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AMC Scrap Metals

Electronic Scrap

Navigating Electronic Scrap Purchase Prices & Sorting Criteria

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on electronic scrap purchase prices and sorting criteria. This resource is designed to give you detailed insights into the world of electronic waste recycling, including how to determine the value of your electronic scrap and the best practices for sorting and preparing it for sale.

Understanding Electronic Scrap Value

Factors Influencing Electronic Scrap Prices

Electronic scrap prices are influenced by various factors including the type of material, the current market demand for precious metals, and the condition of the electronic components.

 

Common Types of Electronic Scrap

Identify the most common types of electronic scrap, from old cell phones to obsolete computers, and understand how each type is valued differently.

CPU

AMC CPU Scraps

Number of CPU Ceramic Godcaps displayed on the table

 

Description:

 


Ceramic CPU Goldcap processors, along with older 286, 386, or 486 ceramic processors from computers or industrial computers, are the focus of this category. These processors should be free of any attachments like fans or heat sinks to qualify.

Number of CPU Ceramic Intel and AMD displayed on the table

 

Description:

This category is dedicated to ceramic CPU Intel and AMD processors extracted from computers or industrial computers, and they should not have any additional components like fans or heat sinks attached. Notably, for AMD ceramic processors,

Number of CPU Plastic Processors displayed on the table

 

Description:

This category encompasses plastic CPU processors sourced from computers, notebooks, and industrial computers, and they should be free of any extra components like fans or heat sinks. These CPUs are typically found in black, green, or brown colors.

 

Additionally, plastic CPUs, predominantly green, that still retain their cooling plates and haven't been detached, are evaluated at a distinct purchase price.

Number of CPU Plastic Cooling Plate displayed on the table

 

Description:

Plastic CPU processors equipped with cooling plates, originating from computers, notebooks, or industrial computers, are included in this category. These processors may also have additional attachments such as fans or heat sinks. Commonly found in colors like black, green, or brown, these CPUs with their integrated cooling components are a specific focus of our purchasing criteria.

Number of CPU slot processors displayed on the table

 

Description:

PCB and slot processors sourced from computers or industrial computers form this category. These components should be free of any external attachments, including housings, fans, or heat sinks, to qualify.

depositphotos_465674394 stock photo electro garbage computer components including
Gold Plated

AMC Computer Gold Fingers

When scrapping computers you will often come across wonderful gold encrusted components. (In reality, they are only gold plated.)

These "gold fingers" are often bought by amateur chemists, who using a blend of household cleaning products and hardware appliances, refine the gold to almost .999 purity.

These gold components are, despite appearances, not "ripe" with gold. Yes, refining gold fingers is easier than refining ore, but that doesn't mean it is "full" of gold. It will take hundreds of pounds of computers to get even close to an ounce of gold.

In you have the time and patience to collect about ten of pounds of these gold fingers, home refiners will be willing to pay you upwards of $300.  Even a pound of fingers will likely draw $30 dollars. Each pound of gold fingers usually contains at least 1.5 grams of gold.

These scrap gold fingers can be found in many high grade electronics. For example, inside of flat screen TVs, computer motherboards, daughter boards (PCIs) and in some printers.

To get the most money from these components, you need to include a detailed picture which shows how "clean" they are.

To "clean" the gold fingers, you must cut them as close to the gold plating as possible. There should be no other types of electrical components; or in other words, just gold and green.

To cut gold fingers away from whatever green boards you have, the best tool would of course be a band saw, followed second by any type of saw you favorite. I have cut them off with an old rusted pair of tin snips, but that never worked very well. If you do not have any type of saw you want to use, you can always find a strait edge, then score along the edge of the gold with a razor, then break off with vice grips, a vice, pliers, hammer, ect.

900 Grams Gold Plated Connectors Pins For Scrap Gold Recovery - www.kneeclinics.co.uk

Now that you have the gold plated pins all separated from the body, it is time to separate the gold from the base metals. As said before, the most common base metals that are present in the pins are 'Kovar' (Fe+Co+Ni) alloy, the solder (Sn+Pb/Sn+Ag) and Copper. The separation is done chemically by boiling the pins in a solution of 32% Hydrochloric acid (HCl).

Number of RAM working memory displayed on the table

This category encompasses RAM/main memory modules extracted from computers or industrial computers, broadly classified into two types:

  1. RAM Gold Edge: Characterized by a terminal contact strip that is gold-plated, offering higher value due to the precious metal content.
  2. RAM Silver Edge: Distinguished by a terminal contact strip that is tin-plated, reflecting a different composition and value.

Number of Chips displayed on the table

This category includes Chips, Eproms, and ICs extracted from computers or industrial computers. For standard black chips, we classify them into two distinct types:

  1. Ceramic Chips and E-Proms: Made from ceramic, these chips are categorized separately due to their specific material composition.
  2. Plastic Chips and Plastic ICs: Comprising plastic material, these are differentiated from their ceramic counterparts.

Additionally, we deal with special chips and components, such as telephone chips, bank card chips, SIM cards, etc. For bulk quantities, the pricing is determined based on the precious metal content they contain.

top quality trimmed gold ram finger scrap in bulk 1000x1000 1

Class 1-A PCBs

Class 1-A PCBs refer to older models of printed circuit boards characterized by their galvanic gold-plated contacts or connector strips. These boards are typically harvested from obsolete mainframe computers or servers and are known for their densely populated arrangement of small chips. It's essential that these circuit boards are intact and not stripped of any components. However, any attached metal sheets, frames, or heat sinks should be detached before processing.

Class 1-B PCBs

Class 1-B PCBs refer to circuit boards derived from computers or industrial machinery that exhibit visible gold plating along with an abundance of chips, transistors, and plug-in contacts rich in precious metals. This category specifically includes motherboards and plug-in cards, such as sound and graphics cards, provided they were produced prior to the year 2000. Prior to processing, any metal sheets and heat sinks are detached, and batteries are also carefully removed.

Class 1-D PCBs

Class 1-D PCBs encompass a vibrant array of motherboards without any attached components, deriving from various computers. These boards are notable for their colorful presentations in shades like yellow, blue, orange, purple, and the traditional green. This category specifically targets motherboards, along with graphics and sound cards produced from 2020 or later, starting from the Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon PC generations. Additionally, this class includes Class 1-A, 1-B PCBs and 1-C PCBs where ferrous and aluminum attachments such as metal sheets and heat sinks remain intact, or those from which valuable components like chips have been extracted.

Class 2-A PCBs

Class 2-A PCBs originate from industrial equipment and are distinct from Class 1 PCBs due to the minimal presence of visible gold contacts. These circuit boards are populated with small chips enriched with precious metals, alongside transistors and quartz crystals. However, they must be free of any large components such as heat sinks, transformers, or capacitors exceeding the size of a thumb. This class also encompasses Class 1-C PCBs that still have their attachments intact.

Class 2-B PCBs

Class 2-B PCBs are derived from industrial equipment and are characterized by their minimal visible gold contacts, setting them apart from Class 1 PCBs. These boards come equipped with a select number of chips that house precious metals, as well as transistors and quartz crystals. Unlike other classes, they may sometimes include attached components such as heat sinks, transformers, or relays, albeit in lesser quantities compared to other categories.

Class 2-A PCBs

Class 2-A PCBs originate from industrial equipment and are distinct from Class 1 PCBs due to the minimal presence of visible gold contacts. These circuit boards are populated with small chips enriched with precious metals, alongside transistors and quartz crystals. However, they must be free of any large components such as heat sinks, transformers, or capacitors exceeding the size of a thumb. This class also encompasses Class 1-C PCBs that still have their attachments intact.

Class 1-A PCBs

Class 3 PCBs are boards with large components such as capacitors, transformers, heat sinks and only a few components / chips or contacts containing precious metals. They originate mostly from monitors, power supply controls or consumer electronics. They also include class 1-And 2 PCBs if they contain very large / heavy attachments.