# gold in motherboards



## hoardpm (Apr 7, 2009)

Im a noob and need some advice. I have a guy wanting to sell me motherboards with no CPU's or memorys. I assume that this is what I have heard called an "unpopulated" board. So the only PM that could be recoverd would be the gold, and occaionaly silver from the pins and flatpacks. He is asking 1.50 per pound of boards. He says he can supply me with hundreds upon hundreds of board. Claims he has 600 pounds of them right now. That would be 900 dollars for the the lot. The asking price seems to be a little rediculas to me concidering it would probably take 100 boards to make a 1 or 2 grams of PM. Could anyone advise me on this?


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## qst42know (Apr 7, 2009)

It seems like the best parts have been cherry picked. It doesn't sound like a very good deal but I haven't seen them either. If only pins and card slots remain it's probably best to pass.


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## glorycloud (Apr 7, 2009)

what you have been offered is more likely whole motherboards that still are populated but have just had the memory and the CPU removed. That is standard in the industry. We all keep the CPU's and the memory and sell the rest of the motherboard for parts or for scrap.

I have inserted below a recent price list that shows what someone offered to purchase my stream of e-scrap for. High grade circuit boards would be the motherboards and the video cards, etc. The low grade boards would be pulled from scrap monitors and printers normally. If you can find a buyer for the boards and then negotiate a better sale price with your source you may be able to make more money than if you attempted to process the boards yourself. You wouldn't have to risk working with the chemicals either.

Ask for a picture of the boards and see what they look like first - you know "caveat emptor"!! 

*MONITORS	*
14"	$1.00
15"	$1.00
17"	$1.00
19" & UP	$0.00
SCREEN BURNED MONTIORS	.18 CHARGE
TV'S/ TERMINALS	.18 CHARGE
*COMMODITITES	*
HIGH GRADE CIRCUIT BOARD	$1.85
LOW GRADE CIRCUIT BOARD	$0.06
ALUMINUM BREAKAGE	$0.06
CLEAN ALUMINUM	$0.10
STAINLESS STEEL	CALL
SCRAP COMPUTER PLASTIC	$0.00
KEYBOARD	$0.01
MICE	$0.01
SPEAKER, FANS	$0.01
PRINTERS	$0.01
UPS	$0.01
HDD	$0.35
FLOPPY DRIVE & CD-ROM	$0.06
POWER SUPPLY $0.13
TRANSFORMER (SMALL)	$0.08
TRANSFORMER (LARGE)	$0.08
MOTOR	$0.04
WIRE/CABLE	$0.35
COPPER YOLKS	$0.15
AC ADAPTERS	$0.05
MAINFRAME	CALL
SERVER/MEMORY/CPU	$0.12
COMPLETE PC	$0.16
INCOMPLETE PC	$0.12
MIXED SYSTEMS	$0.08
HUBS, ROUTERS, MODEMS	$0.08
AIR CONDITIONING UNITS	$0.00
LEAD ACID BATTERY	$0.07
RECHARGABLE BATTERY	$0.10
BALLAST (NO PCB)	$0.05
MEMORY MIXED	$3.50
MISC ELECTRONICS	$0.01
HOUSEHOLD ELECTRONICS	$0.00


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## qst42know (Apr 7, 2009)

The bulk of the remaining value likely lies in the copper content. The copper recovered may be of significant value to a business with the right equipment. Trace PMs are recovered while refining the copper. But that's not something easily done at home.


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## hoardpm (Apr 8, 2009)

yeah, I told the guy I couldn't buy them. I would barley be able to break even at that price if even that. I had seen a video on a big commercial opperation that recoverd gold,silver, and copper by melting down the whole board in a furace. Then pressing them all into plates then using some huge electrolosis tank to separte the metals. Was a cool video but they were working with like 100,000 boards at once. Just a little beyond my abilites at this point.


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## Anonymous (Jun 23, 2009)

hoardpm said:


> Im a noob and need some advice. I have a guy wanting to sell me motherboards with no CPU's or memorys. I assume that this is what I have heard called an "unpopulated" board. So the only PM that could be recoverd would be the gold, and occaionaly silver from the pins and flatpacks. He is asking 1.50 per pound of boards. He says he can supply me with hundreds upon hundreds of board. Claims he has 600 pounds of them right now. That would be 900 dollars for the the lot. The asking price seems to be a little rediculas to me concidering it would probably take 100 boards to make a 1 or 2 grams of PM. Could anyone advise me on this?


 Hello all I recycle E-Waist in Ontario very small opp 200-300 lbs of motherboards at a time getting $1.20 a lb unpopulated, ram $1.20,386+486 CPUS $40.00LB WAIFER cpus $3.00 lb.socket 7 ceramic $20.00 lb modem boards $1.20-$1.80 lb HD board $1.00,finger boards $1.30.


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