"E-Waste Reduction Strategy" (help me enable my hoarding problem)

[cbass-of-the-sea]

Budget (including currency): ~$1000

Country: US of A

What it will be used for: Anything useful, fun, interesting, or even artistic

Old hardware I don't want to just throw out:

• AMD FX-8350 8 Core 4 GHz CPU
• SAPPHIRE NITRO Radeon RX 480 8GB GDDR5 GPU
• 16 GB DDR3 Kit and a much older 8 GB DDR3 Kit
• Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard
• Corsair CX600M 600W 80+ Bronze Semi-modular ATX Power Supply
• Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Mid Tower Case

Hey all, I have a few parts from a fairly old build that I don’t want to just throw away. Not sure how much they’re worth to anyone trying to build something practical in 2024 and there’s a moderate amount of sentimental value in the CPU, it was my very first. I tried making a home server with them already and it worked as a proof of concept but struggle-bussed trying to play back content with JellyFin. Any fun, useful, interesting, or even artsy ideas?

 

Thank you!

[BoomerL4D]

9 minutes ago, cbass-of-the-sea said:

Budget (including currency): ~$1000

Country: US of A

What it will be used for: Anything useful, fun, interesting, or even artistic

Old hardware I don't want to just throw out:

• AMD FX-8350 8 Core 4 GHz CPU
• SAPPHIRE NITRO Radeon RX 480 8GB GDDR5 GPU
• 16 GB DDR3 Kit and a much older 8 GB DDR3 Kit
• Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard
• Corsair CX600M 600W 80+ Bronze Semi-modular ATX Power Supply
• Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Mid Tower Case

Hey all, I have a few parts from a fairly old build that I don’t want to just throw away. Not sure how much they’re worth to anyone trying to build something practical in 2024 and there’s a moderate amount of sentimental value in the CPU, it was my very first. I tried making a home server with them already and it worked as a proof of concept but struggle-bussed trying to play back content with JellyFin. Any fun, useful, interesting, or even artsy ideas?

 

Thank you!

Your PSU and case are good. You can sell the rest and build another PC. Does your budget include a monitor and peripherals? Do you have an SSD, HDD, and case fans?

 

[jaslion]

i'd just sell it as a complete. Sounds like it's outlived your usefullness.

[kitnoman]

11 minutes ago, cbass-of-the-sea said:

• AMD FX-8350 8 Core 4 GHz CPU
• SAPPHIRE NITRO Radeon RX 480 8GB GDDR5 GPU
• 16 GB DDR3 Kit and a much older 8 GB DDR3 Kit
• Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard
• Corsair CX600M 600W 80+ Bronze Semi-modular ATX Power Supply
• Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Mid Tower Case

Creative? Hopefully. Fun? Could be. Useful? Depends! If you already have another pc and you just want to do something with this, why not use it as an arcade emulator? All you really need is monitor or an old crt and a joystick. You probably need a few skill or at least watch videos on how to make an arcade cabinet. But I guess if there's any fun to be had, it would start with building, designing and painting the cabinet.

[Linuswasright]

If you want it to be a cheap upgrade, find an optiplex with an i7-4790 or better (preferably the i5-6500), slap your gpu in (keep your psu, maybe grab a used lp a380 for ~90ish$ and sell everything else, you’ll make a profit I think) and boom you’ve got a working lower end upgradable system, close to an Xbox séries X (or s, whatever the weaker one is)

 

or just sell it idk

[StDragon]

Do you have a need for a Linux machine, such as casually browsing the web or running a game server? Are you in need to make some money off it?

 

If the answer is "no" to both, perhaps it would be best served if you donated it to a local organization that could put it to use.

[thrasher_565]

well the environmentist would say scrap it and make it in to something new and save the power draw... but you can sell it to let a collector play with it.

[ki8aras]

if you've got cheap electricity, fun f@h on it until you find something else to do with it

[BahnStormer]

Just to be clear: the FX 8350 from 2011 was a 8 core, but only 8 thread CPU - so on a par with the lower end AM4 Ryzen 3 / Intel i3s. 

 

Would be nice to keep the case and PSU can probably work with a power-efficient build, if you stick with a mid-range GPU.

 

That said, as much I loved my Carbide R500, you might want to clear out the 5.25" drive bays for some extra ait intakes as I found the front intake airflow REALLY bad as it is really restricted.... and the exhaust wasn't great either (80mm IIRC). Best way to manage it is with a shroud from those from 5.25" bays into the CPU intakes and to exhaust via another 120mm to 80mm adapter.... or reverse the CPU fan to blow forward out the 5.25" bays, if you can stop it recirculating the hot air back into the intakes.

 

Rest of that hardware is 13 years old... there's point where you need to cut your losses and swap out the platform.

 

AM3 and that CPU could be re-used elsewhere.... might be okay if you want to drop them in a NAS / Plex streaming server / emulator, but not worth it for a modern PC.

 

RX480 is a bit long in the tooth to be worth trying to keep: again, emulator?

 

DDR3 is too old considering you could push the rest of the build to a DDR5 build.

 

Here's a $1000 spend for upgrading the motherboard, CPU, RAM, GPU though.... and I also added a 2Tb M.2... should pull 400-500W, so your PSU will probably still be okay and a decent exhaust fan.

 

This should be a good base for another 3-5 years of upgrades!
 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($395.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($33.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock B650M Pro RS Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($134.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($106.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($137.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte EAGLE Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  ($201.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1011.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-03-31 17:54 EDT-0400

 

Swap the Peerless assassin for a Dark Rock PX4 to get the build genuinely under $1000.

 

Or.... if you're not going to be gaming much, swap the CPU for a 7700X if you want to focus on productivity (and lower power) or even a 7600 if you just want to keep the power load down further and save even more cash. Even the entry level AM5 will still be 4x to 5x faster than the FX 8350!

 

https://technical.city/en/cpu/FX-8350-vs-Ryzen-5-7600X

 

https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-amd_ryzen_5_7600x-vs-amd_fx_8350

 

Not quite in the spirit of what you were aiming for, but there's a point when you need to but replace most of it.... after 13 years, I don't think anybody will blame you!