Things you should be looking for when scrapping computers

Oddballs. Find a 386 or 486 you've never seen before, or a dual chip p pro workstation? Stop! Don't scrap it, sell it whole. Ebay is a playground for this geek stuff.

Resale Value- Personally, I buy everything from whole computers, laptops power supplies, ball bearing fans, aftermarket heatsinks, graphics cards, memory, cpus, motherboards of nearly all types...and more that if you aren't at least doing your diligence you are basically throwing away potential money. What's the worst PTS, myself or the other buyers can say, it didn't work, it's scrap? What are you out...a few cents on the pound, if anything at all?

Things most people forget:

Check for the windows certificate of authenticity. XP has no value and neither does vista home versions, business is a few bucks...maybe. So many people email me and say something along the lines of "I just read your thread about the COAs but I already took the shells to the dump." Well...I'd have gone back to get them that's how valuable they are.

Even 512K memory has craigslist value...I mean how hard is it to sell 4 at a time for $5? I do...they don't sell like hotcakes but then again I still get people asking for P4 cpus...

THE CASE- Aftermarket cases have value, especially if they are clean, relatively undamaged and support oversized Workstation ATX type power supplies. Names like Thermaltake, Corsair, Xcedy...even original packard bell, IBM 496, 386, etc cases have value because some of us geek out on retro builds.

Cords- VGA, DVI, Power, USB cords that are 6 feet or longer, HDMI, DVI to VGA adapaters, VGA extension cords, ethernet cords longer than 12 feet...all of these have value. Power bricks made by toshiba, asus and IBM all have greater than scrap value. Buyers are right here on this forum for those.

Keyboards and Mice, the Microsoft Laser USB Mouse, the microsoft mechanical keyboard and the HP mechanical keyboard are all more than scrap value, anything apple of course and well...that list goes on for things like wireless keyboards who's problem is usually just a bad receiver.

I just want you newer guys to understand...it's more than just scrapping computers. Anyone can run a screw gun the more important thing is knowing what to look for. Later on tomorrow night (tonight for me) I will go over how to identify cpus, memory, sockets, motherboard brands and revisions, why certain things are more valuable than others...I might even post a quick video to run everyone interested through this.

We will see about the cords, I'm going to see another forum member today, I'm hoping he can dig up a box full of them.

Quite alright, It's hard for me to build and keep inventory as it is, get enough of us looking for it, when I need it I know where to go.

In reference to graphics cards, that's my specialty, the market is volatile and I try to stay as on top of their value as possible. Graphics cards can make a break a good build, that's the truth, and so can the motherboard.

If you get a LGA775 or am2 or am2+/am3 socket board made by ASUS, try not to damage it and contact me, I buy those things. I even buy intel boards from certain revisions locally. Just today I saw no less than 50 boards, all damaged from being scrapped out...I'd bet if they worked the payout on them would have been more than triple. I keep a long list of revisions, brands and what I've found to be compatible with various CPUs, I call it my motherlode list, motherboards capable of certain cpu wattage and multi-core capable, meaning they will accept and handle a quad core chip within their design limits. I'm a bit OCD that way, I can dig through a pile and crack open various PCs to pick what I know I can use for refurbishing.

I'm hoping a few other buyers can chime in here to explain what they are buying and where to find it. We have a couple ac adapter buyers, some real good laptop buyers with more variety than myself, cord buyers like Mudlucky, Really though...I see it more often than not, money just thrown away for the sake of scrapping. Doesn't take much to segregate a pile of machines you think might have more value and then visually inspect them to see if they have all their parts so you can test it.

Also, I'd like to take the time here to answer any questions outside of my buyer posts about more than scrap value items, like how and where to find cpus, what to look for in motherboards, etc. I've had to reject quite a few motherboards because of bad caps, I've also accepted a few with bad caps that still had value even with labor involved in cap replacement. I paid for these boards anyways.

Graphics cards can be a hot mess, some cards look old and worthless, but not all are worthless...Some have vintage value, ATI has made a few early cards from way way back in even the DOS days of gaming that still sell for 30-40 each on ebay. I'd also like to point out some other obvious choices of finger cards, fiber optic cards, digital or hd audio sound cards, low profile graphics cards, even older ones...have value. I just received a few good ones over the weekend, you have to pay attention to your scrap pile...try not to get too happy with hammers and screw guns right off the bat.

It helps I don't sleep much... hehe

Oh, big one.

I will not take anyone's word for it. Meaning just because you tested it doesn't mean it passes. For instance, I get quad cores all the time that pass a post test but the stepping fails (core unlock on the amd boards). I get graphics cards that work...for 2 or 3 minutes. Memory that works if you wiggle it just right (bad smd chip soldering) and on and on. My testing strategies are based on maximizing likelyhood component will be fine in a working environment. Was sent 30 working sata drives from a member, one had a broken connector, no big deal at all we all miss something.

I have machines setup for each function, cpu testing, memory testing, graphics cards testing and more. SMART tested hard drives, etc. I don't necessarily reject anything out of hand, I will for instance, wipe and clean contacts, clean the heatsinks, replace a fan on a g card...and still pay you full price.

Visual inspections are important on CPUs especially, if it doesn't plug into the socket (amd chips) and I cant fix it with a pin comb your out of luck. SMD parts on the bottom of Intel chips are incredibly fragile. If they are damaged the chip may post but will not pass stepping or low power mode testing. Again, same as above, it will be rejected.

Example, I've got a customer who sent me a large lot of CPUs, clean, properly prepared and mailed on trays. An well packed shipment, should arrive clean and ready for testing, unless you as the customer enjoy waiting weeks for me to get to them all.