How to obtain dead hardware?

Not really sure if this is the correct subforum to post this and nowhere seemed adequate. If this is the wrong forum for this, can an mod please move it accordingly.

Anyway, my friend and I want to do some artistic stuff with computer hardware. Our main focus will be working with CPUs and Ram Chips. The problem is... we have no real clue how to get our hands on old/dead parts. We've checked ebay, and people sell old/dead units, but its kinda dumb to buy a dead PC just to get at the CPU and Ram (not to mention an expensive way to go). We've found some dead units locally using Criagslist, but nothing major. Seeing as how this is an overclocking forum and im sure plenty of people have friend chips... you all may know. Other than throwing it away, or saving it for memory sake, is there anyway for a person to get thier hands on a bunch of dead/old CPUs and ram sticks?

Thanks.

Try your local dump/recycling center.

In my town, garbage day is HUGE for stuff like this. My brother has scavenged around 10 [used to be] working computers over the past three or four years.

A-Dub said:

Try your local dump/recycling center.

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I guess I should have mentioned about this option. (apprecaite the idea though!) I've already thought about the dump and the way they have it set up, you cant really scavange for anything. The whole thing is set up on a hill, so there are 2 levels. The upper is where you drive in and then drive to the section, the lower is where the big bins sit that you throw your stuff into. Then trucks drive in on the lower level to haul the bins wherever. So you cant really go scavaging unless you climb down into the bed of a dumpdruck type container. (Kinda like those open topped rail cars).

Obviously for saftey reasons they wont let you do that. And the few people that have tried in the past, have either ended up at A) The County Jail or B) the Hospital then the County Jail. I'd prefer to avoid both options.

cyberstasi said:

I guess I should have mentioned about this option. (apprecaite the idea though!) I've already thought about the dump and the way they have it set up, you cant really scavange for anything. The whole thing is set up on a hill, so there are 2 levels. The upper is where you drive in and then drive to the section, the lower is where the big bins sit that you throw your stuff into. Then trucks drive in on the lower level to haul the bins wherever. So you cant really go scavaging unless you climb down into the bed of a dumpdruck type container. (Kinda like those open topped rail cars).

Obviously for saftey reasons they wont let you do that. And the few people that have tried in the past, have either ended up at A) The County Jail or B) the Hospital then the County Jail. I'd prefer to avoid both options.

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Contact the IT departments of local universities or colleges, they might make you sign some waivers, but they have enormous amounts of crap they throw away weekly.

Put a wanted add in the paper or something then. Wanted old, useless computers or computer hardware. That ought to get some calls.

And on the internet too.

I see about 5 Pentium II/III systems every garbage day...

I think a car driven at 20MPH and a sharp eye is all you need.

I've gotten working floppy drives and stuff out of them... It's garbage, you can take it legally. At least you can in Canada.

ChanceCoats123 said:

In my town, garbage day is HUGE for stuff like this. My brother has scavenged around 10 [used to be] working computers over the past three or four years.

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Theocnoob said:

I see about 5 Pentium II/III systems every garbage day...

I think a car driven at 20MPH and a sharp eye is all you need.

I've gotten working floppy drives and stuff out of them... It's garbage, you can take it legally. At least you can in Canada.

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I need to move where you guys live then, Ive rarely seen any comp hardware out on garbage day. Mainly because until recently the trash companies that work in our area would not accept them. Now they will take anything, as long as it fits in their trashcan. I'm not going to walk down streets lifting lids all day.
I will try calling around and see if there are any computer recyclers within an hour drive or so (I know of none right now). And I didn't even think about contacting colleges. I'll definitely need to give that some effort.

cyberstasi said:

I need to move where you guys live then, Ive rarely seen any comp hardware out on garbage day. Mainly because until recently the trash companies that work in our area would not accept them. Now they will take anything, as long as it fits in their trashcan. I'm not going to walk down streets lifting lids all day.
I will try calling around and see if there are any computer recyclers within an hour drive or so (I know of none right now). And I didn't even think about contacting colleges. I'll definitely need to give that some effort.

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Sorry your garbage system is like that. Here you have to put metal parts by themselves in a bundle on the curb- so the PC's are just sitting in plain sight on the curb. I remember Christmas 2007 was the biggest old PC exodus I've ever seen. I think there were about 20 systems on my street on the garbage day after Christmas. Got 2 floppy drives for free for people who wanted them.

I've seen 'cool old stuff' too like Amigas, Commodores, quite a few original Macs and Apple II's. These days I mostly see celeron (first gen) and PII/III stuff.
It's cool to find a PC so old it has a 2X DVD drive and a dedicated DVD decoder card. I never pick the Apple stuff up because I've never been into Apple for some reason.

I can send you a box 'o' broken PC parts next garbage day COD if you want.. Assuming I can find a method to ship COD to the US.

A lot of computer repair shops have tonnes of PSUs and stuff that they're throwing out too- or stuff that was so old it could not be RMA'd and it was busted and the customer didn't pay and it's just going to be trashed.

Ask them. I'm sure they'd much rather have some guy with a van take their junk than pay a company to pick it up

Something you might want to try- I saw a leather jacket with a pentium CPU glued on the back in the middle and lots of really old RAM chips stitched all over the jacket- kind of like chain mail- but with RAM.

"Johnny how can you never remember anything when you have all that memory all over your jacket!"

"It's volatile memory sir. It erases when I fall asleep."

"Put a hard drive on that jacket"

"But sir my jacket is PATA and they only sell SATA drives at the store"

... ok that's lame I'll go now.

My local landfill has a separate drop off zone for electronics and hazardous household waste. If you have anything like this where you live I'm sure they would let you take whatever you wanted if you asked nicely.

where you at and how old of a hardware is ok?
i could get a few junk boxes that i need to get rite off.
i am in LA, CA

Theocnoob said:

I can send you a box 'o' broken PC parts next garbage day COD if you want.. Assuming I can find a method to ship COD to the US.

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BoT said:

where you at and how old of a hardware is ok?
i could get a few junk boxes that i need to get rite off.
i am in LA, CA

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I'm MD, US. I will send you guys a PM in a few days once I check around locally. The thing is, at this point I dont need anything other than CPUs and RAM sticks. I dont need drives, PSUs, Mobos, etc. (well old broken HD's would be useful as well) Any brand, generation, type of CPUs and Ram will work. If one of you has a box of 486's or Pentium IIs lying around i'd grab that in a heart beat. And since this is an art project, it doesnt matter if it works or not.
As I said though, I'll drop you two a PM in a few days.

Appreciate the help everyone!