Glancing at my desk this morning and realizing keeping nearly 30 year old CPU's on my desk may not be ~~normal~~ typical.

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CarLost_on_reddit@reddit

I love how a lot of people have a lose cpu in their desks. I have two a golden Pentium 90 and a P3 Tualatin. They mean a lot to me.

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_Erin_@reddit (OP)

I feel the same about these. I had various Pentium 1's back in the day, but remember wanting a K5. I now occasionally swap the K5 PR133 with a Pentium 233 MMX in my Socket 7 PC.

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CarLost_on_reddit@reddit

Awesome!. The sad part is that the feeling is all in your head.

I had 3 socket 7 machines, just to avoid swapping the processor, but ended realizing that I don't need "top of line" for that rig. For the more demanding games, I use a lower tier pentium 3 :)

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Exactly this. I have a QDI socket 7 board with "SpeedEasy" which makes it a snap to swap processors, but if I can get into the headspace of where I was when a 100Mhz Pentium was once sitting on my desk, and look at it from the perspective of just what a leap it was from my previous 486 PC - then the K5 is the perfect processor. I have other options to play games from other eras, but the early Socket 7 days were the ones I remember most fondly and why the K5 will spend the most time on this board.

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masterkitty2006@reddit

I love the look of the gold heatspreaders. Ever since I happened across a Pentium Pro 200 MHz I just couldn't stop staring at them every so often.

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TerminalCancerMan@reddit

My wife wears my 486 DX/2 66 on a chain around her neck.

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otacon6531@reddit

Jiji approves!

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coderman64@reddit

How about me and my...ahem..."3D printed save icons"

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_Erin_@reddit (OP)

I keep a few of those close by too.

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VaxCluster@reddit

I keep a Soviet Elektronika RPN calculator, a DEC VXT2000+ (VAX based remote X11 terminal), and a sealed copy of Windows 2000 on my desk. I see nothing wrong here besides the uncomfortable looking mouse.

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Logical_Bluejay_4566@reddit

I still got the 486DX2 66Mhz CPU from my first computer on my desk.

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Coupe368@reddit

Nonsense, its pretty normal in my office.

I have a DX True 50, a P166, and a 233mmx currently on my desk.

Although I'm tempted to order up one of those K6s, which one do you have?

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_Erin_@reddit (OP)

I have a small collection of other CPU's not shown here too. My favourite being a gold top 68030 @ 50Mhz.

My K6 in the pic is a K6-II @ 500Mhz. I don't have a Super Socket 7 board for it at the moment.

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Coupe368@reddit

There is a guy who made an interposer adapter pcb that I'm looking to try out.

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Voyager-@reddit

I printed 3D stands for them, they are not on the desk but close :-)

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porkchop_d_clown@reddit

I have the CPU I took from my Amiga 500 embedded in lucite sitting around here somewhere.

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primarycolorman@reddit

i mean, mine are in a drawer or a shadow box on the wall.

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b33znutz@reddit

No. Totally normal. Totally NERD normal, but totally normal nonetheless LOL

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_Erin_@reddit (OP)

I prefer geek myself, but good to know I'm normal!

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Shamanjoe@reddit

Mine are on a shelf NEXT to my desk, because my desktop is already covered in shite, lol.

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Gam30verman80@reddit

I got a bunch laying around on my desk

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TT120@reddit

I have several old CPU's kicking around my desk. I even tried drilling a hole in the corner of one to make a keychain out of. None of my drill bits could even scratch that thing.

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campingskeeter@reddit

I had a pentium die keychain as a kid, but I think the wbole CPU would be cooler.

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Hoardware@reddit

K6-2 333mhz sitting on my Workbench as a display.

Agree. Normal.

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campingskeeter@reddit

I love the heat spreader and graphic on the K6-2

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TheGreatRao@reddit

lol, thought i was the only one.

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GeekBill@reddit

Perfectly normal! I could kick myself for losing my sample of the first batch of... 1Mb memory chips!

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atzeehh@reddit

Is that a mug heater? And is it worth it?

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_Erin_@reddit (OP)

It is, and yes it's absolutely worth it! [This](https://www.amazon.ca/Coffee-Beverage-Electric-Surface-Elyss/dp/B07BGY51NF?crid=1WD07PBT0H99V&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aKWca1VR_XiFFSxud17hDyEmel3sU2zO69C3p_OFgBgUJCjVLPhD-19YA69EdIyIJEB9U1f4rqyRtrMCkdeSu_bT7crbEgr7Ix1_o8msYQVWCUmO8nbw-gp_yi87zRllVyx3Nv-EljnkvkNHZIZ0o8JLDqofPDgagoI1zX-qDm873Gw5A9YZMnKnyRemBOLNCM85ndJb6annFrleWxqkOryHjJQoAj21VOD5dLWWgsBaojM-Gy17dJC6zPoq0n-XA0-CjfMaJHe67afG_w0RpFZtcoPsVzBRI81-EU8gIOs.PNpdY-S6oFJ6kVSoBmnlobas4fIt4SP5bG0jgEfoJJg&dib_tag=se&keywords=mug+warmer+for+desk&qid=1732043275&sprefix=mug+warmer+for+des%2Caps%2C201&sr=8-9) is it on Amazon.

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atzeehh@reddit

Awesome! Is the coffee warm for an hour or something?

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_Erin_@reddit (OP)

I usually keep my coffee mug on it all morning and it stays warm.

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gyrsec@reddit

I have a Pentium 100 and 133 by my retro setup. Granted I'm up to 3, soon to be 4 90s computers for a lan party in addition to older stuff so definately not normal.

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requiem2323@reddit

I keep old motherboards from past PC's on my wall, seems normal to me

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earthforce_1@reddit

I have mine lined up in the workshop

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Beneficial_Tough7218@reddit

Yeah, typically you have CPUs of all ages, just 30 years old isn't typical. I've got everything from 386 all the way through AMD FX on my desk.

I've thought about getting some of those little plastic display cases for them, but that seems too civilized, like you're trying to show off, not that you just threw old CPUs on your desk after upgrading them.

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lostchicken@reddit

I have a MIPS R4k, a TurboSparc and a Montecito Itanium as fridge magnets.

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2raysdiver@reddit

(raises hand) guilty

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dmoisan@reddit

Jiji! ❤️

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zorinlynx@reddit

I think Jiji approves.

I have a few CPUs on display in my office. A ceramic 486 with the cover removed so you can see the die, a 386 and a Pentium Pro on little makeshift stands.

They really are kind of pretty and the nostalgia factor is strong, so it makes sense to display them. :)

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Thowi42@reddit

I have a Pentium and a K6-2 that kick around my desk too ;) The ceramic has a certain gravitas, kinda like high value poker chips. You are normal to me homie, these are your people :)

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nullvalue1@reddit

Jiji!!

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dirtmcgurk@reddit

Anyone have a good solution for displaying them? I've been thinking of mounting some foam inside a frame.

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Traditional_Key_763@reddit

probably should buy a socket to keep them in or print a holder

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cbelt3@reddit

Yeah… I finally scrapped an old microVAX motherboard I had squirreled away.

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cristobaldelicia@reddit

I think the chips are nearly industructable, as in: they won't wear out from usage or get bit rot, so I guess forty years from now, they will work as long as you've got a board with a socket. Maybe we'll have 3D printers that will re-create vintage motherboards, for retrogaming. People will think of Win10 games the same way we build DOS gaming rigs. Or maybe humanity or society will self-destruct and we'll be back to building abacuses. Who knows?

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