Anyone else keep old GPUs forever?

[therealnickdanger]

I don't know what it is, but I find it difficult to sell off old graphics cards. The ones that can't be repurposed or are too old to play games I just keep in a box under my workbench. I'm certainly no hoarder, but when it comes to GPUs, I make an exception.

Off the top of my head, in no particular order, I still have my:

ATI Fury Maxx
NVIDIA Geforce 256 DDR
ATI AIW X800
ATI HD3850
NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT (softmod to Quadro FX 3500, still in use for an old Windows XP CAD system)
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
NVIDIA GTX 470 (still in service)
ATI HD6870 (just retired)

I take that back, I did sell off a couple classics when I was strapped for cash - I deeply regret selling my Voodoo card, but I don't regret selling my Matrox G400 at all. I also recall having a TNT, a Rage card, and a GeForce 3 at one time, but I'm not sure where those are...

I keep thinking that I'm going to build an old DOS gaming machine or Windows 98 machine, but never do.

 

[Leyawiin]

NVIDIA Geforce 256 DDR

lol - still have one of those too. Don't know why - its utterly useless. The main old card I'm still hanging onto is an 8800 GTX with an Arctic Cooling Accelero on it. After spending $600 on it between the card and cooler I find it hard to part with. Used it for 3 1/2 years before I finally upgraded.

 

[Headfoot]

Got quite a few old ones. When I upgrade my main machine, I send the GPU to my guest machine, and the GPU in the guest machine into a really old crappy guest machine that we only use to play oldies like Warcraft III custom maps. By the time I switch out that old GPU in the 2ndary guest machine, its so old that the hassle of selling it isnt worth how much cash I'd get back, so it just goes in a drawer

 

[SlowSpyder]

I kept some, even bought a handful over the years, but always end up unloading them because they just end up collecting dust. I expect Lava to show up any minute here and tell you about GPU collecting.

 

[railven]

I did until I moved in with my girlfriend. I realized then how many bins I had of old computer parts just wasting precious space. Add in my console collection and she wasn't too very happy. I ended up having to give/sell/donate a lot of old parts but kept most of my Radeons.

 

[psolord]

You think you are weird?

Look what I do (nsfw wallpapers warning).

Diablo III 1920X1080 high 3870 @850Mhz Q9550 @4GHz

Witcher II 1920X1080 medium 3870 @850Mhz Q9550 @4GHz

Skyrim 1920X1080 high noAA 3870 @850Mhz Q9550 @4GHz

Starcraft II 1920X1080 maxed 3870 @850Mhz Q9550 @4GHz

Trine III 1920X1080 medium noAA 3870 @850Mhz Q9550 @4GHz

Not only do I keep most of my cards, but I test what they can run even today.

Of course my main focus is on the hardware of my signature and then I do tests like these.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37833306&postcount=335

Hey the Tahiti is 4 years old already and the 5850 since 2008.

And you thought you were weird. lol

 

[Head1985]

I will keep my old GTX670 as backup GPU but other than that nope...

but i regret selling
radeon 9800Pro
GF4 TI 4200 AGP8x
GF8800GTS 640Mb.Those was amazing cards.

worst card on other hand was GF7800GTX crap in every way.

 

[moonbogg]

I have a couple GTX 670's that I haven't bothered to sell yet. Probably get about $50.00 each. Not worth the effort to box them up really.

 

[RussianSensation]

I don't know what it is, but I find it difficult to sell off old graphics cards.

I think of all PC hardware as just tools that get the job done. Once the tool cannot get the job done, I don't want to keep it in my tool kit and that moment it's just a useless tool. However, since I know someone else might still take advantage of this tool for their needs, it makes me feel better about selling the old PC parts since I know someone will use it. Way better than having PC hardware sitting in a closet like a museum piece. I guess I get satisfaction knowing my old parts are going to bring someone benefits while I get new parts that bring me benefit. It's really a win-win.

Hey the Tahiti is 4 years old already and the 5850 since 2009.

Sept 30, 2009. Don't age the old timer even more.

GF8800GTS 640Mb.Those was amazing cards.

9800Pro, 4200Ti were awesome but 8800GTS 640MB? That was one of the worst cards of that generation. It was $100 more expensive than the 8800GTS 320MB for extra VRAM. Barely more than a year after 8800GTS 640MB $399 release, $199-249 8800GT 512MB trounced it for a fraction of the cost. I remember choosing between an X1950XTX, 8800GTS 320MB and 640MB, saved myself $100 from 8800GTS 640MB and just went with the 320MB, then dumped that card and put $100 into a way faster 4890 1GB. How much faster was the 4890? WAY faster and $100 less expensive since I didn't waste it on a 640MB 8800GTS.

Avg performance
4890 = 87
8800GT = 43
8800GTS 640MB = 36
8800GTS 320MB = 33

To each his own I guess but to me 8800GTS 640MB was overpriced, GPU under-powered, and horrible for longevity -- not amazing at all. I would never put 8800GTS 640MB into the same category as 9700Pro/9800Pro/Ti 4200 cards.

I have a couple GTX 670's that I haven't bothered to sell yet. Probably get about $50.00 each. Not worth the effort to box them up really.

What about donating it to poor gamers on these boards? Better someone uses them they them rotting in a box. I am sure someone would love 670 level of performance from their old GTX450/HD5670.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

My "tools" have sentimental value and it's why I keep most of my older cards if someone doesn't need them, unless they break.

I still have my,
GeForce 6200 (PCI!)
GeForce 6800 GT (it started artifacting recently!)
GeForce FX 5200 (used in a Power Mac G4!)
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra v2
GeForce 8400 GS
GeForce 7600 GS (passively cooled!)
GeForce 7800 GS (recently sold it for $100!)
Radeon 8500 LE

I used to have some more cards but these ended up breaking in some way,
GeForce GTX 260 core216 55nm
GeForce 7900 GS
GeForce 6600 GT
Radeon 9700 Pro (Mac firmware)

 

[psolord]

Sept 30, 2009. Don't age the old timer even more.

True true!

I keep confusing it with my Q9550!

It always fascinates me how much longer cpus last over gpus.

 

[Erithan13]

I was clearing out some boxes of old junk earlier this year and remember coming across a stash of things related to old desktop systems we had from around the late 90s to early 2000s. It all got thrown out as worthless (which it was) but I really wish I'd gotten some photos of it. There were piles of driver CDs for cable and dialup modems and the like, just looking at some of those discs gave off very strong vibes of this nature, back when 56k was a very recent memory and I was still getting used to how mindblowing broadband was.

Anyway, while looking through all this I came across a pristine, brand new sealed in packaging Radeon 9200 SE. That would correspond to a desktop we had with an Athlon XP 2600, 512mb of ram and a Radeon 9000, I seem to recall we had problems with the system and the tech support/repair person thought it was the gpu so that was ordered in as a replacement. It was never installed though and I can clearly remember the support line kept calling us and demanding they get the 9200 back immediately but they were very vague about how exactly we were supposed to do this. They didn't want us posting it back ourselves and were supposed to send someone out to collect it or something like that, but they never turned up so there was this weekly routine of them phoning and getting pissed at us, we'd ask what we were supposed to do and it would be either wait for them to come to us, or they would want to send out a package to us to return it but that never happened either. End result is that disputed 9200 has unjustly belonged to me all these years, it's the sort of relic I should have put up as a display instead of tossing it in the electronics recycling. Still, perhaps the metals and materials from that chip have found their way into something that's being used by one of us today.

 

[Blitzvogel]

Reinstalled my Radeon HD 5850 for shits, giggles, and fun youtube videos chronicling it's capabilities with newer gen games.

 

[kaesden]

I have my GTX285, and 670 still(pending sale though).

when I upgrade from the 285 to the 670(yes i skipped that many cards), the performance improvement was just mind blowing lol. I now have my 970 as well, which is quite fast, but not near the jump from the 670 that i got last time.

 

[xorbe]

I take the really old stuff to the local electronics recycling center. I have 6 cards on the shelf here, sigh. D:

 

[Timmah!]

I have somewhere in the box Riva TNT2 Vanta. I dont even remember how much VRAM it had. Admittedly, it was sh!t, but it could play Homeworld and NHL 2001 at the time, so that was all that mattered to me.

 

[Craig234]

I haven't been able to sit in my recliner for years because it has my broken old NEC 21" CRT I paid $2300 for. Spent too much to get rid of it.

 

[Face2Face]

So where's Lavaheadche? I'm pretty sure he has the biggest GPU collection in the states.

 

[sandorski]

Still have my dead 9800 Pro. Also have a still functional(was working when last used) Voodoo 5 5500 in the closet.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

The oldest ones I still have are a 7800 GTX and 7900 GTX. I also have a 3870x2. I'll probably keep one of my Titans as well. It'll be cool to look back on them when I'm an old geezer.

 

[Face2Face]

I still have these lying around. Can you guess them?





I also have these cards (Not Pictured)

HD 7790
HD 7970 GE
9800 GT
GTX 780 Lightning

 

[VirtualLarry]

What about donating it to poor gamers on these boards? Better someone uses them they them rotting in a box. I am sure someone would love 670 level of performance from their old GTX450/HD5670.

Do you think some 9600GSO 384MB cards would be worth donating, or should I send them to the scrap heap?

Edit: They might still perform better than even the newer Intel IGPs, but oh, the lack of VRAM for modern AAA titles...

 

[lavaheadache]

I wouldn't know anything about keeping old cards around. Been playing on my crossfire x1900/ fx 60 rig lately. Who needs a Titan Z/ 4790k machine when you can play on such a cool retro rig?

Face2face, does that 9800 gx2 work? I wouldn't mind having another quad sli setup to mess around with. Could trade something

 

[Silverforce11]

You think you are weird?

Dang, I didn't even think such an old GPU is even compatible, but to actually have some decent grunt to run those games are nice settings? Wow.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

The oldest card I still have is an old Matrox Millennium from my first build in 1995. I still have a Matrox Millennium II from my second build in 1997 (that entire build is still intact in my garage) and two Voodoo 2s from that era as well. I pretty much sold all my older AGP cards.