Are old PC parts of any value?

[Abbret]

This has crossed my mind a few times. Are really old computer parts (processors, RAM modules etc.), say a Pentium processor, of any historical or other value? I know it may indeed have some value to certain people (including myself), but do you know of anybody who is or has been selling or would want old hardware for its historical value?

[narada]

For historical value anything post-80s isn't going to hold much weight. I've got a shitload of parts from the 90s laying around collecting dust, as do many hardware geeks, figuring that some day they might come in handy. However, I've recently come to terms with the fact that I don't need 30+ SIMMs or a box full of <100 W power supplies for emergencies (unless it's due to the fact that most of them probably don't work ). I'm going to put up all of my old hardware on Craigslist to see what I can sell.

Nostalgia makes it seem like a waste to just throw it all out, even though it has little purpose in this day and age. With that in mind we can assume most prospective buyers are probably collectors. The majority of them aren't going to be interested in parts that litter every IT department's junk room by the thousands - especially since they suck; They want parts and entire computers that are rare, old, and/or working.

My suggestion is to put up ads on ebay and craigslist and see what happens. Be sure to include photos and describe the hardware in detail. Even if you don't get any bites from collectors there could be someone out their looking for your old parts to fix something.

[Abbret]

I'm not really the guy that likes to devote whole rooms for storage of old or collective items, so, I basically keep some CPUs and SIMMs, that are really old. Power supplies, or whole computer towers do not fascinate me, and I would never keep parts older than 5 years for emergency backup devices. I looked around on the web and there seem to be some guys that are indeed collectors of computer parts, for example the "Pentium" page on wikipedia, currently has all of its photos from a guy's (Konstantin Lanzet) CPU collection. But I've yet to find out how much it would cost to buy one such "Pentium 1" (these chips are around 15 years old).

If you know or you find a place where people would trade these for money, let me know. I don't think such items hold any other value than pure historical-emotional and the like. I even doubt anybody would ever put them in a real machine and use it. Their use is kind of like how Nvidia used its malfunctioning G92 GPUs as keychains

[Abbret]

So is there any way to find out what the price range of a typical Pentium (1993) chip would be? Like 10-20 bucks? Do you know? Where can I look?

[narada]

So is there any way to find out what the price range of a typical Pentium (1993) chip would be? Like 10-20 bucks? Do you know? Where can I look?

Honestly I don't know. It doesn't sound unreasonable given the probable rarity of finding a [working] processor. Maybe sell it with a motherboard for $10-20 if you have one. You could also list it as whatever price you want with a "OBO" appended to the end. (Or best offer.)

[Cool_Fire]

Old seperate parts usually are sold for a couple bucks.
Complete PC's for 20-30 max (Staying in the range of a 1993 pentium machine).

I usually just hang onto old hardware and turn it into something neat.
Old machines are usually still easily powerful enough for a small webserver, shell server, file server or router/firewall.

[Abbret]

Cool_Fire, I was talking about the "legacy" value of such PCs, not their actual priced usefulness. Even if they are capable of certain operations, I don't think anybody would buy them for that.

Would even older parts, like the 8086-8088 chips be worth more than a pentium (based on my above assumption)?

[foldingstock]

Cool_Fire, I was talking about the "legacy" value of such PCs, not their actual priced usefulness. Even if they are capable of certain operations, I don't think anybody would buy them for that.

Would even older parts, like the 8086-8088 chips be worth more than a pentium (based on my above assumption)?

How much is a fully restored 1964 Ford Thunderbird worth? Depends on who you ask. What is the market drive for a car like this? The market is fairly small, since there aren't a lot of them around anymore.

There is no set value for this stuff. How much is an 8086-8088 worth? I wouldn't buy it. If it was free, I still probably wouldn't take it as it has no use to me. An original Apple II, on the other hand, I might consider buying purely for nostalgia. I bought an Apple IIe in a thrift store for $15 once. Some older Apple hardware is worth a lot($300-600?), like an original Apple II. Apple also has a much larger fanbase, similar to Be and Amiga. I've seen original BeBox's go on ebay for upwards of $1000+.

[Aiden]

I think the Chrono Trigger for SNES game reinforces what foldingstock said.

I've been trying to get my hands on one of these for years >:U

[Abbret]

There is no set value for this stuff. How much is an 8086-8088 worth? I wouldn't buy it. If it was free, I still probably wouldn't take it as it has no use to me. An original Apple II, on the other hand, I might consider buying purely for nostalgia. I bought an Apple IIe in a thrift store for $15 once. Some older Apple hardware is worth a lot($300-600?), like an original Apple II. Apple also has a much larger fanbase, similar to Be and Amiga. I've seen original BeBox's go on ebay for upwards of $1000+.

Yes, I wouldn't ask for the actual price, just the ballpark. Besides I know of a lot of people seeking old stuff related to computers, old games, consoles, and more, but I have no idea of the prices. So, basically, what I wanted to ask is, do you know of a place where these are traded so that I can check some prices and find out (besides ebay, and even better devoted to computer or old parts alone)?

And, if i may, why would you consider an Apple II an attractive buy, even in the 300-600$ range? What would you do with it.

I didn't know what a BeBox was, but I see that it's not even too old (so as to hold so much historical value). But still 1000$ ! That's surprising..

[foldingstock]

Personally I would not buy an Apple II for $300+. If I saw one for $100 or less, maybe. The reason is because of the rich history related to this machine. The Apple II was the first hugely successful personal computer. A lot of people got their first taste of programming on the Apple II.

A similar machine, though worth less, would be the commodore 64. I actually had one of these for a while when I was younger.

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The BeBox is worth so much because of BeOS. BeOS was simply groundbreaking for its time. The company folded due to financial issues and there really isn't that much Be hardware floating around. To get a better idea, imagine if the Apple of today only sold 5,000 Apple MacBook Pros and 3,000 Apple PowerMac towers, total, and then went out of business. What would happen to those few machines? They would be worth a lot.

BeOS fun fact: If anyone is a fan of the Joss Whedon's new Fox show "Dollhouse," take a look at their computer screens. They are using a screenshot of BeOS on their machines to give the computers a "futuristic high tech" look. BeOS, from the 90's. Link:http://www.osnews.com/story/21254/BeOS_Behind_the_Sinister_Dollhouse

http://i41.tinypic.com/vfja6u.jpg

[Thor]

I have seen some guys buy hard to find unopened WIndows 95 software for over $100. Also, I have seen people who hord stocks of old computers for whatever reason. I personally like to keep a stock of some stuff, just not too much. Like mentioned already, as far as a collectible value goes, it depends on who you ask.

[Abbret]

So, as I understand from what you say, only complete working machines are seeked, and not seperate parts that I was discussing earlier. The reason why I am fond of individual chips, is because they are small and easily kept organised in a collection, unlike a bulky machine. Besides, would you really ever fire up that machine? Would go on and start programming on the Apple II?

Wouldn' it be possible to emulate the BeBox and have the BeOS running in your PC?

So where can I look for such organised places that people trade old hardware? Do you know of any?

[Thor]

So, as I understand from what you say, only complete working machines are seeked, and not seperate parts that I was discussing earlier. The reason why I am fond of individual chips, is because they are small and easily kept organised in a collection, unlike a bulky machine. Besides, would you really ever fire up that machine? Would go on and start programming on the Apple II?

Wouldn' it be possible to emulate the BeBox and have the BeOS running in your PC?

So where can I look for such organised places that people trade old hardware? Do you know of any?

You can emulate other OS's on your PC with software like vmware. You will usually need a copy of what ever your going to emulate and a whole bunch of RAM.


If I was looking for people that trade, I would check your local Linux users group and Craigslist.