An auction excitement turned into an unexpected surprise and quickly became a topic of conversation among technology enthusiasts. A user who paid only 20 euros for a computer case found inside a system almost filled with an operating system—a professional setup. The ripple effects of the event spread rapidly across online communities.
According to Dexerto, in a sale conducted on the CapitalCityOnlineAuction platform, the final bid for a Fractal Design Define 7 XL case was only $23.50; with this amount, the user won the case and completed the purchase. However, the surprise revealed when the case was opened was a dream-like system turned into cash. The hardware it contained genuinely sounded incredible:
- AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X processor
- 256 GB RAM
- Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti graphics card
- Fast storage with NVMe SSDs
- Powerful cooling solutions and top-tier components
Even by today’s standards, this configuration appears more than sufficient for modern games and professional workloads. It is also mentioned that the system includes the possibility of up to 2 TB NVMe SSD storage.
According to a few posts on Reddit, at the same time, such a work station was worth around $8,000; some users state that the initial cost exceeded this amount. Back then, the approximate market value for a Threadripper 3960X was around 1,400 euros, and for an RTX 3080 Ti, it was much higher due to stock shortages. As for the case; today, it alone sells for about 200 euros. So, the total value of the system inside the case reaches an astonishing figure of around 300,000 TRY (Turkish Lira).
So, how did this happen? Although there is no definitive information, the most plausible explanation is that the system was left over from an institutional inventory or a forgotten workstation after a project cancellation. Sellers in auctions often may not be fully aware of all the details of the product; this can sometimes open the door to such surprises. Moments like these are rare in the tech world but become memorable stories once they are heard about. This event shows that patience and carefulness in the second-hand and auction markets can turn into significant gains.
