Board grading

If you took the exact same mobo would you expect them to be graded the same? I ask because I took a load of all green boards in today. All p4 all usually paid out at reg high grade price as long as they are green. Today they were separated because some of them said made in Mexico. I took half a load back with me. ;(

Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else? All the boards were from the same model and make computer. The only difference was where it was made.
Hopefully a buyer or two will weigh in on this. If this is what selling boards is coming to then we are all going to have problems!
It was not a buyer from here. I am waiting for the owner to call me back with an explanation . Hopefully it was a screw up on the part of the kid on the scale. I will post findings when I hear from him.

You have to understand the population, age, quality and yes source country can help u grade boards. Besides assAy of all thr boards you need to trust your buyer but verify.

Learn about chokes. More higher quality choke and components can help you determine the quality of boards. Yes socket size and age are easiest way to get and idea. Look at the if chips. Yes they are all date coded. So if chips can tell about when they were made. Quality chokes Indicate a manufactures intentions of building a good board. If they spend the $ to regulate voltage to the chipset with quality parts better chance they populated the board with high quality parts. That means better assay results.

You guys have to become electrical engineers and then when you master all the parts of a board you will realize boards have like 50 grades. On the high end. Don't let anyone fool you. It would be like a cat buyer using 6 grades but you know there's like 30 common grades and a guide with every single assay report of pl pt rod on all cats. Mostly the manufacture and refiners have this info. But you can find it if you look. I have it. But I worked for 5 years buying cats and still learn something new every day.

But I'm a battery buyer

Aaron Stillwater

It's seeming that the overall motherboard category that some places have had are being split, at least, into two categories. "Foreign" boards, and the rest. This isn't new knowledge, but it's trickling down to everyone that has a small margin on this stuff.

If it's made in mexico, it's foreign. This could have been on purpose, but also something could have been lost in an explanation to the scale person. I sell a decent amount locally, but the knowledge really isn't passed around well to employees. Last place I was inquiring at, I brought a large sample of motherboards. The scale person was most interested in pins on boards than anything else.

Pins on boards. Like the sata wire connection pins. I think that's a bad way to grade. Large buyers must go my socket. It's all socket. I'm saying look at population to sub grade the same
Socket board. One socket 774 board may have 8 Different manufactures. They all make them a little different. This is why I'm saying its all quality of the populated parts.

This doenst matter. Make ur margin and move on unless ur tollin assay selling.

Aaron at Stillwater.

I'm the future learn to grade iPad touchpad phone and laptop board. It's all we will find in 5 years. Besides servers.

I'm going to South America and other third world countries in a few years to find all the dinosaurs. That's where they are. The old stuff. Who wants to come with me.
Aaron.

Thanks for the responses but it still doesnt answer the question. How do two exactly the same boards from the same machines get graded differently based on a stamp which states where they are made? Still no call back from my buyer after leaving three messages!

he may be new to grading boards and taking the term "foreign boards" to mean not made in the USA. I miss the old days of everything being $4 plus per pound regardless of color or whether its computer or printer board.

He has been at it for a while. Moved locations and has lost a lot of walk in business. Anyway I think I am going to run some boards through a shredder, have them incinerated and get a fire assay on the remains. I think its time to find out if there really is that much of a difference in the newer boards. One buyer here has responded to me in a pm and I thank him for that. The lack of responses from the rest leads me to believe we all may be leaving money on the table. Stay tuned!

Thank you Stillwater... Well said ... Brass:There is no way on a large scale basis to grade boards that micro... It is all about Slot. Buyers are not commenting because we have something to hide some secret, its that there's northing really to tell you. When you deal with thousands of motherboards weekly or monthly you cant have a system of breaking down to that many categories in purchasing....There are less than a handful of buyers anywhere that will buy P4 boards at higher than low grade price and they are making a blend. I come from a stainless steel scrap background so I am a huge proponent of blending material but its a complicated and risky thing to do. And those that are buying p4 boards higher than low grade are not paying full high grade price for large socket so just realize as a seller you cant have it all your way.. I buy three categories of motherboards.. Large Socket ( any color) small socket colored and p4 which is about a .10 premium over small socket colored only because I have a niche outlet for them..
Stillwater: if you are going to S America ill go if its to Brazil during Carnivale time

Thanks Urban i appreciate the input. Now a question for you....would you pay fingerboard price for a p4 board with gold finger attached? The boards that have fingers are three times longer that a finger on a fingercard but buyers will not pay fingerboard price for them. And if color is an issue the are green fingercards worth more than colored ones?

Also I have a 386 mobo that is stamped made in hong kong, should that be pAid out as a foreign boarf as well?

maybe a new category green foreign?

Brass: I can only speak from my perspective as a buyer who is open to sharing just about all the info I have to my customers and others. Many on here don't like how I say things at times or my philosophy on how I do business or how I will jump in on a thread where I personally don't like the info that's being given but I will answer any question someone might have if I feel I have info that can help and not hinder. When it comes to higher end refining I will always say to ask the bigger buyers or guys who refine on here. Now back to the question at hand.
P4 board with fingers.. My customers know my feelings about cutting fingers off of any type of finger card or memory (Its don't)..Here's the exception. The p4 board with fingers to me is still a small socket green. Even though there are longer fingers on it than a traditional finger card the size of the board to finger ratio isn't even remotely close to adding any measurable value to the buyer. Therefore if you must cut fingers off of any board that would be the board to do it to....Color isn't an issue for finger boards because they are a completely separate item than Motherboards. Proportion of finger to board size and the chips make it a separate better item....Too many people overthink the whole color issue. Once again as Stillwater said "its not color its socket size." As technology gets better we don't need as much material to get the speeds we are getting. If you owned a large sized E scrap operation you would be paying out probably 30-40% more in labor time if your sorters had to look for such detail. I am just thankful that the difference between large and small socket is not even questionable. If your like many on here who resell processors and boards you cant have it both ways. You are getting a huge markup on your dual core and better boards so you must accept the fact that because of the technology that allows them to have such a good value for that you will be getting less for it as scrap. to me its very logical. Be happy that the boards and processors you cant resell because of their age have a higher scrap value. Those that don't concentrate on trying to squeeze every cent out of every item will succeed in this business. So there are always exceptions but to sum this all up... The way to package your motherboards are 1.Large socket any color 2. P4 boards 3.Small socket boards Package 2. 1 Large Socket 2. P4 and small socket Package 3.. Mixed large socket and P4 2. Small socket Package 1. Finger cards Package 2. Finger cards without brackets... Hope this helps someone lol

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Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

Thanks Urban i appreciate the input. Now a question for you....would you pay fingerboard price for a p4 board with gold finger attached? The boards that have fingers are three times longer that a finger on a fingercard but buyers will not pay fingerboard price for them. And if color is an issue the are green fingercards worth more than colored ones?

Also I have a 386 mobo that is stamped made in hong kong, should that be pAid out as a foreign boarf as well?

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Thank you once again! I am one of the ones that does appreciate that you post as it has helped me in the past. I still feel that there is more value that what most of us know when it comes to boards. I have the good fortune to be able to shred a good sampling of boards, incinerate them and get the assay done by a local refiner who I sell my gold to. Maybe I will be spinning my wheels or maybe there will be some validity to my theory. Either way once it is done I will have a definitive answer. I know of someone that has ben doing what I propose over on grf. I have to look for the results and when I find them I will post those as well.

Whatever the findings I will post them. I will either be the goat or the hero but at least we will all have an answer. I know that the info I get and post may ruffle some feathers of some, but this has been a topic of discussion here since I joined without an answer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

Thank you once again! I am one of the ones that does appreciate that you post as it has helped me in the past. I still feel that there is more value that what most of us know when it comes to boards. I have the good fortune to be able to shred a good sampling of boards, incinerate them and get the assay done by a local refiner who I sell my gold to. Maybe I will be spinning my wheels or maybe there will be some validity to my theory. Either way once it is done I will have a definitive answer. I know of someone that has ben doing what I propose over on grf. I have to look for the results and when I find them I will post those as well.

Whatever the findings I will post them. I will either be the goat or the hero but at least we will all have an answer. I know that the info I get and post may ruffle some feathers of some, but this has been a topic of discussion here since I joined without an answer.

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What I think is funny the fact that they were graded foreign. Aren't 90%+ of PCBs foreign made. Finding N.American made is the oddity on MB. Mexico is part of NAFTA. Most of what I have seen are made in china just on green boards.

Eric

You guys they are all foreign. I can't spell so sorry.

It's all from china. Three laptop companies make all the laptops for all the big players.


No is talking because every high end buyer has an assay report on every socket. The difference is chipset ic and other populated parts. Like what are the quality.

Its so simple but so dam hard to explain.

I just started doing this two months ago and sat down and said. Aaron learn now and now why and what every component does you can solve any grading question.

To a point.

No likes guys like us. I rather deal with educated buyers and sellers than look to score one time.
Look trus verify and make lots of little deals all the time. I don't like big scores.
Sean at phonix said it well. Don't trip over dollars for dimes.

Just meet the guy last week. Solid buyer for you New England guys.

Until I take over the world. Lol.

Aaron.
Stillwater.

Great info in this Thead. Let's get to to 10 pages and sticky it.

Buyers won't like that. Lol. I'm a buyer though. Kinda. Batteries are my baby.

Nite guys its sat and kids rule thjs house on sat.

Aaron.

alot of the high end motherboards are off color, kinda makes you wonder about things

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Originally Posted by jghilino

alot of the high end motherboards are off color, kinda makes you wonder about things

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What the hell are you talking about?

gigabyte is blue, asus and asrock are black and so on

so many variables go into determing the value of boards, the problem is the people grading boards are frequently wrong

you cant just go off of just the socket size or where it was made

Way to technical for me lol....Thankfully I have decades of scrap experience and can make a good living that way with out having to learn it that way or id be screwed....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jghilino

gigabyte is blue, asus and asrock are black and so on

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by jghilino

alot of the high end motherboards are off color, kinda makes you wonder about things

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I agree I have blue IBM POS P4 boards right now they are graded as colored chinese boards.

I think MB are one of the lowest types of scrap anyways.

Eric

Question.... Do the smaller sellers on here expect their buyers to segregate that micro on all their boards? Serious question