HardwareProcessorsFancy a borked Intel CPU for just $3.25? This Japanese Gacha machine is just for youWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareProcessorsFancy a borked Intel CPU for just $3.25? This Japanese Gacha machine is just for youWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Sawara-San / cluster140)

I’ve sometimes toyed with the idea of building a wall display of dead hardware, so I can live out my fantasies of a house covered in futuristicgreebles. This Japanese Gacha machine might be the cheapest way of getting hold of a large number of borked chips for my project, as it dispenses them for a mere $3.25 a go.
Located outside of a Japanese electronics store, this Gacha machine is the sort that usually dispenses a small toy in a plastic bubble (viaTechspot). However, YouTuberSawara-sanhas discovered that for a mere 500 Yen—equivalent to around $3.25—this one instead provides you with a CPU. In this case, the prize was an Intel Core i7-8700, although some later testing revealed that the chip, presumably like all the others in the machine, had some serious issues.
A Windows Task Manager screenshot reveals the beleaguered CPU only reported five working cores and 10 threads, whereas a fully functioning Core i7 8700 should have six cores and 12.
Given thate-waste is an ongoing issue, the idea of giving broken hardware a second life as an aesthetically pleasing, slightly desirable object is a pleasant one, if not perhaps a sustainable solution.
Your next machine(Image credit: Future)Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Your next machine
(Image credit: Future)Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
(Image credit: Future)

Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
While proper recycling of electronics hardware is still a difficult nut thatwe don’t seem to have cracked, at the very least these chips have a chance of escaping landfill, and may even be cherished as interesting and thought-provoking objects.
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