What to do with obsolete RAM

[fohat.digs]

I have at least a dozen sticks of RAM that are probably perfectly good but obsolete.

Talking desktop DDR and DDR2, probably older sticks, too, in increments of less than 1GB.

I would rather not just give them away or throw them away, but they seem to be hardly worth selling and shipping.

Is anybody building older retro systems, like all you guys waxing dreamily over Windows 98?

PM me and I can look through this fat baggie in my work space.

[SpAmRaY]

drill a hole and put a key ring in it and put it on ebay for a few bucks?

[pexon]

Check out the prices on eBay for your RAM, some DDR2 still fetches are relitiviely good price. If you have a few old sticks, it'd easily bring in enough for a slab of beer

[fohat.digs]

Maybe I will do that.

I feel bad taking hard drives apart for the magnets, but they are great magnets. How does that metal mounting plate manage to stop the magnetism completely from the other side?

[IvanIvanovich]

1GB or bigger sticks can still get good price used market depend on brand and speed/timings. If you can score one of pci card or sata pcb for cheap enough you can build ram based ssd which while small capacity likely with that you have can make killer page/temp/scratch disks.

[fohat.digs]

1GB or bigger sticks can still get good price used market depend on brand and speed/timings. If you can score one of pci card or sata pcb for cheap enough you can build ram based ssd which while small capacity likely with that you have can make killer page/temp/scratch disks.

Great idea, but it seems like every motherboard I buy has less slots. I fill them up instantly and always wish I had more. It seems like motherboards used to have at least half a dozen slots, now I feel lucky to get 4 or 5.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Christmas tree ornaments.

[SpAmRaY]

Christmas tree ornaments.

That's a great idea.

[tp4tissue]

Keychain is classic.. although..... it will put holes in ur pocket because the pcb is quite sharp, and even i you file it down.. the ic chips are still sharp..  if you file the ic, it'll look ****ty.

 ddr2 8gb sticks fetch a high price..   all other ram.. not so much

[The Mad Professor]

Keychain is classic.. although..... it will put holes in ur pocket because the pcb is quite sharp, and even i you file it down.. the ic chips are still sharp..  if you file the ic, it'll look ****ty.

Acrylic case around that will help. Just get a mold poured to halfway, set the RAM into it, and finish filling it. Boom. Your RAM is now completely protected and incapable of slicing into your pocket/dangly parts.

[dorkvader]

If you have any 72 pin SIMMs (late 1990s) that are 64mb I will buy them.

128mb sticks exist in theory but I don't know if I've seen any or if they will work in my system.

I have 4*32mb = 128mb right now. Would love to upgrade to 256 if possible.

Need 'em for upgrading my dolch.

[rowdy]

I have a box full of old RAM - no idea what most of it is though.

Why don't manufacturers put a sticker on saying exactly what the RAM is?

[yasuo]

my pc still using ddr2 ram the price still high to buy ddr2 ram

[paicrai]

make a necklace out of it
actually make paint them n **** first to make em look neato

[Joey Quinn]

Use the sticks as box openers 

[Input Nirvana]

Maybe I will do that.

I feel bad taking hard drives apart for the magnets, but they are great magnets. How does that metal mounting plate manage to stop the magnetism completely from the other side?

10 years ago I had an old 540MB hard drive I tore apart to show a newbi what was inside. I thought sh'e like the shine platter but instead she was disappointed and not impressed. I was so shattered by her lack of interest I don't think about poaching the magnet. Great magnets are cool!

[rowdy]

Maybe I will do that.

I feel bad taking hard drives apart for the magnets, but they are great magnets. How does that metal mounting plate manage to stop the magnetism completely from the other side?

10 years ago I had an old 540MB hard drive I tore apart to show a newbi what was inside. I thought sh'e like the shine platter but instead she was disappointed and not impressed. I was so shattered by her lack of interest I don't think about poaching the magnet. Great magnets are cool!

I have several boxes full of old HDDs, including many SCSI, that I salvaged from a couple of dozen old computers I threw out when I moved a year ago.

Probably close to 100 HDDs.

I am gradually disassembling them to salvage the magnets.

This is off topic, sorry.

[Input Nirvana]

Maybe I will do that.

I feel bad taking hard drives apart for the magnets, but they are great magnets. How does that metal mounting plate manage to stop the magnetism completely from the other side?

10 years ago I had an old 540MB hard drive I tore apart to show a newbi what was inside. I thought sh'e like the shine platter but instead she was disappointed and not impressed. I was so shattered by her lack of interest I don't think about poaching the magnet. Great magnets are cool!

I have several boxes full of old HDDs, including many SCSI, that I salvaged from a couple of dozen old computers I threw out when I moved a year ago.

Probably close to 100 HDDs.

I am gradually disassembling them to salvage the magnets.

This is off topic, sorry.

WOW! They are THAT good?!?!?!
Now I'm really hating myself hahahahaha

[Oobly]

Make an echo / delay / repeat / sample box for audio With the amount of RAM on modern DIMM's you can have a nice long sample storage.

Hard drive magnets are awesome, super powerful and very directional if you place them on a proper backing plate.

[Coreda]

I have several boxes full of old HDDs, and am gradually disassembling them to salvage the magnets.

WOW! They are THAT good?!?!?!
Now I'm really hating myself hahahahaha

This kid is being held up by 20 HDD magnets:

[Input Nirvana]

Hey! Take that little guy down! What's up with that stick? Don't let the PC crowd see this post!!!

[Protato_Tubby]

If you collected enough DIMMs you could use them as tiles for tiling a wall, or something. Mosaic, maybe?

[The Mad Professor]

If you collected enough DIMMs you could use them as tiles for tiling a wall, or something. Mosaic, maybe?

Oooh... Get a ****load of DIMMs, CPUs, GPUs, and mobos from scrap, glue them down to a desktop, and pour a layer of clear epoxy resin over the top, giving yourself a desk that looks covered in components, yet is smooth to the touch. You could even backlight it...

[ezrahilyer]

If you collected enough DIMMs you could use them as tiles for tiling a wall, or something. Mosaic, maybe?

Oooh... Get a ****load of DIMMs, CPUs, GPUs, and mobos from scrap, glue them down to a desktop, and pour a layer of clear epoxy resin over the top, giving yourself a desk that looks covered in components, yet is smooth to the touch. You could even backlight it...

When I was about 18 or so, I was running a computer shop, and had boxes and boxes of old motherboards and expansion cards that were worthless, so one night I  screwed them to a wall, completely covering it in boards, then I wired in a few blinking LEDs, and it looked pretty cool in a weird neck bearded, mullet-wearing kinda way.....

Oh the good old days...

[The Mad Professor]

and it looked pretty cool in a weird neck bearded, mullet-wearing kinda way.....

Just what are you trying to say?

[ezrahilyer]

and it looked pretty cool in a weird neck bearded, mullet-wearing kinda way.....

Just what are you trying to say?

Hey, I can admit I rocked a mullet with the best of them in the day.

Those photos have pretty much all gone 'missing' but we are what we are, or were as the case may be...

[SamirD]

If they're good, find some other vintage equipment and build vintage systems and sell them with a loaded OS.  People looking for retro systems will pay some good money and the components to build retro systems can be dirt cheap if you buy them at the right place/time (right before they go to scrap).

I once knew a guy that threw out 3 perfectly good Apple Laser printers that were the commercial stand-up type because they were just taking up space in his storage unit.  I'm sure someone would have loved to have those.

Old gear that still works is great for someone out there.  Even the old HDs.  Ever try to get a 200mb drive for a 386-20 that works properly?  It's pretty hard to find these days because of all the compatibility issues back in the early days of computing.

[fohat.digs]

Ever try to get a 200mb drive for a 386-20 that works properly?  It's pretty hard to find these days because of all the compatibility issues back in the early days of computing.

I tried to get some old hard drives to work under Windows 7, because I have some work stuff that would fit well on 2GB-6GB hard drives, but none would read so I took them apart for the magnets.

I would like to find a beige 5.25" FDD in satisfactory condition that someone wanted to trade for or sell cheap. I think I still have a black one that I would trade straight up, if that interested anybody, along with at least 1 USB 3.5" FDD.

[billnye]

I have several boxes full of old HDDs, and am gradually disassembling them to salvage the magnets.

WOW! They are THAT good?!?!?!
Now I'm really hating myself hahahahaha

This kid is being held up by 20 HDD magnets:

Show Image

Show Image

I was looking through this thread and just saw this post.

I took these pictures and posted them on /r/funny about a year and a half ago and made it to the front page of reddit lol

[minh278]

Overclock that ram to 400mhz for fun! make a ram sword! boil and get the gold from it! learn the how to throw ram at things! Burn it and watch pretty colors! so many things you can do.

[mr626]

Personally, I keep old ram. It doesn't take up much physical space and often comes in handy for upgrading / resurrecting older computers

[eth0s]

Sell that old RAM on ebay.com.  You'd be surprised what somebody needs to get some crazy project going.  For DDR less that 400 mhz, I dunno, but if you got 1gb DIMMS (like Ivan said above), you can get $20-30 for them.  Which is not anywhere what you paid for them, but it's better than throwing them away.  And, you can feel good about yourself for making some uber-nerd out there uber-happy that he can finally overclock his Athlon X2 4400+ all the way up to 1.0 ghz.  This is no joke.  List that old RAM on ebay today.   You have the ebay account history, so do it. 

[LinkPro]

I still have a set of Corsair DDR3 1333 that uses the DHX cooler. Doubt anyone would want it though, so I just tucked it away just in case.

[Protato_Tubby]

I still have a set of Corsair DDR3 1333 that uses the DHX cooler. Doubt anyone would want it though, so I just tucked it away just in case.

What capacity is it?

[LinkPro]

What capacity is it?

4 GB and 9-9-9-24, that's why I doubt anyone would need it in these days and age.

[Protato_Tubby]

What capacity is it?

4 GB and 9-9-9-24, that's why I doubt anyone would need it in these days and age.

I only have 4GB of RAM, in my PC. It seems plenty for what I do.
I don't really game very often, but I do on occasion, which is why I will be upgrading from my GT 620 to an r7 260X (Sonic Generations won't run)  but my RAM seems fine.

[SamirD]

Donate it to someone who needs it or give it away on some vintage computer forum.  You'll make someone so uber happy and keep that stuff out of landfills.

[mr.squishy]

ocasionally people build or upgrade older systems and need older RAM. Personally, I'm building a folding rig that uses ECC ddr2 RAM.

[jamster]

Maybe I will do that.

I feel bad taking hard drives apart for the magnets, but they are great magnets. How does that metal mounting plate manage to stop the magnetism completely from the other side?

How big are the magenets in drives?

I've never bothered to salvage them as I can get rare earth magnets cheaply off street vendors here, but the quality of these are highly variable (some are brittle or corrode fairly quickly). I am sure that drive magnets would be much higher quality.

[fohat.digs]

I am sure that drive magnets would be much higher quality.

The magnets themselves are fantastic, but they are epoxied onto non-magnetic mounting plates and it is all but impossible to get them off without messing up the protective layer.

If anybody knows how to do it, I would love to know how.

ps - about 1cm x 3cm x 3mm thick

[rowdy]

I am sure that drive magnets would be much higher quality.

The magnets themselves are fantastic, but they are epoxied onto non-magnetic mounting plates and it is all but impossible to get them off without messing up the protective layer.

If anybody knows how to do it, I would love to know how.

ps - about 1cm x 3cm x 3mm thick

I usually clamp one end of the mounting plate in a vise, and bend the other end with a sturdy pair of pliers.

I get at least 50% clean detachment rate like that.

[fohat.digs]

I usually clamp one end of the mounting plate in a vise, and bend the other end with a sturdy pair of pliers.

I get at least 50% clean detachment rate like that.

That is exactly what I do. But then, there are bare patches of exposed magnet and razor-sharp edges of chrome (or whatever it is) lifting up.

[berserkfan]

I have at least a dozen sticks of RAM that are probably perfectly good but obsolete.

Talking desktop DDR and DDR2, probably older sticks, too, in increments of less than 1GB.

I would rather not just give them away or throw them away, but they seem to be hardly worth selling and shipping.

Is anybody building older retro systems, like all you guys waxing dreamily over Windows 98?

PM me and I can look through this fat baggie in my work space.

I bet MicrosoftWindows has something ancient and retro...

[eth0s]

I usually clamp one end of the mounting plate in a vise, and bend the other end with a sturdy pair of pliers.

I get at least 50% clean detachment rate like that.

That is exactly what I do. But then, there are bare patches of exposed magnet and razor-sharp edges of chrome (or whatever it is) lifting up.

 
Did u try selling that old RAM on ebay?  It will sell if you list it.  IMO, it seems better to sell them to somebody who will use them.  Recycle and renew or something.

[NoblesseOblige]

I do arts and crafts with dated/busted hardware. Memory can be used to make key-chains, reefs, picture frames, and buildings for little computer cities.

[SamirD]

...buildings for little computer cities.

I'd love to see a pic of this!  Sounds very cool!

[NoblesseOblige]

...buildings for little computer cities.

I'd love to see a pic of this!  Sounds very cool!

I don't have any photos of things I've made but here are some examples from other people:

[SamirD]

That's pretty cool!  I'd rather see working ram go into a vintage system, but for bad stuff I'd love to see an nyc skyline out of these.

[kishy]

Old FPM and EDO 72 (or even 30)-pin SIMMs make good keychains. The SDRAM family is too big, they tend to be uncomfortable in one's pocket.

DDR and DDR2 below 1GB per stick are approximately useless to most people and therefore have no value outside of artistic creations such as above. 1GB for DDR can get money still, as can 2GB for DDR2, but definitely not a lot.

Edit: how did I get conned into necroposting? Help, I'm slipping...

[SamirD]

DDR and DDR2 below 1GB per stick are approximately useless to most people and therefore have no value outside of artistic creations such as above. 1GB for DDR can get money still, as can 2GB for DDR2, but definitely not a lot.

I still have use for DDR and DDR2 even in the smaller varieties.  Some of our older thin clients need them.  Although not rare yet, they still command a premium in relation to the modern day memory cost/mb.