Has anyone had a go at trying to find pc parts at scrapyards? I’m going for a Pentium 4 windows 2000 build for fun, and I’ve heard there are mountains of old useless bits lying around for 10 cents a pound.

i have noticed that dumpster diving for electronic parts is more efficient (if its whole cases that is), parts at scrapyards tend to be more defective.

>>2

I’m just worried about the hygiene issues, I’ve opened up an old case once and it was FULL of cockroach carcasses also mixed in with live ones, running around in the drive bays especially. Never ran so fast. At least scrap yards are all disassembled and probably decently uninfected.

>>3
I agree. I guess with some cleaning they'd be alright, but I still don't know if I'd ever be comfortable using PC parts from a dumpster.

I used to find a lot of such systems in dumpsters behind big electronics stores. Lots of old dell computers with Pentium 4 processors. They weren't what I brought home, but got some nicer LGA755 and AM3 stuff from there, also some socket 7 - 370 systems and components.

Depends a bit on where you live, but where I live, they can be a bit tired of clueless people spreading junk around the container as they dig through.

Might be better to go while the store is open also, since you can ask the employees, but if you go after closing and get caught by a security guard, they might report it as theft.