Ic chips or emproms questions

If they are in sockets take them off.

If you have someone you can sell the eproms to, for more per lb, then maybe.

If your boards weigh 10 lbs for example, and you are getting $3.50 lb for the boards, that would be $30.50 for boards.

If you pull lets say 2 lbs of eproms from the boards, and selling them for $16 per lb then it doesn't matter if your boards are downgraded, everything past that amount is gravy.

You just need to do the math. When it comes to this type of thing nobody can tell you what you really should do, you need to factor in your time, effort, energy and consider your market. You also might want to check out ebay or craigslist to see if there is anyone buying eproms per lb and how much they are paying.

Here are some examples of eproms being sold on ebay.

Lot of 53 EPROM Chips 1lb for Precious Metal Recovery | eBay

Also, remember on your older boards that the older eproms/proms/ics are worth money to collectors far beyond their recycle value. And also to people refurbishing old electronics.

Vintage Very RARE Intel C2704 EPROM with Gold 1 | eBay

Not long ago I had a bunch of small little ICs that were gold plated top, bottom, legs, that I sold to someone for $35.00 each, a lot more than I would have made processing them. Here is a picture of what they looked like.



And these I sold for $120 each



I am fortunate because I live so close to Silicon Valley, there are a lot of computer geeks with disposable income who collect these types of things, and many others who refurbish older retro electronics and computer equipment. I have made some really good contacts at swap meets for these types of things for both selling, and scrap. If you have any swap meets like this in your area, you might want to check them out before chucking your eproms or just selling the boards. Sometimes recycling isn't about selling or processing scrap, sometimes it's about re-purposing material.

Scott