# Computer = how much gold on average?



## Anonymous

No one seems to answer this question. I have been looking for a day and not seen one answer to that question. I have seen it asked on many forums. Yet no one answers. I know that the content is not the same for every PC but there should be an average? Is this some kind of trade secret? I have an old PictureTel system that cost $87,000.00 new and three VPR's that cost $47,000.00 each in 1985. That is a stack of boards about 4ft high and much bigger then the average PC board by about double or triple. I am wondering if it would even be worth it to harvest the gold out of them? It sounds like a great idea but it is looking like more trouble then it is worth. 
Please let me know.
Peace,


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## lazersteve

Welcome to the forum,

Your question has no real answer. As you mentioned there are way too many varieties of computers to determine an accurate average. You are better off focusing on components within computers than the yield per computer perse. 

I've posted lots of factual yield data here on the forum concerning fingers, pins, and cpus with more data to come. Even these numbers must be taken in context with the type of scrap.

If you just want a stab in the dark number here's my take:

Zero to 5+ grams of Gold average from worst pc know to mainframe.

Zero to 10+ grams of Palladium average from worst pc to mainframe.

Zero to 5+ grams of Platinum average from worst pc to mainframe.

With the worst pc being just a tower with a power supply in it and a mainframe being an ancient IBM aerospace model.

You may find you will get better answers asking more specific questions.

 Average gold yield for Slot 1 CPU fingers?
 How much gold yield for 1 pound of ISA card fingers?
 How much gold yield for 1 pound of PCI card fingers?
 How much gold yield for 1 pound of partial ISA card fingers?
 How much gold yield for 1 pound of Memory card fingers?
 How much gold yield for 1 pound of fully plated header pins?
 Average Palladium in 20 grams of monolithic capacitors?
 Average gold yield in Pentium Pro Processors?
 Average gold yield in Pentium I Processors?
 Average gold yield in Pentium MMX Fiber Processors?
 etc., etc., etc.

Not many hobbyist, if any, have taken an entire pc and processed every shred of it to determine the yield of the whole. 

There is a link in the forum to a website that posted percentage of metals in a pc, but this is by no means a yardstick for purchasing electronic scrap for refining purposes.

Here's the source of that link:

eWaste Guide to Valuables

The answers to most of the questions I asked above are already answered here in the forum. The ones that are not answered will be soon.

Steve


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