Telcom Grade?

Hey there. Super new to the forum and had a question about the grade of some boards I got my hands on. From the research I've done, I would think that they would be Telcom grade boards due to the amount of IC's. But I still dont really understand the grading procedure beyond the very basic, and it seems each buyer has their own varied style. Thanks.

Originally Posted by NobleMetalWorks

I don't think those are telecom boards, I believe more likely they are server interface cards. And just looking at the board, those purple CPUs are older and should probably have gold plated pins, cap, etc. The chips with the sticker on them should be eproms which have good yields if you process a lot of them. Also you have analog connections all along the edge of the boards, which would also lead me to believe these are older.

But I could be wrong.

The reason why telecom boards are worth more is because of the thickness and amount of gold plating used as RF shielding. These don't have the common type of gold plating you see in telecom equipment. However, just looking at the ICs, Proms, Eproms, CPUs, etc, the boards look heavily populated with great precious metal bearing material.

Scott

Scott

Indeed they did not come out of telcom equipment. Thats also what lead me to the question of grading. They are out of an old Electrical Discharge Machining control that I got from my work. Thanks for the help!

the top one has some type of video connection, guessing that from the B R & G printed beside the top right 3 external connectors

The bottom one has stickers with 95 on them, I'd reckon that's the date it was checked, inspected, or installed

i would put top pic in mid telecom.lower pic higher grade telecom.

This is pretty straight forward. They're both at least a fair telecom price. Most buyers don't grade "Telecom" boards the same. Most of the ones in the Cleveland area that I've noticed generalize that term.... a LOT.

Telecom refers more to the green board to IC chip ratio, with a bunch of other factors tossed in. Date codes say around mid 90's which is good. If it's got those clips on the top it's almost a shoe-in, so long as the board isn't full of copper bearing.

Top picture is Telecom

Bottom picture is at LEAST telecom, if you find the right buyer (I'm not allowed to suggest buyers...?) you should easily net in what's called "Chip board". Any gold capped chip on a Telecom board used to get bumped up to around $6.5 - $7.5 / lb, and be called "Chip board" or "High grade chip board" from my buyer.

Originally Posted by NobleMetalWorks

I could be wrong, but I thought boards that were graded as telecom usually had RF shielding in the form of gold plating directly on the board and that tightly populated boards were considered high grade.

Scott

When I was buying for my company, depending on the density, what most consider high grade telecom, I was able to get a Memory Board price for. I wouldn't consider what he has picutred high grade or memory board. It paid less than memory by a couple bucks, but a LOT more than high grade tele. I've never heard of telecom boards being entirely coated in gold to provide it with RF shielding. I would think there are / were cheaper routes at the time. Take a look at these:



I was ble to sell these to a guy in Eastlake, OH for memory board pricing. Granted there is a gold chip on the top left one, I would still stick it in with the memory board because it paid more than chip board.