WTF?! Garbage collectors often stumble upon valuable or undamaged items, but finding a mostly functional, high-end PC might rank among one of the luckiest recent finds. Although the components are a few years old, the system booted flawlessly after a few smart repairs and minor replacements.
Redditor and garbage truck driver “Siezio” recently shared, then deleted, photos of a gaming PC he salvaged from the trash and easily restored. The rig included an AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X, a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti with 11GB of VRAM, and 32GB of DDR4 RAM.
The only missing component was internal storage, and Siezio replaced the water-damaged power supply unit (PSU) as a precaution. After thoroughly cleaning the other components with isopropyl alcohol and letting them dry for two days, the system powered on without issue.
While Siezio had previously found other PCs in the trash, they were either severely damaged or decades out of date. In contrast, the 3970X and 2080 Ti are relatively modern, only five and six years old, respectively. Both were enthusiast-class components at launch and still hold up well today.
The Threadripper 3970X is a 32-core monster that debuted in 2019 with a $1,999 price tag. We gave the workstation processor a glowing review upon its 2019 release.
Meanwhile, the GPU, initially priced at $999, was a flagship beast when it debuted in 2018. It last appeared in our benchmark tests for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 last September, where it performed similarly to recent mid-range graphics cards like the RTX 3060 Ti. Purchasing a used 3970X and 2080 Ti together in 2024 would likely cost around $1,000.
Unsurprisingly, many commenters responded to Siezio’s discovery with jealousy, wondering why someone would throw away a PC that likely cost over $3,000 without at least attempting to sell it. The hardware was released just before events like the cryptocurrency mining boom, import tariffs, and supply chain disruptions drove up electronics prices.
Though the PC is the most valuable salvage from Siezio’s three-and-a-half-year career, it is far from the only useful discovery. The truck driver has also found a power drill worth 250€, multiple ratchet sets, an unopened Bluetooth keyboard that now controls his TV, and a chainsaw that only required a new spark plug.
Furthermore, nearly all of Siezio’s car tools were rescued from the trash. While most of the items were initially broken, repair guides on YouTube made restoring them straightforward.
Images via Tom’s Hardware