Now that does suck, I hate the gold scrappers as they make getting certain parts extremely difficult.

nforce4max wrote:

Now that does suck, I hate the gold scrappers as they make getting certain parts extremely difficult.

That's why I say if you have any empty socket 8 motherboards lying around then now is the time to populate them or else you won't be able to once all the PPro's have been recycled.

Bah, screw those gold p-pro's. fill the sockets with the 1mb aluminum ones or overdrives.

I'd buy it, ask my dentist to melt it, and replace my mercury fillings. Can't be any worse... (jk, of course!)

Why in the world would anyone sell a broken CPU?? Or who would realistically buy such a thing? This reminds me of the time someone stole the copper A/C tubing from the warehouse my dad worked at. "Oh wow, I could sell this for pennies profit!"

At least wasn't a particularly rare chip. (and there's a lot worse cases that show up on ebay -like lots with many shattered chips, some of which are uncommon . . . albeit, some of those are probably genuine scrap in the first place rather than someone breaking things for "fun" )
Like what came up here:
Cyrix appreciation thread

But, in general, gold scrap certainly does make collecting more difficult . . . at least collecting on the cheap. It probably won't end up claiming all CPUs, but it certainly drives up the prices across the board. (and beyond reason in many cases too -as the prices go beyond the practical gold scrap value too . . . or at least beyond the point of profitability for a scrapper after the costs of processing on top of initial payment/shipping costs)

OTOH, the interest in scrap gold probably does compel more people to put old hardware up for sale rather than just throwing it away or giving it to ewaste recyclers. (especially the many cases of the latter where everything just gets scrapped rather than sorted and selectively re-sold/re-used)

On another note, I've been a bit tempted to look for cheap, genuinely dead CPUs to break open and properly (physically) document the die sizes of different models/revisions. (something that still seems spotty/limited in many cases) Though the increased price of scrap obviously makes doing this on the cheap difficult too. (plus, I'd like to do some more research on current documentation on this subject before really considering doing it myself)

Also kind of ironic that many of the one-time most expensive (ie Intel) parts are usually the ones going cheapest as used/scrap parts these days compared to Cyrix, and even Winchip and VIA parts (and some AMD stuff too -actually, including newer-ish stuff, Athlon XP/MPs are often priced much higher than P4s on ebay)

jmrydholm wrote:

I'd buy it, ask my dentist to melt it, and replace my mercury fillings. Can't be any worse... (jk, of course!)

Why in the world would anyone sell a broken CPU?? Or who would realistically buy such a thing? This reminds me of the time someone stole the copper A/C tubing from the warehouse my dad worked at. "Oh wow, I could sell this for pennies profit!"

I've done it several times. I have a box that I fill with "spare" processors. Who wants a pentium 100? Nobody, so it goes in the box. When the box gets full I sell it on ebay for scrap gold. A 10# box of ceramic cpus will get me ~$450. Before ebay takes their cut naturally. That being said, I dont put any "valuable" chips in it unless they are dead, or are 486/66. those are still as common as dirt it seems.

As for the gold pentium pros. You need to realize that @ today's prices, those chips have $50 worth of gold in them. The gold top pentiums have $40, the normal ceramic pentiums run about $20.

That being said, I would venture a guess that most of the EASY to acquire gold scrap is gone. By now people know the drill and prices are going up.

That's true, given all my retro hardware, I could probably buy a small car with it. I should really sell more stuff on ebay.

luckybob wrote:

I've done it several times. I have a box that I fill with "spare" processors. Who wants a pentium 100? Nobody, so it goes in the box. When the box gets full I sell it on ebay for scrap gold. A 10# box of ceramic cpus will get me ~$450. Before ebay takes their cut naturally. That being said, I dont put any "valuable" chips in it unless they are dead, or are 486/66. those are still as common as dirt it seems.

As for the gold pentium pros. You need to realize that @ today's prices, those chips have $50 worth of gold in them. The gold top pentiums have $40, the normal ceramic pentiums run about $20.

These are the crazy prices I'm talking about . . . any realistic gold scrapper would need to buy the scrap (shipping included, obviously) for well under the gold value to actually make a profit due to the cost of actually processing it. (labor/time, chemicals, equipment, not to mention skill/experience -if you want decent yields and no injuries -some seriously corrosive and toxic chemicals involved)

A pentium Pro may have $50 worth of gold content in it, but you'd really have to be able to acquire them for close to 1/2 that to get any reasonable profit out of it. (less so if done on a large scale -which generally isn't the case for DIY gold scrappers -ie the type those gold salvage kits and how-to guides are normally aimed at)

luckybob wrote:

I've done it several times. I have a box that I fill with "spare" processors. Who wants a pentium 100? Nobody, so it goes in the box. When the box gets full I sell it on ebay for scrap gold. A 10# box of ceramic cpus will get me ~$450. Before ebay takes their cut naturally. That being said, I dont put any "valuable" chips in it unless they are dead, or are 486/66. those are still as common as dirt it seems.

As for the gold pentium pros. You need to realize that @ today's prices, those chips have $50 worth of gold in them. The gold top pentiums have $40, the normal ceramic pentiums run about $20.

These are the crazy prices I'm talking about . . . any realistic gold scrapper would need to buy the scrap (shipping included, obviously) for well under the gold value to actually make a profit due to the cost of actually processing it. (labor/time, chemicals, equipment, not to mention skill/experience -if you want decent yields and no injuries -some seriously corrosive and toxic chemicals involved)

A pentium Pro may have $50 worth of gold content in it, but you'd really have to be able to acquire them for close to 1/2 that to get any reasonable profit out of it. (less so if done on a large scale -which generally isn't the case for DIY gold scrappers -ie the type those gold salvage kits and how-to guides are normally aimed at)

kool kitty89 wrote:

luckybob wrote:

I've done it several times. I have a box that I fill with "spare" processors. Who wants a pentium 100? Nobody, so it goes in the box. When the box gets full I sell it on ebay for scrap gold. A 10# box of ceramic cpus will get me ~$450. Before ebay takes their cut naturally. That being said, I dont put any "valuable" chips in it unless they are dead, or are 486/66. those are still as common as dirt it seems.

As for the gold pentium pros. You need to realize that @ today's prices, those chips have $50 worth of gold in them. The gold top pentiums have $40, the normal ceramic pentiums run about $20.

These are the crazy prices I'm talking about . . . any realistic gold scrapper would need to buy the scrap (shipping included, obviously) for well under the gold value to actually make a profit due to the cost of actually processing it. (labor/time, chemicals, equipment, not to mention skill/experience -if you want decent yields and no injuries -some seriously corrosive and toxic chemicals involved)

A pentium Pro may have $50 worth of gold content in it, but you'd really have to be able to acquire them for close to 1/2 that to get any reasonable profit out of it. (less so if done on a large scale -which generally isn't the case for DIY gold scrappers -ie the type those gold salvage kits and how-to guides are normally aimed at)

And you really wouldn't want to process gold/silver/platinum scrap in your house anyway. Those chemicals are corrosive and emit fumes. You really need a well ventilated laboratory type setting with appropriate safety equipment and just setting up such a room is going to cost you some money. Anyone who buys circuit boards and other electronic parts on ebay and thinks they are going to extract the precious metals in their basement is putting themselves at serious risk of injury or death and may also be violating the law.

kool kitty89 wrote:

luckybob wrote:

I've done it several times. I have a box that I fill with "spare" processors. Who wants a pentium 100? Nobody, so it goes in the box. When the box gets full I sell it on ebay for scrap gold. A 10# box of ceramic cpus will get me ~$450. Before ebay takes their cut naturally. That being said, I dont put any "valuable" chips in it unless they are dead, or are 486/66. those are still as common as dirt it seems.

As for the gold pentium pros. You need to realize that @ today's prices, those chips have $50 worth of gold in them. The gold top pentiums have $40, the normal ceramic pentiums run about $20.

These are the crazy prices I'm talking about . . . any realistic gold scrapper would need to buy the scrap (shipping included, obviously) for well under the gold value to actually make a profit due to the cost of actually processing it. (labor/time, chemicals, equipment, not to mention skill/experience -if you want decent yields and no injuries -some seriously corrosive and toxic chemicals involved)

A pentium Pro may have $50 worth of gold content in it, but you'd really have to be able to acquire them for close to 1/2 that to get any reasonable profit out of it. (less so if done on a large scale -which generally isn't the case for DIY gold scrappers -ie the type those gold salvage kits and how-to guides are normally aimed at)

Actually it makes more sense scrapping dead samples and other parts from mostly scrap than buying live samples off eBay ect. It is scrappers out there the main reason why I never own much less even see a working socket 8 build in my life time in person. Seen more 286 and 386 era boards and parts than socket 8 which says a lot.

Like was mentioned before, the ebay sellers prices are ridiculous to begin with. Anyone who buys from them and expects to make a profit is going to be shocked to learn that they aren't making enough money from the gold they are extracting to cover costs. Shipping is the big killer, though. If you buy a lot of 20 pounds of motherboards, a large chunk of the money you make from extracting the precious metals is going to cover shipping. Even if the seller says free shipping, it isn't. They are including it in the sale price.

sliderider wrote:

Like was mentioned before, the ebay sellers prices are ridiculous to begin with. Anyone who buys from them and expects to make a profit is going to be shocked to learn that they aren't making enough money from the gold they are extracting to cover costs. Shipping is the big killer, though. If you buy a lot of 20 pounds of motherboards, a large chunk of the money you make from extracting the precious metals is going to cover shipping. Even if the seller says free shipping, it isn't. They are including it in the sale price.

What's a bit funny is that, shopping around for small/single auctions, I've managed to snag several (working) CPUs as single piece sales at well below the typical bulk-lot scrap gold prices (ie $3~5 including shipping for a few -non gold top- Socket 7 Pentiums -or $8 with shipping for a gold-top MII plus heatsink).
Though, TBH, those are pretty close to what the scrap prices should be at (in terms of practical/profitable gold recycling).

OTOH, the slightly more typical working old (relatively common) CPU prices for small volumes still tend to be near the average bulk-scrap CPU prices too. (including shipping costs)
Not that that's a bad thing for collectors or retro hardware enthusiasts, but it implies that scrappers probably aren't keeping an eye out for the best deals. (ie assuming the bulk scrap lots will always be cheaper -which really would be the case if those bulk lots went for more practical prices, but I digress 😉)

On another note, those gold recycling kits are also usually a poor deal compared to picking up the chemicals locally (most of which are available at typical hardware stores and/or garden supply stores, in most parts of the US -not just specialty/commercial agricultural suppliers, mind you, but many average consumer chain stores).

sliderider wrote:

And you really wouldn't want to process gold/silver/platinum scrap in your house anyway. Those chemicals are corrosive and emit fumes. You really need a well ventilated laboratory type setting with appropriate safety equipment and just setting up such a room is going to cost you some money. Anyone who buys circuit boards and other electronic parts on ebay and thinks they are going to extract the precious metals in their basement is putting themselves at serious risk of injury or death and may also be violating the law.

In the DIY example guides I've seen, the processing is usually done (mostly) outdoors in the context of a rural/semi-rural setting with plenty of space to work in away from the house.

As someone with a bit of background in hobby chemistry (and a general understanding of the process involved with gold reclaiming), I could see it being done safely even in a suburban setting with a decent sized back yard (or maybe open garage with good ventilation), but you'd definitely need to know what you were doing and take the proper precautions. (the nastiest parts would be dealing with the Hydrochloric -ie Muriatic- Acid and nitrate mixture used to dissolve the gold/alloys -which is the part involving highly toxic nitrogen dioxide fumes- . . . after that, the corrosive acid mixture is the main thing to worry about -and neutralizing it without excess heat being generated -leading to boil over, among other things -urea is usually used for the neutralization iirc)

Of course, the problem is actually following good safety procedures and understanding what you're doing . . . which often may not be the case. (doing it in a poorly ventilated area would be the number one bad mistake to make there -second would probably not using proper hand/eye protective gear when handling the corrosive material)

So do people actually get anywhere selling dead parts to scrappers on eBay? Or is it better just to give them away to a local recycler?

Jorpho wrote:

So do people actually get anywhere selling dead parts to scrappers on eBay? Or is it better just to give them away to a local recycler?

Keep them for yourself and save up the scrap until you have enough to make your self some money. PS Who gives away money in this economy 🤣?

Well, we're not talking about giving away money here; we're talking about giving away completely useless and nonfunctional junk that serves no purpose whatsoever beyond inconveniently taking up space.

Jorpho wrote:

Well, we're not talking about giving away money here; we're talking about giving away completely useless and nonfunctional junk that serves no purpose whatsoever beyond inconveniently taking up space.

As mentioned above, there's a good chunk of scrap gold in many of these old CPUs, so it's not just useless junk, but potentially valuable scrap. (and smashing them up like that is typically part of the recycling process anyway -to expose all metal surfaces)
The yield varies depending on the chip though, but most older CPUs have worthwhile gold content. (often more than $10 worth, and up to $50 worth in the case of the gold-top PPro -a bit less than 1/2 that for gold top P5 and 6x86 parts, and more around $10 for S7 parts with just gold pins)

Of course, to practically profit from recycling those chips, you'd need to buy them for significantly less (including shipping) than the raw gold value to cover the materials and time/labor costs (not to mention risks of working with hazardous chemicals and skill/experience required to do so safely and efficiently). But the actual ebay sale prices are a good bit beyond the profitable range in many cases, so definitely inflated and probably being sold to ignorant newbie DIY scrappers.