Chips

Ok, to me this is something that doesn't get discussed much...and I'm having trouble finding information. (Mech, feel free to insert links). I don't deal with chips...I leave them on the boards...even low grade. What are the value of "chips?" (Not getting into "well 386 and 486 yadda yadda" that I know)...I mean chips off low grade boards, where you only find one or two. Also, I was looking through some of the stickys and saw that chips and flatbacks are worth the same...

So when i bust off an alum heatsink and unscrew that little chip that comes off with it...well i throw them in a shred bucket with screws...i guess main question what are these worth?

Sounds like what you are talking about are transistors The metal plate (sometimes hidden by plastic) is copper or nickel coated copper. I pull them off and throw them in a can. I have never sold any so don't know what the yard would classify them as, but definitely worth more than shred. I have about 20 pounds of them saved up.

Starbits

I am perdy sure the heatsinked ones are going to be transistors made from copper bust the black off and sell to your yard. prices vary yard to yard. My yard pays me 2.45 a pound on them. The IC chips with legs and the flatback as you say are worth breaking off the boards. Between $4 an $5 bucks a pound depending on the buyer.

I know the metal part is copper but, from what I understand the black part is a made of some kind of semiconductor material. This stuff has to be worth something...

IC chips are the long black chips that are soldered the board. I send mine to ewasted at 5.00 per pound and if you send just the ic chips to him he wants 10 pound min. The little black things that are being called transistors are #2 copper, I just throw them in with my #2 copper at 2.80 per pound.

happy
"The little black things that are being called transistors are #2 copper, I just throw them in with my #2 copper at 2.80 per pound."

do you sell them as is or is that with the plastic broken?

gnraxlrose88

good questions, I've been pulling these and saving them, didn't know what everyones been doing with them!!!

Yes, transistors, sorry. I always just figured they were tiny and not worth messing with. Do you just break the plastic off and leave the legs?

And to accumulate 10lbs of chips seems hard to me, when theirs MAYBE 2 on a low grade board...thats where it comes into an "is it worth it to me" question

I don't take anything off thats why they are #2 copper becuase they have the plastic on them. Gnraxlrose88 seems like your talking about two diffrant things, the transistors are screwed onto the heatsink and solderd onto the boards, the IC chips are just solderd onto the boards. Weather it is worth it to you or not will be up to you, if you don't get very many low grade boards then it's not going to be worth taking them off but if you get several hundred lbs. then it would be worth it.

I once paid $80 for a single BIOS chip(shortly after 2K and my computer clock wouldn't roll over). When I first started scrapping computers a few years later, I'd save the BIOS chips. Listed 4 of them together on Ebay and sold for about $5+shipping. Not sure how well it worked, but I still recall their feedback was short and simple, "How Convenient!"