What to do with old hardware when you upgrade?

[Dylaan]

Well me and my friends take all of our old parts and make bootleg PC's that kick ass until the catch on fire because thay're made out of like shit from 2001 and a cardboard box.

[SImoHayha]

Either sell it or give it to a good friend and build him a nice PC for free.

[Trik'Stari]

Lately I've been giving it to my uncle. He's disabled, broke, and into computers (way big into linux) and his hardware is all old store bought PC's that people have given to him.

 

So far I've given him a case, power supply, and my old fm2 mobo and amd a10 5700 cpu. Just gotta get him some ram and he's good to go.

[APrettyCoolWalrus]

Sell it, I'm not made of money

[007agentHP]

save up until i have the parts to build a htpc

if its a gpu that has some importance  (like my 480, then i mount it on the wall) (the 480 was not only the hottest running card i'v ever had, but it represents my first  self built system)

the cpus and ram get turned into key chains (o lovely Pentium 4 key chain)

the case gets smashed with a sledgehammer.

power supply will be burnt

[Dabombinable]

Keep it for a future museum or re purpose it for something that would require more money to be spent.

[MegaDave91]

I can almost built two PCs with the other hardware I have laying (boxed up) around.

[Fgtfv567]

I don't really have the money or the need to upgrade my parts, but if I did, I'd put it in a dedicated closet called the "Component Closet" where all the computer parts and related stuff would sit as my wall of fame, and I could reuse all those parts if I'm building a new PC or need to do some troubleshooting

[Go_On_Shadow]

Test rig/Bitcoin miner

[Kazooey]

Title

 

An example is that you upgrade from a core i5 to an i7.  What do you do with the i5?

^this is an example.  It didn't actually happen

 

i actually did this. I managed to sell the i5 for $150. it made the 4790k a bit cheaper

[Adreyu]

Give it to my friends who need upgrades from their even older stuff

[Vacsol]

at this point I have almost enough to build a secondary mini ITX rig. I would just need a PSU and a CPU

[farhanorakzai]

give it away. i'll be giving away my mobo + cpu when i upgrade to x99 

[AllstaRawR]

I just start leaving computers at the places I visit the most. AKA parents, close friends.

 

Then I just have to swap out a hard drive full of games when I go.

[ericlee30]

I keep all my old hardware and all the boxes that came with them.

[AngryPandaPC]

Typically, I give it to family, friends, or re-purpose it into like a media center or nas or something.  If it still had a lot of value, I'd consider selling it.

[shadowblitz3]

i keep them

[DarkEnergy]

I, well.....:

[TheMcSame]

Well...

 

CPU - Save it for a later build or sell it if it works. Dead?... Probably get rid of it. Maybe make it a keyring or something.

Cooler - Save it if it works. Get rid of it if it's dead.

Mobo - Make a mini display regardless of whether it's working or not.

RAM - Same as Mobo unless it's some generic RAM with a green PCB.

Storage - Meh. If it still works I'll keep it somewhere. If it's dead? I'll probably smash it and get rid of it.

GPU - I'll start a GPU wall

PSU - ... Keep it if it works I guess?

Optical drive - At what point would I upgrade this?

 

Expansion cards - Like the RAM, Mobo and GPU, I'll probably make a mini display.

[Fidius]

Stick it in another cheap build or it goes on fleabay.....

[Calavera]

Upgrade my sister's computer.

[watts300]

What I do with the parts sometimes depends on the parts.  I've sold some older stuff, but more-recent things are worth keeping around for at least two reasons I can think of: if the main computer goes down, hardware troubleshooting is simplified if I can swap out components....  and build another computer with them.

 

I was able to toss together a nice little computer (that plays Far Cry 3 on 720p low, ha) not too long ago for less than $100 on additional parts.  I'm okay to pull this one apart if my son's computer starts having issues.  

[SIGSEGV]

Sell it if I can test it

If I can't, I keep it for another build (like for a family member or a friend)

[ADM-Ntek]

i put it back in its original box and keep it just in case oldhardware becomes a curency after the robot uprising.

[flibberdipper]

I put them somewhere so I can use them in another build.