# What to do with spare computer parts? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-spare-computer-parts/543034 "2010-06-13T18:48:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-spare-computer-parts/543034/1 "2010-06-13T18:48:31Z")
I’ve had a Dell XPS since 2005 and as a wedding present my now wife helped pay to have my rig upgraded. I know nothing about anything so I had a friend build my computer for me. I was able to scavenge my video card, sound card, and hard drive and bought a new processor, motherboard, case, and power supply. So now I have a case, power supply, 4 gigs of RAM, motherboard and processor that I don’t know what to do yet. The sound card is built into the motherboard so all that would need to be added would be a graphics card and hard drive. So what do I do with it? I don’t know enough about computers to do it by myself, and I don’t really need another computer than the awesome one I have now. What is your humble opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-spare-computer-parts/543034/2 "2010-06-13T19:40:23Z")
I put them in big labeled Tupperware-style containers on shelves, sorted into categories like Connectors, Cables, Drives, Modems, et cetera. Then I throw them away in about 5 years. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-spare-computer-parts/543034/3 "2010-06-13T22:29:04Z")
Put it away in the loft so you have a spare machine if your current one breaks. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-spare-computer-parts/543034/4 "2010-06-13T23:55:24Z")
This strikes a chord. I have a stack of spare parts gathered over the years, most of which is now outdated and worthless. Last week I upgraded RAM in my desktop and instead od putting the old stuff away to use “some other day” I decided to get rid of it. My SO works in a large office and they have a desk there where people put items which may be of use to someone else (normally stuff like home grown fruit, old books, shopper dockets). So my old RAM went there- I don’t care if someone else takes it and doesn’t use it- it is out of our house. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-spare-computer-parts/543034/5 "2010-06-14T00:28:39Z")
If you’re lucky, you can cobble together spare parts into a new computer. I bought two computers in 2001. One broke, so I combined the two together into a new computer with two hard drives, a 3.5" floppy, a CD player, and a CD-R player. However, when that computer broke in '06, I had to pretty much throw out everything since many of the parts weren’t being used anymore, e.g. AGP video cards. If you aren’t computer savvy, I would recommend only keeping the drives. Anything that looks like a circuit board you might as well throw away. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-spare-computer-parts/543034/6 "2010-06-15T22:27:29Z")
I put them in a box in case I need them, which I never do. Eventually I throw them away. The only things worth keeping are cables. Maybe AC adapters. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-spare-computer-parts/543034/7 "2010-06-15T22:58:09Z")
Donate them to Goodwill. Dell and Goodwill have partnered to do recycling of computer parts.