Just upgraded, what to do with old PC?

[dece870717]

Just built my new PC (previous one I built in 2011), so I just went from a i7-980 with a gtx 780 ti 3GB, and a OCZ Vertex 3 120GB ssd, to now, a i7-13700k, a rtx 4070 ti, with a Samsung 980 Pro 2TB. To call it a major upgrade is an understatement.

Anyway, now that I have my new PC, what should I do with my entire old build? Is it best to recycle it, how would I even go about it? I mean whole thing still works, is still usable, donate it to a school? My wife can't stand what she sees as unnecessary junk in the house so I was hoping to get some ideas.

 

[Brian Boru]

Welcome to the forum

some ideas

♣ Get a divorce and keep the old PC
♦ Give it to someone with an interest in retro gaming.
♥ Does your country have a public electronics recycling program?

I doubt it would help a school or similar org, they'll want to be on fairly secure hardware and OS.

Congrats on the great upgrade, long may you enjoy it

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11 Uses for an Old PC

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18 Unique Creative Projects to Reuse Your Old PC

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https://www.lifewire.com/what-to-do-with-an-old-computer-5213672

Avoid the Trash Heap: 16 Creative Uses for an Old Computer

Don't junk that ancient laptop or desktop. Reuse it! Turn an old gaming PC into a NAS, experiment with a new OS, build your own security cam, and explore more creative ideas.

www.pcmag.com

 

[FreezerBurn]

You can use it to install and learn Linux.

 

[mjs warlord]

Whenever i get a new pc i keep the one i have been using and do a clean install so their is virtually nothing on it and i then use it as a test bed for things i will eventually put on my new pc.

Note ..... I have seen programs where pc's have gone to council recycling dumps and the hard drives have been sold in back street shops in india. In the program a reporter bought a hard drive then brought it all the way back to england , examined it and knocked on the door of the person it belonged to , it had all his personal data on it.

SO .... if you throw the pc out remove the hard drive and destroy it.

Some people think that if you format a drive your data is gone ... its not .... all that windows does is overwrite it with random rubbish but of course people like police and security agencies have the tools to read what you think is gone and thats how people get caught when they have done somethng wrong.

 

[Colif]

Up until my last PC I used to give my old PC to a friend to use. He doesn't need my last one so its still in my room... 3 years later. I like its case too much to throw it away. Perhaps in a few years when his kids are old enough to not shove things into vents, I might give it to him anyway.

Its actually better than the PC my mother is using but its case won't fit into the space her PC is in. I would have given it to her otherwise.

Guess I need to think about that one day, as current PC won't be useful forever. I don't need two spare PC.

 

[FreezerBurn]

If you have kids you could also give it to them as a way to learn how it gets put together and runs.

 

[dece870717]

Thank you everyone, there's a lot of great ideas in here.