A Reddit user scored a massive surprise after walking away with a high-end workstation worth around $8,000 for only $23.
The system was listed on Capital City Online Auctions as a Fractal Design Define 7 XL case, with stock images showing only the chassis. But when Reddit user LlamadeusGame picked it up, they discovered a full build inside, including a 24-core Threadripper 3960X, 256GB of memory, and an RTX 3080 Ti.
Even if it had been just the case, the purchase would have been a bargain, since the model still retails for around $250. Instead, the auction winner walked away with a complete workstation originally built by Puget Systems. A commenter claiming to be a Puget staffer said the machine likely sold in 2021 for about $8,000.
“Just as an FYI, that system was likely sold in late 2021 / early 2022, and would have been around $8k at the time,” said Reddit user Puget_MattBach. “A lot of those systems had 2-4 NVMe drives, so you probably have a good 4-8TB of fast storage as well!”
Complete system hidden inside computer case
Other Reddit users quickly spotted clues that the computer came from Puget, including a custom graphics card support bracket. The machine appears to have been a photo editor’s work PC, and the redditor reported that the system still contained the previous owner’s files when they received it.
While the hardware is no longer cutting-edge, it remains powerful. The RTX 3080 Ti is comparable to a newer RTX 5070 for gaming, and the Threadripper 3960X is one of the fastest processors AMD has ever offered.
