Ok so I'm suffering from a bit of informational overload. I'm trying to figure a concise list of what is worth collecting and selling vs what to just sell to the scrap yard as boards. I've gathered some general stuff from reading dozens of posts. Chips with gold marks in the corner mark high grade boards, gold pins and lots of chips tend to mark mid grade, and low grade boards are almost always yellow. I know tantalum caps are good. However, especially on low grade boards, what is worth keeping? I've seen debates on whether to pull the transformers or not, aluminum heatsinks or not, etc.



I suppose what I want to know is do all of the components have value? The common black capacitors? If I just depopulated every board I come across, seperate out the components, would it make more than just handing the scrap yard a tote full of power boards and stuff from vcrs and tube tvs? My local yard is only giving 10 cents a pound on low grade. Would love some guidance from the more expierence guys out here.