How do you organize your spare parts?

Nanook

King of Cable Management
Original poster
May 23, 2016
805
793
I have a problem. I have too much stuff, yet I don’t like selling stuff. I hoard. Ever since I came back into pc building about 3 years ago, and built my first SFF system, I haven’t stopped. Tinkering in SFF became my hobby and passion.
Rewinding a little bit... My old pc was a QX9560 / GT8800 SLI, then a QX9560 / GTX 285, which eventually became a QX9560 / GTX 580 / with SSD. The old system was in a Rocketfish (Bestbuy private label) aluminum full tower. It was very high quality, and I suspect it was a Lian Li tower. Eventually I had to start over with a new platform, as I was limited to 8gb of ram. And the cpu was bottlenecking a GTX 1080 FE. The reason I skipped 3 generations was because I mostly played Diablo 3.

So present day, I first got an NCase M1, loved it, but had to tinker big, went on to try out all the different M1 cooling configurations. From U9S, to dual 120mm AIO, to the C14 big air configuration... I tried them all. I also tried building inside of many other cases, for fun. I went down the deep rabbit hole of custom water cooling in a Nano S. Ultimately, I came back to the M1, and built a full custom loop in the M1. It was glorious. As I start to run out of time with growing family, and less interest in maintaining water loops, I’m back to the “big air” cooling with a window in the M1.

So over the years, I’ve gathered a lot of cases and components. I have 6-7 cases laying around. Countless 92,120, and 140mm fans, all kinds of brackets for different drives for different cases, radiators ranging from 92mm to 360mm, in various thicknesses. I have every soft tubing fitting imaginable. I have at least 3 reservoirs, 4 different pumps, quick disconnect fittings, etc. I have at least 4-5 kits of SFF PSU (HDPlex, KMPKT, G-unique). I have just about every SFF cpu cooler under the sun.

Currently I have most of my stuff in bins. 18 of these to be exact:
Sterilite 19849806 18 Quart/17 Liter... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BA5F52?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

So, how do you guys organize your spare parts and cases?
 
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Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,827
4,902
I usually keep the original boxes to store stuff, in a closet or a plastic bin. Or I use the boxes/bags where the accessories came in and write on them for what they are.
 

Duality92

Airflow Optimizer
Apr 12, 2018
307
330
I was like this too until recently, I went ahead and sold all my older stuff (older being not current gen), $6000 later, the space in my PC workshop and my wallet love me! I sold basically everything but what I'm using and a few "cannot-be-sold-by-contract" items I have. I still have a few left for sale, but with the deals I was making, the vast majority of stuff has sold locally.

To organize everything, I have about 10 * 40L containers, 6 triple drawer storage bins (those plastic ones), I have one divided box for screws, one for fittings for each watercooling project and one for older watercooling stuff, I also have a wall mounted vertical parts tray with like 30 small bins. I also have 6*20L same lenght and width containers as the 40L ones to stack two.

I have a section of my shelves, just for boxes for when I sell them items.

as far as cases go, I was a case reviewer, so I had about 20 or so cases laying around, I had them on the top shelf of my workshop. (14' wide, 24" deep)

To identify the content of stuff, I put masking tape and write on it what's inside, so if I change, it's an easy swap.

I'll take a panorama of my workshop tonight to show you
 
Last edited:

Solo

King of Cable Management
Nov 18, 2017
855
1,422
I don't keep any extraneous anything. I straight up throw all of my packaging away.
 

el01

King of Cable Management
Jun 4, 2018
770
588
Throw it all over my office like a true college student finally freed from opressive parents. Duh.

Seriously though, I have a really messy office space, which means that doing homework may mean bumping a random screwdriver/ USB cable/GPU/laptop Mobo off the table. It's a mess. I'll fix it later. (Takes a year to fix it, moves out immediately afterwards)
 

owliwar

Master of Cramming
Lazer3D
Apr 7, 2017
586
1,082
edit::
honestly I'm trying to figure that out myself as well haha
I don't have much right now, just 4 or 5 cpu coolers and an old atx system, but Its already pilling up and its only going to increase in the next year. I'm probably going to have a mix of shelfs and drawers;
drawers arent that efficient for larger items like motherboards and cases so I'll probably look into a bookshelf and some plastic bins for screws and other miscelanious items. for the screws a medium sized plastic box with dividers is currently enought for me


I'll take a panorama of my workshop tonight to show you
hey, did you took that photo? I'd love to see that
 
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onlyabloke

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jul 22, 2016
178
193
pcpartpicker.com
At the moment, I don't lol. I have two cases, two air coolers, one AIO, about seven extra fans, an old GPU and a buttload of screws and things I don't know what go to. At the moment, it's all in a big box in my closet until I get bored enough to go through it all and sell it.
 

Duality92

Airflow Optimizer
Apr 12, 2018
307
330
edit::
honestly I'm trying to figure that out myself as well haha
I don't have much right now, just 4 or 5 cpu coolers and an old atx system, but Its already pilling up and its only going to increase in the next year. I'm probably going to have a mix of shelfs and drawers;
drawers arent that efficient for larger items like motherboards and cases so I'll probably look into a bookshelf and some plastic bins for screws and other miscelanious items. for the screws a medium sized plastic box with dividers is currently enought for me



hey, did you took that photo? I'd love to see that

Totally forgot!

Give me a sec
 
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Duality92

Airflow Optimizer
Apr 12, 2018
307
330
Gives you an idea, my phones camera lens is cracked and I'm working on a few projects, so it isn't as clean as it usually is, but meh! it's a workshop!
 

owliwar

Master of Cramming
Lazer3D
Apr 7, 2017
586
1,082
Gives you an idea, my phones camera lens is cracked and I'm working on a few projects, so it isn't as clean as it usually is, but meh! it's a workshop!

niiice thanks!!

nice painting booth btw, it has a exaust fan to the outside or what?
also, good idea on the curtains. I'm moving next month and that gave me some ideas haha
 

Nanook

King of Cable Management
Original poster
May 23, 2016
805
793
Gives you an idea, my phones camera lens is cracked and I'm working on a few projects, so it isn't as clean as it usually is, but meh! it's a workshop!
I love this. Thanks for sharing! A large shelf is exactly what I need.
 

el01

King of Cable Management
Jun 4, 2018
770
588
Hahahah I need to tidy up or my landlord will start throwing things out. I might send a picture tour of my office...
 

jtd871

SFF Guru
Jun 22, 2015
1,166
851
Built models go in totes and cardboard boxes. Instructions for smaller models and sticker sheets go in the plastic container for one of the sets. Instruction books for larger models go in one of the original boxes. Loose parts are currently stored in an original plastic container, a stainless steel mixing bowl, the plastic containers that came with the Mindstorms kits and 2 used Mindstorms containers I bought on ebay. Oh and other loose parts are stored in the plastic trays from advent calendars. And the Duplo blocks are in their own tote. Wait, ... we were talking about Lego, right?!