Questions about computer boards

[ilyaz]

Are the yellow "fingers" (photo, red box) gold? What about the things in the blue boxes? I saw various people selling these fingers in bulk on eBay. So is it better to cut the fingers off and throw the rest away or keep the board intact? We don't have many scrap yards in my area and those that are close to my home do not boards at all. So I presume my only option is eBay, but is it better to go the "finger" route or the "whole board" route? Also, if I do keep whole boards, do I need to first remove large electronic components like capacitors, transformers etc, or should I keep them?

 

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[haz]

Yes that is gold plating, but that is a wireless G network card. It's worth more if it works than scrap.

 

[ilyaz]

Yes that is gold plating, but that is a wireless G network card. It's worth more if it works than scrap.

Well, that's a valuable point, thanks. However, I am not sure I'll have time to individually test and then sell boards like this one. So my question was for a "generic board", i.e.
- I have a board
- I have no idea whether it's worth anything as a working device
- It's got gold plating

So what do I do with it?

 

[haz]

Well, that's up to you. If it is worth the time to clip the gold fingers and sell or not. As far as if the board is worth anything used, ebay can help on that. I agree most old modems and older video cards etc. are not worth much, but it would be good to know before you chop them up.
You can sell large lots on ebay as scrap, AS IS or untested and someone might but them to reuse. Also some older stuff is getting harder to find, like 486 or early Pentium computers, and can sell for good money on ebay to people looking to play old games.