does trimming the gold leads on the motherboards devalue them?

does trimming the gold leads on the motherboards devalue them?

Originally Posted by jghilino

There is some gold that can be removed from motherboards with out devaluing such as jumpers and gold plated metal around the keyboard connector on vintage boards. What exactly do you mean by gold leads? i assuming that your talking about the pins like where you connect the ribbon cables and fans to, if that is the case yes that would be devaluing the boards.

i remove the finger on the side of desktop style motherboards and still get green motherboard price for them, they look like this:
Dell Optiplex GX240 Motherboard - 5J706

Yes the jumper leads only! Sorry should have been more specific..

The jumpers i have seen sold have brought a fair price on ebay like 5 cents each or 100 for $5, i have about 1/2 pound of them in a zip lock bag. Some buyers are alot more picky on there guidelines than other buyers. If your buyer says you cant remove (any gold) even stuff that's not physically attached like jumpers that crosses the line in my opinion. I do admit ive pulled some attached stuff off motherboards and still sold them for full price, but the buyer has the right to inspect and downgrade, ive never had any boards downgraded. just throwing my 2 cents out there waiting for the criticism comments to roll in lol

Thanks guys! That solves that I'm sure I have somewhere around 1000-2000 leads so 50-100$ by your math jghilino! Either question answered, unless someone can any more? Like anything else I can remove and not get down graded?

Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

I wouldnt downgrade for removed jumpers. My train of thought is if it isnt soldered on then remove it if you want.

Kinda makes you wonder how much else can be removed undetected if pts is changing his comments. Firs he says removing gold devalues now he says jumpers are ok. 50 cents worth of jumpers per motherboard is just a start. I can tell you i remove about $1.50 worth of stuff per board and it still makes it thru the system ok.

Originally Posted by jghilino

Kinda makes you wonder how much else can be removed undetected if pts is changing his comments. Firs he says removing gold devalues now he says jumpers are ok. 50 cents worth of jumpers per motherboard is just a start. I can tell you i remove about $1.50 worth of stuff per board and it still makes it thru the system ok.

What else can be removed?

Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

First off i am not changing my comments. THe origanal poster said trimming. That to mean usualy means cutting something off the board. So I didnt change my comment I simply added to it when the jumpers where added into the conversation.

ok i see now, he confirmed my idea about the jumpers after you made the comment

Originally Posted by happyisthealero

What about crystals? Can I still remove them and get full price?


Also! What is the best way to remove the gold pins? I have Robogrip pliers I could just snap the whole pin assembly off, or can I use needle nose pliers to remove them? Seems like a pain to do so, because I would have to remove each, one by one.

Anyone?

Originally Posted by bnbsfsd

I've a bunch of HP boards, motherboards that is, small socket, with gold fingers on the edge.

I figure I can put these into the finger boards, as they do have gold fingers on along the edge of the motherboard..

is that correct. or would they go into the high grade, or chi boards.? input would be nice. thanks.

cut the finger off and toss it in with the lower grade motherboards, or see if a buyer will give you green board price on it, ive sold them both ways

Originally Posted by happyisthealero

Anyone?

happy if youw wanting to remove gold pins from motherboards quickly the fastest method ive seen it to use a heat gun on the back side of the board and then pull it off the other side with pliers, works great for ribbon cable connectors and the like

Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

I was wondering the same thing recently. I came across a couple of dozen last week. I asked my buyer and was told that he would price them between mobo and server grade for me. So I am planning on leaving them on since I don't cut fingers from boards. Like PTS said that's a question only your buyer can answer. I don't feel that cutting a finger from a mobo would drop it to a lower grade of board since a lot of boards do not have fingers on them anyway, if your getting say $3.50# with no fingers on regular mobos then why should you get less if you take off the finger?

If the buyer catches it they will more than like likley devalue it for cutting the finger off. I dont see a buyer doing that when you send a couple like that with 100 boards, your continued business is worth more than a couple dollars. Reguardless even if they do downgrade your gonna make the same either way. And thats a risk im willing to take.