A Gatchapon has been discovered in Japan that omits Intel CPUs with an asking price of just 500 yen ($3), with mixed results.
The video shows a curious user visiting PC Ones, a computer store in Osaka, Japan. For just 500 yen you can turn the lever and instead of a plastic toy, out pops an Intel processor that may be fully functional.
As you might expect, you don’t exactly pay a few dollars and get one of the best processors on the market. The clip shows that instead of the plastic sphere was the Intel Core i7-8700, which is built on the LGA 1151 socket and released in 2017.
Besides being a novelty, the most surprising thing is the fact that the older i7 processor actually works, as the lucky recipient was able to turn it on and boot into the BIOS in an improvised test setup. You can’t really ask for much more from a CPU if you’re spending less than the price of a cup of coffee on it.
After some troubleshooting, they were able to install Windows 10 and then run some synthetic benchmarks through Cinebench R23, which showed the chip was running in a more throttled capacity. Although the CPU has six cores and twelve threads, the Task Manager screenshot revealed that only five cores were operational with ten threads in use, likely due to pre-existing damage.
More inventive ways to recycle hardware
While this Gatchapon isn’t the only quirky vending machine in Japan, or the region for that matter, it does demonstrate a creative way to dispose of older hardware without just having to head to the landfill.
It’s not known exactly which chipsets are available in the dispenser, but we’d bet an older i7 or i9 will be at the top end of what’s inside. Chances are that if you turn the handle you will receive an old chipset that has no functionality.
But after all, that’s what Gatchapon is all about. Bet a few dollars and you never know what you might win. If you ever find yourself short on cash for your next upgrade and you happen to be in Japan, you could win a processor that normally sells for around $200, not a bad bet at all.
However, this CPU capsule machine is an exception to what we typically see happening with old hardware being thrown away, and gaming old equipment could be a way to reduce the amount of silicon we see, especially if there’s a chance of it happening . could continue within a budget structure. US retailers like MicroCenter could learn a thing or two from this operation.