I do make sure to write on the boxes what's in them

Fish3r wrote on 2026-06-12, 21:50:

theelf wrote on 2026-06-12, 21:49:

Just boxes and more boxes,a big mess, impossible to find anything, most of time i just buy again cables or accesories even i know.i already have

love my collection

Can relate to this, although I do make sure to write on the boxes what's in them

Me too !

Fish3r wrote on 2026-06-12, 21:50:

theelf wrote on 2026-06-12, 21:49:

Just boxes and more boxes,a big mess, impossible to find anything, most of time i just buy again cables or accesories even i know.i already have

love my collection

Can relate to this, although I do make sure to write on the boxes what's in them

My hardware is like my directories

old>old1>check>old>old1>old2

Re: Alternative to 'Box full of old cards' storage ideology

Re: How do people storage their computer stuff (motherboards, video cards, CPUs)

It's funny how many of us seem to be dealing with the same problem.

I have to admit I'm probably somewhere between Shponglefan's impressive bin system and the "pile it in a box and hope for the best" camp. 😄

One thing I'm curious about: do any of you keep an inventory of what you have (spreadsheet, database, photos, etc.), or do you rely entirely on your storage system and memory?

mp10 wrote on 2026-06-13, 06:46:

It's funny how many of us seem to be dealing with the same problem.

I have to admit I'm probably somewhere between Shponglefan's impressive bin system and the "pile it in a box and hope for the best" camp. 😄

One thing I'm curious about: do any of you keep an inventory of what you have (spreadsheet, database, photos, etc.), or do you rely entirely on your storage system and memory?

Brain!!

I used a Palm PDA for many years to organize my life, including hardware collection.

However since Palm OS stopped being a thing I've been slowly migrating everything to text files, mainly Microsoft Word.

(I like Word because I can embed pretty much anything into the documents -- pictures, spreadsheets, audio/video files, ZIP archives, text files, other Word documents. And Windows Search is quick and accurate when searching Office files.)

ETA: And yes, I know what M$ did to earlier formats like WPS, WRI, HLP, CHM, and old versions of DOC. If they do the same to DOCX I'm in trouble. I'm gambling that Word is now too big to be messed around with.

mp10 wrote on 2026-06-13, 06:46:

One thing I'm curious about: do any of you keep an inventory of what you have (spreadsheet, database, photos, etc.), or do you rely entirely on your storage system and memory?

I don't keep an inventory currently, but I keep thinking I should.

I have on more than one occasion bought a piece of hardware only to discovered I already owned it.

Shponglefan wrote on 2026-06-14, 15:44:

I don't keep an inventory currently, but I keep thinking I should.

I have on more than one occasion bought a piece of hardware only to discovered I already owned it.

I have done that not only to discover I already own it but I own 2x to 4x of them when I only needed 1x in my collection.

mp10 wrote on 2026-06-13, 06:46:

It's funny how many of us seem to be dealing with the same problem.

I have to admit I'm probably somewhere between Shponglefan's impressive bin system and the "pile it in a box and hope for the best" camp. 😄

One thing I'm curious about: do any of you keep an inventory of what you have (spreadsheet, database, photos, etc.), or do you rely entirely on your storage system and memory?

I do that.
No database, just spreadsheet + pics.

I live in a small space and only have my bedroom to keep all my hobby stuff, so I just put my hardware literally wherever I can fit it - the stuff I care about more will go into an antistatic bag at the very least.
As for inventory, I only keep track of complete systems and motherboards that I have. It's getting out of hand again lmao.

Currently most of my spares are in categorized cardboard boxes, like ISA VGA cards, PCI Network cards, VLB Motherboards, but there are still some uncategorized boxes with mixed spares.
Plans exist to switch over to plastic boxes beeing more resilient to humidity.
Storing at two differt places 270 km apart makes the situation much worse. Every part you need is at the different location. At least as long as you do not find it there either.
Some parts I am sure I own I havent seen for ages and I stumble over rarities every time I lok up something in my cellar.
For inventory I planned a wiki, that keeps drivers, docs, BIOS files and further information together with the storage location, but I an not further then setting up mediawiki on one of my Linux boxes.

I'd say you have too much stuff if you need a spreadsheet. 😁