Question At what point is your old CPU garbage?

[CuriousMike]

I was just throwing out an old Antec case / guts - I even left an ASUS B350 mobo in it.
I pulled out the Ryzen 1700, the 250GB SSD and the 16GB of DDR4 ram.

I have no idea why I kept those parts - the Ryzen 1700 is useless, the 250GB SSD is too small / useless and the ram... well... I have two other Ryzen 5x00 mini-itx builds that are already maxed on RAM.

But yet I kept these pieces.
I seem to always keep my old pieces ... they just sit in the garage for about 10 years until they're finally recycled.

What do you do with your old hardware? Do you hold onto it "just in case" ?

 

[aigomorla]

Does old watercooling gear count?
I still have my first generation eK fittings that changed the barbs we used back in 2007.

Of course i don't use them. But i still save them as emergency, however its gonna be a very big emergency as i still have a box of Bitspower fatboy fittings that i would need to go though first.

 

[esquared]

You are free to do with your stuff as you please but if you had posted here about your intentions before acting on them, maybe someone would have taken the old stuff off your hands. A lot of us are not lucky enough to have a first gen Ryzen for everyday use. The best I have at work is i7-4770 and it's not even my primary machine which happens to be an i5-2400. Maybe you didn't have any feelings of disdain as you chucked the mobo but it was still something that could have provided years more of service and I guess many people here feel saddened that it died prematurely. I don't blame you but I do mourn the loss of a usable mobo.

More than that, I mourn the loss of a 21 year member who we never had trouble with and now he's gone because
some people here were dog piling on him unnecessarily.

Yes, his view of old equipment probably doesn't match a lot of you folks, but he did offer to give/send it for free.
That should have been the end of it.
Instead it continued.

The thread title was
At what point is your old CPU garbage?
Many did post their answer to his question but many railed on him for
his point of view where he thought his level of garbage was..

Hope it was worth it folks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I mourn the loss of a 21 year member who we never had trouble with and now he's gone because
some of people here were dog piling on him unnecessarily.

That is... very regrettable, and I agree, he has a similar join date as I, I've never seen any offensive or actionable posts from him ever, to my knowledge.

That being said, I have my own personal strong suspicions that it wasn't JUST the comments in this thread that caused him to rage-quit. Most humans are emotionally akin to an iceberg, there's a lot more under the surface that you can't / don't see.

The comments in this thread weren't nearly as harsh as some that I've received on here, after mentioning that I mine crypto. People cursing me, saying I should be burned at the stake, or thrown in prison. Well, saying that "miners" should be, right after I self-identified as a miner.

Edit: But really, both sets were rather uncalled for, in a civil tech discussion forum.

I do still think that he's a bit of a 1%'er, and this thread was his "weird flex", but I am sorry to see him go like that. I think that he was really just crying out for attention, because he was having a bad day elsewhere, IRL.

Edit: One way that I get rid of older mobos and CPUs, is I give them away to people who buy things from me. I had a couple of GPU sales, and I gave away a B450 mATX board and a CPU to one customer, and gave a Tomahawk Max B450 and a CPU to the other. I mean, it's not like they're going to go to the trouble of returning them... LOL. (Really, I informed them before shipping, and the mobos were BNIB.)

 

[DisEnchantment]

More than that, I mourn the loss of a 21 year member who we never had trouble with and now he's gone because
some people here were dog piling on him unnecessarily.

Yes, his view of old equipment probably doesn't match a lot of you folks, but he did offer to give/send it for free.
That should have been the end of it.
Instead it continued.

The thread title was
At what point is your old CPU garbage?
Many did post their answer to his question but many railed on his for
his point of view where he thought his level of garbage was..

Hope it was worth it folks.

You need to update some rules, forum is for folks interested in the technology, for hobbyist, for engineers, for first time builders etc. not just for Brand tribalists or for folks who thinks their use case only matters.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think that another factor is this:

We are technology "high priests", we understand the arcane of technology, and we worship tech at the "altar" of AT forums.

The fact that OP felt that what was otherwise a viable, and to some people, valuable piece of tech., that he wanted (or did?) send to the landfill, way before the majority of us would consider "its time", was deeply offensive to a bunch of us, as far as our "worshipful" respect and sense of technology.

It wasn't just the money aspect, really. More OP's flippant disrespect of something that we all hold "sacred".

Kind of a blasphemer among us, if you will. And he just left the "congregation" over it.

 

[UsandThem]

It wasn't just the money aspect, really. More OP's flippant disrespect of something that we all hold "sacred".

Kind of a blasphemer among us, if you will. And he just left the "congregation" over it.

Just because it wasn't useful to him anymore, he offered to send it to someone for free if they wanted it.

It's no more wasteful than enthusiasts "upgrading" their CPUs, GPUs, or any other component every 6-12 months. To me, that sounds incredibly wasteful, but I don't come into their thread lecturing them to the point where they say "It just isn't worth it anymore to share anything more" on a website they've been a user on for 20+ years.

There's busting someone's chops in a good natured way, and then you have people who go way to far on the insults. You've experienced that here in the mining threads, and I have experienced in some of my toy threads in OT, where someone comes in trying to pick a fight for no reason.

Some people just don't seem to understand the concept of "going to far" when it's not really called for. If we continue to run off long-time users, all we're going to be left with is users like nj78 creating "My PSU clicked once, is my computer OK?" over and over and over.......

 

[VirtualLarry]

If we continue to run off long-time users, all we're going to be left with is users like nj78 creating "My PSU clicked once, is my computer OK?" over and over and over.......

You'll need to get him his own personal sub-forum for "PSU clicking" then...

Edit: And I think that I actually came up with a metric years ago, that answered OP's question.

It was DC-related, but I think it went something like this: When a CPU costs more in electricity to run, per month, than it's cost on ebay, then it's time to junk the CPU and upgrade to something newer.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I found a few more.

Though I never owned or use any, many of those old Zalman coolers had a really nice copper look to them. I forget which was their biggest one, but it was just a massive copper-finned air tunnel. With obligatory LEDs. It looks slick but as a performer . . . meh.

 

[moinmoin]

Just because it wasn't useful to him anymore, he offered to send it to someone for free if they wanted it.

I think the start of his first post set the tone for many people (including me). While he did offer giving away his stuff, he started off with the first sentence saying he threw away the case with the board already. @VirtualLarry's analogy of that being sacrilegious in a place of tech worship is spot on imo.

I'm familiar with this kind of clash of perspectives from voluntary Repair Cafés where I'm active. Those who participate often essentially try to salvage everything, even if just for fun. But we repeatedly hear stories of other people who just seemingly thoughtlessly throw away products with barely any faults to be replaced by something similar. We got one such Café in a school with students eager to repair stuff. There the clash runs in the families, with parents throwing away stuff without even asking their kids first. Things like that are hard to fathom to many.

 

[igor_kavinski]

There the clash runs in the families, with parents throwing away stuff without even asking their kids first. Things like that are hard to fathom to many.

Yeah. Old people see something covered in dust, they automatically assume it must be worthless junk. Ignorant non-techie parents are definitely guilty of that.

 

[bigboxes]

I've thrown old cases away that I couldn't give away. There's a strong desire in me not to let things go to waste. But sometimes you need to decide to do based on what's good for you. I don't see anything ITT that should cause one to commit board suicide.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I don't see anything ITT that should cause one to commit board suicide.

I say it was guilt and the realization that he made a mistake. A real prick would have just given everyone the middle finger and stayed on.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I say it was guilt and the realization that he made a mistake. A real prick would have just given everyone the middle finger and stayed on.

Either that or he was just looking for an excuse to leave anyway, and finally found one.

 

[igor_kavinski]

On the bright side, if he didn't destroy the mobo when chucking the case out, maybe someone found it, cleaned it up, sold it and now that mobo is alive and well, keeping someone very happy. Maybe we did over-react. He didn't say that he destroyed the mobo.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Though I never owned or use any, many of those old Zalman coolers had a really nice copper look to them. I forget which was their biggest one, but it was just a massive copper-finned air tunnel. With obligatory LEDs. It looks slick but as a performer . . . meh.

Speaking of Zalman cooler, Brett of UFD Tech built a rig with a Core2Quad Q9550... and an RTX 3090ti! Goes through some games.

 

[Heartbreaker]

Speaking of Zalman cooler, Brett of UFD Tech built a rig with a Core2Quad Q9550... and an RTX 3090ti! Goes through some games.

Welp, there goes my plan to upgrade my Q9400 with a 3090Ti to play modern games.

 

[bigboxes]

Though I never owned or use any, many of those old Zalman coolers had a really nice copper look to them. I forget which was their biggest one, but it was just a massive copper-finned air tunnel. With obligatory LEDs. It looks slick but as a performer . . . meh.

I have always valued quiet over max o/c.

I found one more! The O.G. of air coolers. This the original Thermalright T.R.U.E. I slapped a 120mm Noctua on it back in the day. I used it on my i7 920 Socket 1366.

 

[aigomorla]

Just because it wasn't useful to him anymore, he offered to send it to someone for free if they wanted it.

It's no more wasteful than enthusiasts "upgrading" their CPUs, GPUs, or any other component every 6-12 months. To me, that sounds incredibly wasteful, but I don't come into their thread lecturing them to the point where they say "It just isn't worth it anymore to share anything more" on a website they've been a user on for 20+ years.

There's busting someone's chops in a good natured way, and then you have people who go way to far on the insults. You've experienced that here in the mining threads, and I have experienced in some of my toy threads in OT, where someone comes in trying to pick a fight for no reason.

Some people just don't seem to understand the concept of "going to far" when it's not really called for. If we continue to run off long-time users, all we're going to be left with is users like nj78 creating "My PSU clicked once, is my computer OK?" over and over and over.......

I don't understand why would someone roast him for having old hardware?
I always tell people don't fix it or change it until its either broken, or until it no longer can maintain the function you desire at the cost it takes to maintain.

I still even have original 1366x768 monitors on VGA that i still use for Security Camera displays, because they do not require anything more fancy.
I still have Original Logitech mouse which dates back in 2005 on a roller ball, that i also have on that camera system, because it does not require a high percision DPI mouse....
I still have working PATA hard drives i hold onto incase someone might need them, as you will next to impossibly out of luck for them.
Old hardware has its place, you don't laugh or make fun of someone for keeping old hardware.
Well i get called a packrat all the time tho, because of it, but if someone needs something very hard to get, they know who to ask, and who is the holy grail they seek in trying to get it.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Old hardware has its place, you don't laugh or make fun of someone for keeping old hardware.

I have an Asus Eee PC. Never gonna part with it. For me, it's priceless. I also have a PSP. I know at any point in future, I can pick both of them up and have a fun hour or two, just reliving the glory of the past. That's one of the cool things about getting old.

 

[Markfw]

While I have not done much in this thread, I think people got angry at him throwing away an 8 core Ryzen as useless. I think I commented that my son uses that exact CPU on his work computer, drafting everyday.

 

[bigboxes]

While I have not done much in this thread, I think people got angry at him throwing away an 8 core Ryzen as useless. I think I commented that my son uses that exact CPU on his work computer, drafting everyday.

I don't think what anybody said was that harsh. He was upset about more than this site. In the end. I wouldn't have taken anything said that personal. I would have done what I wanted. No need to leave for something like that.

 

[VirtualLarry]

While I have not done much in this thread, I think people got angry at him throwing away an 8 core Ryzen as useless. I think I commented that my son uses that exact CPU on his work computer, drafting everyday.

To some of (royal us) on Skylake or even Sandy Bridge, it was as if some was "throwing away" a 12900K, because they bought a 12900KS. When you look at it from that perspective, you understand the criticism (like, "let them eat cake"), a bit more.

I won't even ask what @AdamK47 does with his old tech once he upgrades to the latest (sorry to single you out, bud), but to his credit, he doesn't flaunt (its disposal), either.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I won't even ask what @AdamK47 does with his old tech once he upgrades to the latest

Are you provoking him into shocking us?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Are you provoking him into shocking us?

maybe.

 

[Markfw]

Are you provoking him into shocking us?

In the many years that Adam has been here, he has been pretty decent. He insulted me once, in that I did not use DDR5 in my Alder lake build, but other than that, he is a proud Intel supporter who may post good things about his hardware, but never belittles anybody for using AMD, just posts benchmarks that favor Intel, or his hardware. And he does use the best of Intel. I would most likely support him if anybody tried to put him down.