Gotta love it when people throw away perfectly good computer stuff...

[inflames988]

Got a Radeon 9200 graphics card w/ dual ports (VGA and DVI) and TV (S-video) output...yeah, it won't play the latest games, but its a great addition to my "old" desktop which i still use for various purposes and let my family use as an internet/email/word processing machine. Beats the onboard graphics...makes you wonder, I found this in an old PC that was definitely junk that a neighbor threw out, but its pretty obvious that this graphics card was not included with the PC and was an upgrade that somebody installed...at least pull it out and sell it on ebay!

[Cricket]

We live in a "throw-away" society now...if it doesn't work just throw it away and get a new one.

Cricket

[glc]

Almost my entire main computer is built from parts that other people threw away and my entire Linux box was a throwaway.

[perkster]

i got loads of parts on freecycle and messed around with them before buying parts and building my first computer, the parts i got were very old pentium 1 parts but still useful experience and i made a working slow computer and then gave it to a uni student friend.

[freakitchen]

I too don't like to throw things away - other people's junk pre-builts were great when I needed to gain experience with hardware, and later on when I needed spares for repair work.

That said, just this weekend I had a bit of clear-out. Into a bin-bag went an AMD 350mhz CPU and AT Board, along with a HUGE Voodoo 2 3D card and its 2D partner. That thing was quite expensive when I bought it back in 1996-ish, now just cluttering up my parts bin. Have also got a bunch of 4GB hard drives, and 64MB sticks of SD RAM that's itching to follow them!

[mbossman2]

I live in a neighborhood of techies. NOTHING hi-tech hits the curb here...

[EzyStvy]

Have some friends that asked me if I wanted their old stuff...Couple months later I get an email that said come get it tonight or it's going to the trash bin.....

1) HP 3.2gig HT Multi Media pc - took ten minutes to get it up and running
2) 2.4 gig clone that was virus infested but had XP Home cd
3) Dell 17" LCD TV - DOA
4) 17" CRT that works well

And yes, these people have more money then sense.

[bd1886]

Not quite as good as free but awhile back I picked up 2 Zalman HSF's(a 9500 and a 7000), 2 WD Passport HD's(an 80gig and a 120), an Antec Aria case w/PSU and a gig of 133 ram at a local Goodwill. Can't remember exactly what I paid (but it was under 30 dollars). Some peoples junk...

[edfair]

The only problem is more stuff being thrown away than I can store. I tear a good bit of it down and recycle what I can.
The last one I bought (used) for use was 3 years ago to get DVD access. Some specialized I still buy used, but mostly have mixed and matched parts from junkers.