A magnet fisher has found a computer with particularly exciting “cooling”. Because the PC had probably been lying in a river for years. He won’t be able to game much with it anymore.
On reddit people are currently discussing a photo of a user who pulled an almost complete PC from a body of water. The PC is in quite poor condition, but some details can still be recognized. For example, the damaged “Nvidia” lettering on the chip on the motherboard. However, one user already warns sarcastically: “Caution, it could be a phishing scam!”
What kind of person is this? The user’s hobby is magnet fishing: With a strong magnet attached to a rope, one fishes out metallic objects from bodies of water. Often, recovery magnets are used, which can also pull large items from a river. So, it’s not a magnet that you’d stick to a bulletin board.
Bicycles, car parts, or strollers are not uncommon when you’re out with such a magnet.
Was there an office PC with valuable data in the river?
What kind of computer is this? Various users want to recognize a Dell Optiplex 740 in the overgrown and entangled PC. This is a system with “AMD Athlon 64”, which used to be found in many offices. Those who look closely can still recognize an Nvidia chip on the dirty motherboard. So it’s not a “real” gaming system.
The community speculates why such a device ends up in a river. From valuable data to pornographic material that could land the owner in prison for decades, the speculations vary widely. For example, someone writes (via reddit): There is definitely something on the hard drive that someone didn’t want anyone to see.
Another person recommends:
Remove the hard drive and RAM and send them to a data recovery specialist. You might find a treasure trove of information, or just an old computer with a bunch of emulators.
Perhaps someone just disposed of old hardware in the body of water to save on disposal costs.
Before you now get any silly ideas: disposing of your waste in a body of water is not a petty offense and can lead to hefty fines! In Bavaria, for example, you will pay around 10,000 euros if you throw your scrap metal into a river (via bussgeldkatalog.net).
It’s often worthwhile to sell old hardware on eBay or other sites instead of disposing of your stuff in nature. Because an old graphics card is often worth more than one thinks.
Used and old hardware can still be used today
In our time, more and more people are buying particularly new things to replace their old hardware. However, a processor or graphics card that is a few years old is not necessarily bad. Because even new games, such as Diablo 4, don’t require a high-end PC. Some gamers are still playing with a 6-year-old graphics card in 2023 and have no problem playing modern titles in high detail.
Problems with old or used hardware occur more often when the items are already heavily damaged, as in this example. A processor or graphics card with moisture damage is usually done for and cannot be easily repaired.
Theoretically, you can replace all components mounted on the surface of a device, such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, voltage and power regulators, in most cases. The only question here is whether the effort is really worth it.
Tech YouTuber buys used hardware for 600 € – Builds a gaming PC from it that dies after 25 minutes
