removing computer compenents from old computers

Here in most parts of the USA you can get Pentium 4 machines for free on freecycle. In fact I like to freecycle old gear like this because it costs a lot to take them to the e-cycling centers. 120 bucks one time for the dead RPTV!

So if you can find folk to take such off your hands, big savings.
Bob

Personally anything less than a 2.5 GHz dual processor is something I wouldn't want. That would include Pentium 1,2, and 3 for sure, and most Pentium 4s as well. When it comes to hard drives, I wouldn't want anything less than a 200 GB SATA drive. Floppy drives? I've kept one just in case, but haven't had reason to use it in probably 2 years. Old psu? Probably not worth keeping. The HP Pavillion 6535 specs at http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=bph05116 say it has a 466 MHz Celeron processor. The old sound cards probably aren't worth keeping because new PCs likely have better onboard graphics, and the old cards won't be PCIe which is what most new desktops are using. An old psu isn't something I'd want to save because even though they don't have moving parts (except for the fan), they do age.
Most of this older stuff would never be suitable for Windows 7 or 8, but if you're throwing together to give to a charity or the like, you might be get something working with a Linux OS like Ubuntu or Mint.
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Good luck.

will properly dispose of that which is hazardous and peel away all the gold and precious metals they can find. Those old boards used the good kind of solder with real lead in it until it became unpopular with the environmental crowd. Sadly I'd say that the recommendation to give this stuff to charity isn't a good idea. You wind up handing over your disposal problem to then. I do some volunteer work for a small school and plenty of well meaning people have wanted to donate their old computers but we can't take them. Schools need to mimic what kids have at home and also can't afford to deal with troublesome PCs. I'm also doubtful that older hardware can still run newer versions of Linux. I've a P-4 mobile laptop that won't take Ubuntu 12x due to the processor's RAM limitations...something about PAE. It will run 10 and below. To the scrap heap is my suggestion. Good luck.

If you plan to "re-use anything" then you keep it because for the most part if it isn't a P4 and above, toss it. I recycle all the time and truly strip it down. I cut wire for copper, teardown HDs for aluminium and metals and I keep the magnets, all other drives get tossed for iron metal. Large plastic is trash canned. PSU are stripped for metals and copper wire, etc.. Now, if you want museum pieces that's what you have. HDs that old just aren't woth keeping unless *you* have a need for them.

tada -----Willy