MICROSCRAPPINGE-waste field guide

Boards

18 components in this category. The highest-value item here is Cell phone boards at $25–40 per pound.

Cell phone boards Boards · $25–40/lb Au 0.09–0.50 g/lbAg 0.23–1.26 g/lbPd 0.025–0.07 g/lbCu 12–56% A Telecom / military boards Boards · $11–35/lb Au 0.3–4 g/lbAg 1–8 g/lbPd 0.02–0.3 g/lbCu 15–25% A Telecom backplanes Boards · $10–18/lb Au 1–3 g/lb wholeAg 0.5–2 g/lbCu 20–30% A Laptop motherboards Boards · $10–18/lb Au 0.20–0.50 g/lbAg 1–3 g/lbPd 0.02–0.08 g/lbCu 15–25% B Server motherboards Boards · $9–16/lb Au 0.05–0.3 g/lbAg 1–3 g/lbPd 0.02–0.10 g/lbCu 15–25% B Wire-wrap / pin boards Boards · $20–35/lb Au 0.6–1.5 g/lbAg 0.5–2 g/lbCu 20–30% B Arcade PCBs / JAMMA Boards Boards · $30–800/lb Au 0.05–0.20 g per board ≈ 0.09 g/lbCu ~45 g/lbAu ceramic gold-lid customs (FD1094 C Desktop motherboards Boards · $5–12/lb Au 0.02–0.15 g/lbAg 0.6–2 g/lbPd 0.01–0.05 g/lbCu 15–20% C Enterprise Switches, Line Cards & Optics Boards · $3–200/lb Au 0.15–0.6 g per large line card ≈ 0.075 g/lbCu ~70 g/lbBase chassis backplane C Gold-fingered cards (untrimmed) Boards · $10–20/lb Au 0.2–0.5 g/lbAg 0.5–2 g/lbCu 15–25% C Graphics cards ⚠ Boards · $8–14/lb Au 0.20–0.50 g/lbAg 0.5–2 g/lbCu 15–25% C Industrial Control Boards (PLC/DCS/SCADA) Boards · $3–12/lb Au 0.05–0.20 g/lb typical I/O; 0.25–0.60 g/lb CPU and backplanes; 0.6–1.5 g/lb 1970s–80s ceramic-DIP DCSAg 1–8 g per relay moduleCu ~113 g/lb C Peripheral & network cards Boards · $8–15/lb Au 0.20–0.50 g/lbAg 0.5–1.5 g/lbCu 15–25% C Console Game Cartridges Boards · $10–150/lb Au 0.003–0.015 g per cartridge ≈ 0.04 g/lb wholeAu 0.6–0.9 g/lb of trimmed fingersCu negligible D Laser Printer Boards, Fusers & Toner Chips Boards · $10–60/lb Au 0.01–0.04 g per formatter board ≈ 0.045 g/lbAu 0.0005–0.002 g per toner CRUM chip ≈ 0.3–0.8 g/lb of chipsBase Fuser: no precious metal whatsoever D Low-grade boards (PSU, TV, modem, appliance) Boards · $2–4/lb Au 0.005–0.05 g/lbAg 0.2–0.8 g/lbCu 8–15% D Set-top / cable boxes Boards · $1–3/lb Au 0.03–0.10 g/lbAg 0.3–1 g/lbCu 10–15% D Vintage Home Computers & Boards Boards · $80–350/lb Au 0.05–0.20 g per C64 board; 0.1–0.4 g per Apple II boardAu gold-lid ceramic DIPs at $150–400/lbCu ~40 g/lb D

How this category is graded

Tier S is top material worth sorting out and keeping separate. Tier A is high value and worth the labour to harvest. Tier B is solid in volume. Tier C only pays at scale or as part of the board it sits on. Tier D is near zero — knowing what not to spend time on is half the skill.

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