It's always possible to repurpose old PC components for DIY projects when you move on to something new. However, if you're more of the tinkerer type, you might be more interested in what's inside your components than simply reusing them as-is. Before you recycle your old machines, you can still extract tons of internals for creative and useful maker projects. The best components to target are power supplies, motherboards, optical drives, hard drives, and GPUs. You'll need to desolder many of the constituent parts, so proceed only if you're familiar with that. Of course, if you're really attached to your old CPU, GPU, RAM, or storage drives, they can always find a place in your home lab or a power-efficient home server.
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Heatsinks, capacitors, and inductors from power supplies
Even your oldest PSUs aren't completely useless
Your ancient power supply is actually a gold mine of electrical components like capacitors and inductors. Along with heatsinks, these are some of the most useful constituents you can salvage from an old PC. Heatsinks can easily be turned into passive coolers or active ones if you have a few fans lying around (Hint: your PSU has one, too). As for capacitors, unless they're leaking or otherwise impaired, you can use them in bench power supplies, DC noise filters, ESR testers, and many other DIY projects. Inductors find many uses in makeshift buck or boost converters, EMI filters, DIY radio antennas, and analog synthesizer modules. Components like capacitors can still contain dangerous levels of charge even if the PSU hasn't been used for long periods of time, so ensure you're confident before you dismantle a power supply.
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MOSFETs, inductors, and CMOS batteries from motherboards
Motherboards have some things to offer, too
Old motherboards are often considered mostly useless in terms of salvaging electrical parts, but there are still some things you might find relevant for your maker projects. Take MOSFETs, for instance, which can find uses in DIY fan controllers, power buttons for your Raspberry Pi, LED dimmers, and even solar panel charge controllers. As I mentioned before, inductors are perfect for any project where you need power or noise filtering. CMOS batteries (CR2032) can simply be reused as clock or remote batteries or used to power IR or vibration sensors. Motherboards also have capacitors that might be relevant for your DIY projects. Make sure you have no intention of repurposing your old motherboard for a retro gaming PC or streaming server before you take it apart.
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Neodymium magnets and motors from HDDs and optical drives
Put that hard drive or DVD drive to good use
Even if your old PC has neither, I'm sure you have at least one optical drive or hard drive lying around the house (from an even older PC). Hard drives contain neodymium magnets, which you can feature in creative projects like a levitating figurine or a DIY screw organizer. Spindle motors from hard drives can allow you to create DIY turntables, while DC motors and stepper motors from CD/DVD drives can help create your own CNC engraver, cute music box, or sub-millimeter actuators. Even the high-quality platters from your hard drive can be used as mirrors or coasters in creative projects.
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Heatsinks, fans, and SMD inductors from GPUs and PCIe cards
Opening up your GPU takes courage, but it's worth it
Even if your GPU is an antique at this point, it can still offer a pretty decent heatsink, and some fans and inductors for your power, audio, or creative projects. In fact, many of your old PCIe cards will have SMD (Surface Mount Device) inductors that can be used to create unique artpieces, current limiters, or buck/boost converters. Your GPU fans can form part of a makeshift cooler or an airflow visualizer used to create fun case airflow videos. Finally, the beefy heatsink of your old graphics card can make for a passive cooler for your SBC or a slow drink chiller when combined with a fan.
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Old CPUs, GPUs, and RAM for home labs
Keeping it simple yet powerful
If you aren't confident or willing enough to take your components apart, you can still reuse them in new ways to extend their lifespan, effectively recycling your old hardware. A decade-old CPU can still power a lightweight server or NAS, while your ancient graphics card can be the heart of your home lab or streaming server. Alternatively, you can make your own eGPU or enable PCIe passthrough to accelerate your virtual machines. Whether you're building a secondary PC or lightweight home lab, your old memory sticks will come in handy. DDR3 or DDR4 RAM might not be the fastest, but it's enough to power numerous home lab workloads.
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Give your old PC a second look before sending it for recycling
Your old PC might not be impressive enough for your regular use anymore, but it might be hiding untapped potential. Besides repurposing your CPU, GPU, RAM, and other components for a home lab, NAS, or retro gaming PC, you can salvage constituent parts from many of your old components. With access to capacitors, inductors, MOSFETs, motors, magnets, heatsinks, and fans, you have a lot of ammunition to kickstart useful or creative DIY projects.