When you build a new system, what do you do with the old one?

x509

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Just wondering. I need to upgrade my 2013 x79 system with a new motherboard/CPU/RAM and my GPU is also pretty slow by current standards and doesn't even meet the minimum for Photoshop.

So I could either remove the motherboard, etc., and keep my case and PSU, or just get a new case and PSU, and keep the old system in the old case.

What do you guys do?
 
I would replace a 6 year old PSU for a new system, case, it depends if it has everything you need/want like front USB 3.0 enough drive bays etc...
 
Set it and forget it. Unless the budgets real tight, get a new one with new parts.

I dont like to mess with old parts that are functional, since it introduces a chance for something getting ruined.
 
Give it away or sell cheap. My Dad has my old 2500K based PC.
Cant be doing with Ebay.

My spare machine is an Abit NF7 based PC :)
I kept a C2Q machine but the motherboard made magic smoke. Still have the rare Q9705 CPU, it clocks like a loony.
 
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I donate it to world vision so the starving and ever-expanding wave of billions of africans can chew on it for sustenance.

In all seriousness, my last rig is quite collectable so was retired to the boxes it came in. It will be rebuilt again soon. My old stuff is usually too slow for hand-me downs.

Current rig will be a bedroom PC or given to my favorite GF..
 
I usually sell the old parts or the entire machine, or upgrade one of my lower machines and then sell the lower machine. This offsets the cost of the upgrade for me.

the last ones I did were the i7 870, sold that to buy an i7 2600k, then sold that to buy an i7 3770k.
these were mobo/cpu/ram upgrades as I kept my case, psu, drives, and AIO cooler.

I did sell the 3770k setup as a complete machine to buy a Dual Xeon system, which was basically a zero cost upgrade.
 
Usually it goes down the upgrade line. I've got my pc, the server, girlfriend's pc, and my mom's. My pc guts went into a friend's server, my girlfriend's pc's old guts went to upgrade my mom's pc.
Mom's old pc guts are sitting in anti static bags. With water cooled systems, it's often hard to reuse them, so they just hang around until I toss them.
 
Build a new system with AMD parts. Throw old stuff on a shelf next to all the adapters, plugs, and cables I've been saving since 2001.
 
Usually the old parts go to upgrade my htpc or get sold. Sometimes i keep spare parts for troubleshooting or projects like pfsense, security camera server if i can afford it.

arnemetis

Does no one want to buy parts with waterblocks on them anymore?
 
Usually the old parts go to upgrade my htpc or get sold. Sometimes i keep spare parts for troubleshooting or projects like pfsense, security camera server if i can afford it.

arnemetis

Does no one want to buy parts with waterblocks on them anymore?
The problem is when I go and modify things, like my 790i motherboard I destroyed the combo chipset&mosfet cooler to use a bitspower motherboard block. By the time I replaced that (2013 I believe) noone was going to buy a water cooled q6600 & mobo. The water cooled gtx 260s had both started artifacting too, I really held on to that system a lot longer than is reasonable.
If I upgraded more regularly, I think I would have a chance - for example, I suspect i could sell my current rig's parts for a decent chunk if I upgraded now, but I've had this rig for 23 months and I don't feel the need to upgrade at all. By the time I do, it will probably be the same situation.
 
I donate it to world vision so the starving and ever-expanding wave of billions of africans can chew on it for sustenance.

In all seriousness, my last rig is quite collectable so was retired to the boxes it came in. It will be rebuilt again soon. My old stuff is usually too slow for hand-me downs.

Current rig will be a bedroom PC or given to my favorite GF..
What about your non favorite GF? Does she get your favorites hand downs? :).

Anyways, yeah... there is a reason I have 6 desktops at my house. My kids all have their owns PC's and my wife too. I also have one set aside just for running my 3-axis desktop CNC mill. I gave one away to a neighbor not to long ago too. My sons friend isn't to well off so I gave him some ram, PSU and older video card so he could at least play some games on his box.
 
Usually my parts end up being migrated to another system in the house. Often, my girlfriend's machine or a server or something.
 
What about your non favorite GF? Does she get your favorites hand downs? :).
They get tech support and home handyman work so it's not a losing situation for them either ;)
Kids having their own PCs is a great idea though. Less fighting..
 
I buy an entire box and sell the old one locally on Craigslist/FB marketplace for whatever I can get. With my new rig, I brought my 1080 Ti over so I picked up a cheap GTX 960 used from Craigslist to put in my old box to sell as a whole.

Parting stuff out is too painful time wise for me.
 
Well, if I can't "use it", I refresh it and try to sell it. But you know, I had trouble selling my old 8 (true) core workstation, and ended up giving it away (for a user group raffle). At least there's a chance it will get put to good use. It was really good enough for dev work, but it was getting a bit old as it was pre-USB3... old enough to still have a PCI slot. It did its job. The main reason for the move right now was I got a good deal on a newer system. As a developer (with much lower gaming expectations than [H]), I can usually hold on to hw longer than most.
 
Just wondering. I need to upgrade my 2013 x79 system with a new motherboard/CPU/RAM and my GPU is also pretty slow by current standards and doesn't even meet the minimum for Photoshop.

So I could either remove the motherboard, etc., and keep my case and PSU, or just get a new case and PSU, and keep the old system in the old case.

What do you guys do?


I gave my last "old" system away to my friend. (1600X, 16GB 3400MHz Patriot Viper, H150i AIO, Ttian XP, Crosshair Hero VI mobo (My God! It's full of USB ports!), 2TB NVME m.2, RM850 PSU, NZXT case (It was pretty, but deadly to work on), Win10Pro
 
I usually give them to friends and family. Altho lately ive become a bit of a hoarder. Ive got 4 complete rigs including my main system. A retro 775 i wont sell, an x99 that im getting around to updating the memory on, a z370 and z390. I like the idea of selling a couple of them off but just never quite work up the motivation. At some point ill get tired of digging thru my office to find stuff. Maybe just one more system will push me over the edge? A 3900/3950 rig sounds really sexy...
 
Keep it as a back up....sell the previous backup (or give it away to the "PC-less"). Sometimes though, I only upgrade the core system, as I did this time, and everything else around the previous parts are high quality modern. In that case, I may upgrade the backup, or buy some budget parts to complete another build.
 
I use old systems for other duties and buy everything new when I "upgrade" to something faster.

Whether it's a second system to have around of a media center, nas, server of some sort. Once I run out of reasons to have the system I usually part it out and sell it or put it in a bin somewhere.

Though, usually, when it gets to the point of me not using it anymore it's because it doesn't work anymore. haha
 
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