Spotting a Pentium Pro case from a distance is a pretty skilled task (though it is possible, as you have seen from the other posts).
A nice 386 or 486 with a math co-processor will yield just about the same weight and pretty close to the gold output as a Pentium Pro, so unless you are collecting the PPros for a wall display or something, I'd suggest you go for a more varied assortment of chips (I like to go for all I can find to get the max gold output myself :shock: .
Basically, the 'good' chips are NOT found in the newer 'black' cased computers, so it is, to me, pretty simple when looking to spot a potential 'winner' from the outside - just look for the WHITE cases (or they may be a bit yellowed from the sun, which is why they quit using them I think, but also a sign of an older one...).
It is rare that a white-cased computer disappoints! (unless, of course, someone already robbed the parts, but that is a different story!)
Of course, none of this matters if the deal isn't there. You still have to buy it right or walk away. Tomorrow I've got an appointment with a guy that says he has a storage locker with 100 386/486s with "a box full" of just processors. With that many, there is a possibility of a GREAT day, or a LOUSY one if all the processors, hard drives, etc. have been pulled (you can't sit there and open each one!).
What I've decided to do is similar to what jimdoc did - open a few 'test' ones as we go through them and base my pricing from there. If they are all full, we are talking about several pounds of just processors (with a retail value of something like $600), plus the motherboards, hard drives, ram and misc parts (plus the scrap metal, which, to me, can only be held as a LOSS) - total value could hit as much as $1500 if we are really lucky - more likely $700-$800. My price to him? A very solid $300, unless we can verify much more than that while we are looking at the load. We typically would weigh the load and price it from there, but 100 computers will average about 25 lbs each, plus I'm tossing a bonus for the 'box full' of processors - yep, $300 is the only safe bet - anything more is just asking for trouble!
My suggestion is to look for the DEAL, not any particular processor, etc. You will find a lot more deals than you will PPros, and you can always sell the stuff you don't want and then BUY PPros (from several folks on the forum - like me, for example!
