The varying conditions of scrap yard computers.

This would probably be a lot better with pictures of what I find, but I rarely take any...I just thought this might make a good post. It might give some people an idea of what to expect from scrap yards too.

One of my sources of scrap computers is from scrap yards. Most of the time, these are the bottom of the barrel condition-wise. No begging/pleading/offering more money to handle things carefully will actually make it happen. So, even if a system enters the yard in pristine condition, once it hits the computer pile, it will be far from that. Now, the yards I buy from know nothing about electronics recycling, but I got them to start buying circuit boards and computers. It's a bit of extra money for them, but not a ton. Here are common things I run into:

1. Water and dirt. Always filthy and always left outside for the rain.
2. Front and side panels gone. Where do they go? No idea. At least half of the units are missing these. This isn't an issue most of the time since it would only be beneficial if newer systems were nice and complete. This saves me weight when I purchase.
3. Wire cutters. Happens a lot with the power supply wires and yanking out ide cables. Usually damages salvageable parts.
4. No hard drive or memory. This just happens most of the time when the owner gets rid of the computer. I would too if i was dropping it off at a scrap yard...the hard drive that is.
5. Things stuffed inside. Rocks, metal, trash, (a jar of spaghetti sauce once). Sometimes there are good things such as a bunch of wire or gold fingered cards or memory...
6. Everything bashed up (motherboard, hard drive, etc). The previous owner I expect took a hammer to it.
7. Completely empty. Really? I'm not buying it so I hope the yard didn't pay more than tin price.

All that being said, scrap yards have THE BEST assortment of systems. You never know what you're going to get. It's like a treasure hunt every time I go to pick up. Profit per pound is actually much higher with these loads than business pick-ups with systems that are being retired, or auction lots. I sell as much as possible before scrapping, but even the scrap value is higher.

My most surprising find was a newer dell motherboard with an i7 still in it (I don't remember the models). This was in the middle of a mixed gaylord of boards. The motherboard was scratched up, and had some dings. I powered it up, and tested things, and everything was just fine! I sold the motherboard for 60ish (fully disclosing the condition), and the cpu for 100. Crazy.

Yes, I have found scrap yards are great for a mix of stuff. It's like the Forrest Gump box of chocolates line. Recently I heard that a yard I don't frequent that much had closed up. I drove down there to see and found that, sure enough it had. I saw some guy puttering around on a forklift and went over to him. Brief chat about the yard and what I was looking for. Forklift guy says "Yeah, there are some compu things in there". Ended up with 380 lbs. of old pin boards at .10/lb. Sorry to see the place close but got a great deal.

There used to a small recycler close to me that larger guys used to bring semi trucks full of ewaste pallets from around Ohio to strip. Was interesting seeing how old some of the stuff was coming in. The owner would let me check them out each Friday to snag anything I wanted at 2x $ scrap weight. It was kind of shocking how much late 80's and early 90's vintage computers were still around 5 years ago. Also shocking is how much of the stuff still worked after being bounced around like trash at several locations.

Originally Posted by ryanw

This would probably be a lot better with pictures of what I find, but I rarely take any...I just thought this might make a good post. It might give some people an idea of what to expect from scrap yards too.

1. Water and dirt. Always filthy and always left outside for the rain.
2. Front and side panels gone. Where do they go? No idea. At least half of the units are missing these. This isn't an issue most of the time since it would only be beneficial if newer systems were nice and complete. This saves me weight when I purchase.
3. Wire cutters. Happens a lot with the power supply wires and yanking out ide cables. Usually damages salvageable parts.
4. No hard drive or memory. This just happens most of the time when the owner gets rid of the computer. I would too if i was dropping it off at a scrap yard...the hard drive that is.
5. Things stuffed inside. Rocks, metal, trash, (a jar of spaghetti sauce once). Sometimes there are good things such as a bunch of wire or gold fingered cards or memory...
6. Everything bashed up (motherboard, hard drive, etc). The previous owner I expect took a hammer to it.
7. Completely empty. Really? I'm not buying it so I hope the yard didn't pay more than tin price.

All that being said, scrap yards have THE BEST assortment of systems. You never know what you're going to get. It's like a treasure hunt every time I go to pick up. Profit per pound is actually much higher with these loads than business pick-ups with systems that are being retired, or auction lots. I sell as much as possible before scrapping, but even the scrap value is higher.

I only bought one load from a local scrap yard so far. The condition was almost exactly how you describe them. Plenty of side panels missing, plenty of power supply wires cut. About ½ of them were totally complete.

The yard I bought from actually stored them inside, but some obviously sat outside before, probably in the tin pile. All bashed up etc. All the systems were thrown into a gaylord.

But I also made out quite well on the lot, there were still plenty of parts I could re-sell. Several 2 GB RAM sticks, some hard drives (actually tested out good, which is surprising), some quad core CPU’s, and even a solid state drive!

If they call me again, I will certainly buy from them again.