gold from computers

[whitesid]

here is some gold that i recovered from some computers. it weighs .2 grams but it is 24k

also if anyone here has any CPUs, RAM, sound cards, or anything like that from scraping computers send me a PM i am looking to buy them.

 

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[Lou from downunder]

I've spent many a fascinating hour reading the many post on "the Gold Refining Forum" {google it}.
Consensus of opinion seems to be that while it is a great hobby, refining gold from computers that is, there is no money to be made from it.

Lou.

 

[airborne1092]

Where do you find the gold in the computers or devices/cards?
What tools do you use to remove the gold?
Older computers or newer computers?

Thanks!

 

[whitesid]

you are right, its not that profitable, however if you have a lot of computer scrap it can make you a pretty penny.

airborne1092- the gold in this picture is from the fingers on the bottom of old cards, like sound cards, RAM, and the modem cards. there is also gold in CPU's however i didn't try any of them yet, i am still saving up more of them before i refine them. and there is gold in all computers old and new, some just have more than others.

 

[davest]

nice button. I still have a plastic container of fingers and whatnot that I've been sitting on. I was watching a video on the grf and saw something about having to use some really nasty poisonous chemicals and decided to stop at that point. I guess I'll just keep taking the parts apart for now and saving them.

 

[Shortstack]

Gold is still being used to coat electrical contacts in computers and other electronic equipment. Gold is an inert metal and, therefore, does not corode as silver and copper would; so it makes for reliable contact material. Back before the "locked" price of gold was dropped in the US, manufacturers used thicker coats on the contacts. After the set price of gold was dropped and we went to the world spot pricing, manufacturers had to thin out the coatings to save money, but they still use it. It'll take more pieces of material to refine for the gold, but at about $1000 troy ounce, a little bit goes a long way.
The only thing that will dissolve gold is an acid called Aqua Regia. It's made by combining nitric acid and sulfuric acids and warming the concoction. VERY DANGEROUS STUFF. Amateurs should stay away from Aqua Regia. One way that could be safer and usable on smaller pieces of scrap is to use a concentrated amount of nitric acid to eat away the material that the gold is plated on. Kind of a backdoor way of getting the little bit of gold from the board contacts and pins. You should try this outdoors in good ventilation. Use full face shields, painters' filter masks using filter cans designed for chemicals and fumes.(these can be found at NAPA Auto Parts as well as other stores. Do not skimp on the filters.) Also, get a pair of rubber gloves that are designed for using acids and other chemicals. (these are reusable, not disposable types.) Use glass containers and remember, ALWAYS ADD ACID TO WATER; NOT WATER TO ACID.
Do your research before getting into this.

 

[whitesid]

i did a lot of research before doing this. i used hydrochloric acid and clorox to dissolve the gold instead of Aqua Regia then precipitated it with SMB and gave it a rinse in new HCL.

 

[goldencoin]

Nice sid!

HH
-GC

 

[jeff of pa]

what do the boards sell for ?

 

[whitesid]

what kind of boards?

 

[pygmy]

I would be interested in knowing what weight of FINGERS was used to produce the 0.2 gm.
Also were the fingers ground into dust first and if so what was used to do this grinding.

 

[jeff of pa]

what kind of boards?

no ida the kind that are in older computers

please don't ask how old,
they don't talk

and all i know is their in there

 

[whitesid]

what kind of boards?

no ida the kind that are in older computers

please don't ask how old,
they don't talk

and all i know is their in there

if your talking about mother boards, they dont have that much gold in them. the CPUs are good and the gold fingers on the end of cards are also good.

 

[Shortstack]

There are some small pieces that look like resistors that have a small bead of gold inside. (you can see it through the clear case of the piece) I think they are called "thermistors".

 

[Sorroque]

Where do you find the gold in the computers or devices/cards?
What tools do you use to remove the gold?
Older computers or newer computers?

Thanks!

The cpu, central processor unit, has solid gold pins. This is the unit in the center of the mobo, motherboard, and has a fan on top of it. Remove the fan . Pull up the lever bar on the side of cpu and this will unlock the cpu from the mobo. then turn cpu over. All 240 of those pins are solid gold! They probably weigh as much as a gold flake a piece. Not much. But still worth the thought!

 

[whitesid]

the CPUs are gold plated over a layer layer of nickel that is plated on top of copper.

 

[Sorroque]

the CPUs are gold plated over a layer layer of nickel that is plated on top of copper.

Oh my goodness. My apology.
I shall have to relearn what I learned about these. I wonder if there are exceptions? the one in particular, which i thought was gold, was the AMD 400 cpu.