Part Recommendations

[BigAl01]

You can see that I have attached labels to this topic and yes, I have parts from all these companies.  I have lots of computer parts - old parts, new parts I thought I might use one day, and stuff I should have tossed out years ago (as in SCSI cables, etc.).  I have a system for keeping my computer parts somewhat organized.  I use copy paper boxes (from work when I was a working man before I retired) and stack them up.  I try to label the major things to be found inside the box, but that can be overwhelming.  Sometimes I just put stuff in a certain box because there is room for it.  Since I'm not at work anymore, my supply of copy paper boxes has dried up.  And don't you know, I'm too cheap to buy sturdy boxes from a place like Staples or Office Depot.  

But I really have a mess on my hands.  Yesterday, I spent two hours going through all my computer part boxes, looking for a silly hard drive rail mount from a CoolerMaster HAF mid-tower computer that I'll be giving away during an upcoming Labor Day LAN party.  I never found the part(s) and had to fabricate my own solution.  So tell me how you address this issue.  I don't want to hear that you simply throw away parts from old builds.  And I think all of us buy stuff that's on sale with the idea that we can use that down the road.  I'm all ears....

Lots of parts. I must have over 25 boxes of computer parts!Keeping the stuff organized has almost become impossible.

[Wally_AMD]

Hmm, I usually keep them organized inside my PC, as those are basically the only parts I keep on me 😂. I would likely have some kind of containers with labels for them if I had excess. I do have quite a few monitors that are organized on a shelf in one of my closets though.

[johnnyenglish]

I had a monster mess inside the closet but then I got evicted to my garage... erhemm..... my youtube set. 🤣

Now I have more space and racks to put stuff there. I'll try to take some pictures sometime.

[BigAl01]

Can you find a part you need quickly, or do you typically spend 30 minutes looking for something?  I'm not talking about big things like keyboards, mice or monitors.  I'm talking about fans, optical drives, zip drives, floppy drives, HDDs, SSDs, RGB stuff, etc.

[johnnyenglish]

Varies from 10segs to 45min and "I give up"

If its a SSD, GPUs, Ram, any CPU cooler, one of my old keyboard sets or a PSU, its ready to be grabbed.
If its an USB adapter, a case mirror for IO or a DSUB.. I might need to open the miscellaneous box.

If its that coaxial plug that I really really need for my Kitchen TV. Been looking for that for quite a while now....   so its a: "I Give Up" one.

On the right (not on the photo) I have a metal rack with a sound dampening blind to cover.
On the Back (not on the photo), another rack with boards, PSU's, tools and cases.
Inside the wooden thing 2 MISC boxes and HDD/SSD/FANS/CPUs/Speakers
Inside all the boxes more GPU's and Boards and accessories.
On the black shelves, more CPU/RAM and other stuff.

[BigAl01]

I see lots of boxes on the shelves behind the chairs.  Some or all of them have parts in them?  I still remember the day when we heard a noise from our basement and I went down there to find that maybe 50 or more boxes (motherboard, video card, HDD, keyboard, etc.) had fallen over.  My wife insisted that I clean that mess right up.  I had kept them because I might have to return something someday, you know?  I at least keep the original boxes until I'm sure the new build is working fine and it's over 30 days since I bought the stuff.  My current process is to toss the collected boxes maybe once a year.

[johnnyenglish]

Yeah, lots of stuff, I have to open up some boxes to check what's in too 😵 I think some ISA cards, cd and old floppy drives might be there too not sure. 😶 

[supreme]

I've only begun accumulating parts. Ever since I've been working in IT last year, I always love having new parts to tinker with.

I live in a studio space right now, but once I have a bigger home, there will be much more along with a work bench.

[BigAl01]

You are well on your way toward accumulating a sufficient level of computer parts that you might actually have something you need in one of the bins.  I have found that with the advancement of technology (DDR, DDR2, DDR3, DDR4 and now DDR5 for example) there is so much that you can't use in the next computer build, or maybe you don't want to use an old part (say the fans) because they don't have RGB!

[rtbh99]

i mostly have all my tech boxes in my spare room tucked in a corner out of the way.

[BigAl01]

So if the boxes are tucked away, how often do you go into that spare room to find something?  Are you more likely to just order the thing you need on Amazon or Newegg and call it a day?

[cpurpe91]

I keep the boxes for the components I include in my builds in the case I used for each build's corresponding box. I do try to keep my RAM kits and other components from upgrades in their respective boxes, however after I went on a building spree I think the only extra parts I have is a single RAM kit for troubleshooting purposes, a PSU, my brother's old motherboard, and a case from 2015 that my brother used before I upgraded him to a better rig.

[orbitech]

Just to keep things real simple and fast to find I would color code all the boxes with Paint Makers, Posca paint markers are the best. And color combination are easily recognized, even from a distance. It beats labelling everything individually. A-Z and color codes are usually the best solution. I hope this helps.

[johnnyenglish]

Well, I got inspired, so lets do this properly.

Since my eviction from the previous "office", I had to find a home to my pile of.. stuff.

For that I had to dig deep, I mean, deep. The buildings garages are so deep its like catacombs down there.
But with a bit of cleaning here and there they turned out great. Lets see them.

The 3D printed GPU holder broke, I have to print reinforced ones.
Lots of old GPU's too, I did re-used them in temporary rigs for nostalgia multiplayer though, but that was before being a father.
Bellow there are some DDR2,DDR3, Phenoms, AthlonXP and more.

My brother gave me a funny B'day gift, 100sub plaque lol not that I'm much better now... got 323 today...
Also got SAM's letter in a frame, looks awesome. The RoG boxes are full of... stuff.
Old parts, adapters, coolers, cables, keyboards and such.

Testing out several cards to try and do a video about CPU and GPU bottlenecking.
And perhaps help some folks out here in the forums when they ask about bottlenecking.

The RDNA2 trio. RX6750XT, RX6800 and RX6950XT

The cheap tripod I got for 9€

More Stuff here, actually, I keep my fans here too.

One of the Dreaded MISC BOXes

How do you get internet down there? Like this! Ethernet through Power lines.

OK, and how about WiFi? A very cheap one.

PSU's and more

Some affordable lighting from the last Prime Day to look good and more storage.

And more boards that I couldn't fit inside the boxes.

Well, that's it.

[Wally_AMD]

IMPRESSIVE - it would be nice to have a space like this that's well organized. I'm so bad it keeping things tidy around my office.

[johnnyenglish]

Thank You

I only wish I could still have some of my oldest parts, like the CRT monitor.

[BigAl01]

I recycled quite a few CRT's with Best Buy a number of years ago.  They would take the 21" Sony monitors for free.  Those suckers were very heavy.  I was glad to replace them with LCD panels over the years.

My 2005 Osborn-Again build used a 21" Sony CRT that I bought used at a computer garage type sale.

[johnnyenglish]

Super cool.

I can vouch for that, I had a Trinitron Sony CRT, those were some heavy sobs, two people to carry it to the car and off it goes to the lan party.

[petosiris]

@BigAl01,

You're touching a sore spot with that question. 🤣  It's an ongoing process here.  I've bought some see-through plastic cases, much like the ones @supreme has on the top shelf, but currently it's still a mess.  I plan to label the boxes and stash them in bookshelves / steel racks in my cellar, but before I can do that I have to tidy up in the cellar and set up the racks. 

About the boxes, I have different sizes since not all parts take much room.  SSDs, for example, only requires a small box, while LAN cables, disk drives and GPUs need larger boxes.  About LAN cables, I really need to sort them in different boxes because otherwise it's hard to know where to find a Cat 6 or Cat 6a cable when you're looking for it, and reading the text on those cables takes time! 😅

Another reason I use these plastic boxes is because they come with a lid, so the parts don't gather dust (or flies).

     

[BigAl01]

One reason I use the copy paper (cardboard) boxes is that they were free (I got them from work over a decade ago) and they are much less likely to give me ESD concerns.  Plastic bins require that you keep the electronics bits in their packaging due to potential ESD buildup.  (You like that association with potential (meaning voltage?)  But the plastic bins are stronger; I give you that.  Some of my cardboard boxes are getting crushed a bit.

[jaandoh]

I have one of those see through plastic crates lol 😂 

I don't really have a collection of parts as such.