Motherboards

Question about grading motherboards, I'm new to scrapping electronics the right way and have read as much as I could find about grading motherboards. I read that they're graded by the CPU chip socket thing but was wondering if color had anything to do with grading them as well. I took a few, (not more then 10 as im not a big e-waste guy) to this one yard on my way to work and they said that mother boards get graded as mid grade boards unless they're green on both sides. Does this sound right to you e-waste guys? The yard I took them to is mainly a steel yard that actually rivials the yard I work for 3 miles down the road so I don't really think they know much about the E-waste either. Its just convienent going there since I drive by them to get to work anyway. Also whats a good scrap price for CPU's? That yard said $5 a pound so I kept all the gold bearing stuff till i heard from an bigger electronic scrap yard.

I'd recommend holding onto all the CPUs you get and send them to one of our buyers here on the forum once you have enough to fill a flat rate box.

Originally Posted by ScrapmanIndustries

Question about grading motherboards, I'm new to scrapping electronics the right way and have read as much as I could find about grading motherboards. I read that they're graded by the CPU chip socket thing but was wondering if color had anything to do with grading them as well. I took a few, (not more then 10 as im not a big e-waste guy) to this one yard on my way to work and they said that mother boards get graded as mid grade boards unless they're green on both sides. Does this sound right to you e-waste guys? The yard I took them to is mainly a steel yard that actually rivials the yard I work for 3 miles down the road so I don't really think they know much about the E-waste either. Its just convienent going there since I drive by them to get to work anyway. Also whats a good scrap price for CPU's? That yard said $5 a pound so I kept all the gold bearing stuff till i heard from an bigger electronic scrap yard.

Some buyers do have a lower price for colored motherboarrds. In regards to the cpu, I would give them all my pin less green fiber (with heatsink) for $5. All the rest, I would use a buyer on the forum. I would suggest that you check prices on here. Steel yards will generally not give you the best bang for the buck.

Originally Posted by tski72

Honestly, get yourself a 12 x 14 x 14 box and fill it with your boards and ship them to Ewasted, but I would have to agree with mthomasdev on the pinless cpu's that you receive, take those in for the 5 bucks a pound. Just keep your box somewhat sorted and under 70 pounds and you will do pretty well. Steel yards will not be able to compete with an e-waste buyer even when shipping is involved. Keep you memory in a separate bin and all the different cpu's sort out the best you can, the ones you see most nowadays are the cheap ones like p4 and newer, pinned and pinless. Any I-series cpu's send out for above scrap valve to one of the buyers here that deals with that. Last I remember, Ewasted deals in scrap only.

Do some reading in the buyers section for the different e-waste buyers and their prices and who does what with shipping. It is a lot of information to absorb but it will be well worth it.

If you still have any specific questions, ask your buyer of choice or just PM me and I'll help you the best I can.

Happy scrapping

i may start doing that with the boards if its really worth it.

Originally Posted by 4barrel

I'd recommend holding onto all the CPUs you get and send them to one of our buyers here on the forum once you have enough to fill a flat rate box.

I actually was planning on doing that if i could get enough. I only got like 7 so far though

Learn how to clean the motherboards down too. You have to remove excess steel, Aluminium heatsinks, Battery's.
I remove the little jumper jacks and the Brass plug screws too.

I also wash the boards in a warm, slightly soapy, with some Meths (denatured ethanol) added for 'bite', water. (For a while I diverted the hot waste water from my dishwasher, lol) and dry them. I do spray the boards as soon as I open the computer tonkill germs and keep the dust down.
Once I accidently inhaled a bit of loose dust from the computer and it got stuck in my throat, it stayed there for months.....
I started wondering just what was in that dust, every spec of dust, germs and tar filled some that that computer ever came in contact with in the rooms it was in..... Ugh, spray it as soon as you see it!
Power supply's get a dunking in the water.
Actually, the gunk on the boards just rolls up into balls and rinses off, its easy and the boards are as clean as new boards.

Removing the battery's is very very important, its a shipping hazard and if they find one battery it can cost you the whole load, plus.
Some Apple Motherboards, and others, have a solid Lithium battery and it looks very similar to a capacitor.

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

Learn how to clean the motherboards down too. You have to remove excess steel, Aluminium heatsinks, Battery's.
I remove the little jumper jacks and the Brass plug screws too.

I also wash the boards in a warm, slightly soapy, with some Meths (denatured ethanol) added for 'bite', water. (For a while I diverted the hot waste water from my dishwasher, lol) and dry them. I do spray the boards as soon as I open the computer tonkill germs and keep the dust down.
Once I accidently inhaled a bit of loose dust from the computer and it got stuck in my throat, it stayed there for months.....
I started wondering just what was in that dust, every spec of dust, germs and tar filled some that that computer ever came in contact with in the rooms it was in..... Ugh, spray it as soon as you see it!
Power supply's get a dunking in the water.
Actually, the gunk on the boards just rolls up into balls and rinses off, its easy and the boards are as clean as new boards.

Removing the battery's is very very important, its a shipping hazard and if they find one battery it can cost you the whole load, plus.
Some Apple Motherboards, and others, have a solid Lithium battery and it looks very similar to a capacitor.

Thanks. I haven't washed anything that i got for scrap so i can see why you would if your doing computers all day long. I normally take the aluminum heat sinks and battery off. And when theres plastic around the cpu area i take that off as well. Do you have to take off the reciever ends that the wires plug into when the computers whole or no just leave em be?

If there's 'Tinsle' around the sockets I take it off, its just the thin metal sheet that's held on by the Chromed Brass standoffs (for the 2 plug screws to screw into)

The actual metal folded around the sockets can stay on.

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

Learn how to clean the motherboards down too. You have to remove excess steel, Aluminium heatsinks, Battery's.
I remove the little jumper jacks and the Brass plug screws too.

I also wash the boards in a warm, slightly soapy, with some Meths (denatured ethanol) added for 'bite', water. (For a while I diverted the hot waste water from my dishwasher, lol) and dry them. I do spray the boards as soon as I open the computer tonkill germs and keep the dust down.
Once I accidently inhaled a bit of loose dust from the computer and it got stuck in my throat, it stayed there for months.....
I started wondering just what was in that dust, every spec of dust, germs and tar filled some that that computer ever came in contact with in the rooms it was in..... Ugh, spray it as soon as you see it!
Power supply's get a dunking in the water.
Actually, the gunk on the boards just rolls up into balls and rinses off, its easy and the boards are as clean as new boards.

Removing the battery's is very very important, its a shipping hazard and if they find one battery it can cost you the whole load, plus.
Some Apple Motherboards, and others, have a solid Lithium battery and it looks very similar to a capacitor.

Tell me about it. I'm surprised I haven't picked up Hanta virus from all of the mouse turds.

The only things I remove are the heatsink, fan, and any batteries. No complants or deductions thus far from forum buyers.