Computer boards ETC .

I never watched the price of computer parts with diligence
Can any one tell me historically what the Computer parts - MEM - CPU - Boards in relation to current gold per oz is.
There must be a ratio . As you know there is a GSR gold silver ratio . there would also be a G-ComputerParts-R even if it's our own computations

I would think a ratio between gold tipped ram and gold would be a reasonable indicator. There's too many categories available, could make it messy. Current gold price is around 1225/oz and a popular buyer is paying 13.50/lb for gold ram. So roughly a 100:1.1 ratio between gold and ram. Won't give you specific pricing, but it can be tracked to give an indication of prices. That's my thinking anyways...

So the question :
If we use Ram as the example , is the ratio consistent from year to year .
My desire is to sell off computer ram , chips ECT. and take money and buy Gold and Silver , if the ratio is consistent year to year , then I feel selling said items matters not when or if price is up or down as long as money is used for Gold / Silver that sets pace.

Here is a theory I am going to examine with regards to observations. Ram sticks may have more or less gold fingers, shorter longer etc, but the size of the gold fingers appear to me very uniform and consistent across the board regardless of brand and type. Laptop ram fingers are a size apart from desktop, but within those categories the little tiles are the same size. If someone uses the aqua regia method to do a count on how many fingers of those things will weigh out per gram. then people can count the gold value on their ram by how many of those fingers are on there.

Its a step. What acid is it to use to separate those gold fingers from the ram??

Hey copper I think I know what your getting at lets look back to when gold was at its all time high price range the $1700's, buyers were paying around $17.50/lb .A year later gold was around $1500oz and ram sticks were going for around $15/lb so it does seem to be there was a ratio of sorts but very general. Yes even boards sort of went down in percentages along with the prices of gold but oddly enogh not on the same ratio scale as ram. Maybe there are other determining factors such as different PM's in those boards. I have been selling for 5 years so I do see the corallations.

Most likely, there is a ratio of the value of the gold (on like boards) to the price of gold. What you are not taking into account is the cost to do business or the overhead. Over the last few years, the price of gold dropped and labor costs either stayed the same or went up. Because of this, I don't believe you will find a good creation except on very high value items.

CTscrapman

Thanks - considering other metals as a factor that changes ratio's your answer indicates to me , as long as I reinvest profits ,
I can sell computer stuff for Gold /Silver and not concern if I am selling at best time . As long as I have confidence in Gold /Silver as an investment in general it's a good move.

The other factor of computer parts , I feel might be the longer they are sold the more educated people get. It's clear there are precious metals in Ram CPU Boards
but as time goes on the refiners know what is best for PM content . We can assume the closer to the beginning of the selling of parts also had many people buying just for the hype and dream of using acids to refine them selves . By now the reality of difficulty has weeded out many & replaced with more and more people who know the true intrinsic value. Considering items can still be sold at a decent price the value is real & shows hoarding the parts is a good thing to do.

Hang on to some RAM sticks and use them as currency when the markets collapse and paper money is used for toilet paper... Hey here's two sticks of RAM, now give me a loaf of bread.

Ignore the ram for a moment.

I believe the larger refiners survey things like mobos, finger cards, cd/dvd boards, HDD boards, etc every so often to update their expected yields. The reason for that is because the ratio of board to PM yields has been dropping for years. The commonly accepted view is that scrap prices would continue to drop even if the prices of PM's held steady.

Another thing to consider : Calculate the value of a single stick of scrap ram or p-4 style processor. It's pretty small potatoes. These two things have been thought of being the best sources for scrap gold recovery from a computer.

Your ratio calculations are always going to be inaccurate because a lot of "scrap" pricing is calculated by the value of recovered reusable components. I can assure by my breakdown experiments, at 0.70/Lb for scrap laptops there is no profit after costs of labor. Even shredding doesn't make much money on them but a lot of value can be recovered if you have wholesale buyers of the components you can recover. RAM pricing is perhaps the best example of this as there are still people buying gold RAM at $15/Lb in my area...too close to actual yields to make money after costs.

Originally Posted by olddude

First let me say Precious metal refining should never be discussed on this forum. It can easily kill you with one minor slip.

Ram and finger cards will always be a value (barter/cash) item as long as there is communication. Other computer items will be less so. I wont discuss the reasins on this forum.

It has been said that one ton of mother boards = one oz of gold + other value PMs. It has also been said it takes 40 Sq inches of gold fingers to yield one gram of gold. I don't know if that is accurate, the true info is too closely held. My results vary for several reasons. I do know that if it is true then e mining has more value then most gold mines.

That said, I have been refining my gold fingers for over one year and still have not reached one T ounce of .999. A little reality.

Olddude
I noticed right away you mentioning .999 for fingers gold recovery.
The way I look at things now that .999 is a major equipment, chemical, labor killer of the value of those fingers. Those foils are anywhere between 18-22 Karot after retrieval with very little chemical cost or danger involved.
BUT that step from Karot gold to .999 refined gold is a real killer. Literally maybe.
Regardless if you have a ingot/button of refined or Karot gold you will have to have it assayed and pay for that service for selling value. (proof)
I personally skip the overhead and danger of .999 and deal with the foils as is.
Karot gold has just as much value as .999 but in a lesser percentage. 10,14,18 etc.
Look at any piece of gold jewelry!

I hope some old time refiners aren’t going into cardiac arrest about now.

Brass
There is a Big difference between olddude, you and I. Scott is in a total different league.

We need to know over limits. LOL