Help Identifying Hardware

Hi everyone,

My husband of 28 yrs passed away suddenly a few months ago. His hobby was building pc's. So once I started going through his belongings I found tons of hardware. I don't have a clue of what 90% of it is. Most of it had been taken out of the boxes and was just in bubble wrap. I'm disabled, so when my husband died I lost most of my household income and need to pay some bills. If I could sell some of this stuff it would help me out tremendously. If anyone could tell me what some of this stuff is, I'd be so grateful. Thank you.

 

I am sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately, there typically is not much value or a thriving market in old, used electronic part in general, and computer components specifically. Most folks are looking for current products, and fully assembled computers that work. Or they are simply bargain hunters, looking to pay as little as possible. But as in anything, if a buyer needs something you have, you could get lucky and get a fair deal. Just don't get your hopes up too much.

That said, as TimW suggests, there is some money there for some of those components, like that GTX 1070 ti graphics card which probably cost about $800 when new, is still being sold in stores, and (if it works) can still bring a pretty penny - if you can find the right buyer.

Unless you are keen on researching each part individually, and posting it eBay, then waiting it out, I would probably suggest you ask around with some of your friends, for a trustworthy computer geek who is willing to help you - especially if there is more than what your picture shows.

In the meantime, I would try to take inventory of the major components (motherboards, graphics cards, power supplies, drives) things with brand names and specific model numbers. Make a list so you at least know what you have. Note it is not uncommon for a family or series of devices to share the same model name or base number - but have a wide range of features and prices. This is similar to the "trim" levels on new cars, where, for example with the Honda Accord, the base model costs $25,000 and the fancy top-of-the-line model is pushing $40,000. So the specific model number is needed so you know what you have, and the buyer knows what he or she is looking at.

It would really be good if you could match the components with their original boxes too.

For the small stuff like cables and adapters, that may best sell as a "box of cables and adapters".

Another reason for finding someone you can trust is if there are any hard drives or solid state drives (SSDs). There may be things you want to keep, like family photos. And before getting rid of them, the hard drives would need to be "wiped" of all data, and the SSDs would need to be "secure erased" to ensure no personal data is on them - like bank accounts, credit cards, emails, etc.

You can donate the drives (and other stuff) to Goodwill or the Salvation Army and they will wipe/erase the drives. But of course, there's no money in that.

In the end, for the stuff nobody is willing to buy, if you have an electronics recycling center near you, some will pay you for the scrap value of the aluminum, steel and other metals. It's pennies on the pound, but at least it is something and keeps that stuff out of landfills. Some stores recycle computer parts too, but they don't pay you - they just promise to dispose of everything in an environmentally safe way.

Oh, and I can't really tell for sure with the other two motherboards, but it looks to me like the MSI board in the middle still has a CPU mounted on it. That should definitely be listed as separate item on your inventory - though perhaps sold with the board.