"Breaking Down" CPU's for Maximum$

Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

I take it he is saying cpu meaning tower.

I am assuming that PTS is correct here. I have heard a good many people refer to the entire tower as the CPU...So they are telling you that you should break down the entire down into it's various components to maximize the scrap value. Since I have a few extra minutes here I will run through the basic process for you.

First off you should get inside the tower itself. Depending on its age this could mean something as simple as removing a side panel or sliding off the entire outside of the tower.

Once inside you will see a mass of different things.

The way that I like to start is by removing the power supply. This will be the metal box that has a mass amount of wires coming out of it. the wires will be attached to the circuit boards and drives. Simply pop off the connections, remove the screws holding the power supply in and slide it out. Set this aside.

Then I like to remove the drives. There are several different ways that CD/DVD drives, floppy and hard drives can be attached. It can be screws or just simple tabs with slides attached. Once you figure it out pull the drives out and set them aside.

Now I pull out the finger cards or PCI boards. These are usually held in with one screw and then they just pop out.

Then find all the screws holding the motherboard in and remove them. The motherboard should come out easily.

Once the motherboard is out you should remove the RAM(memory), heat sink and fan, processor and any IC chips that are residing on the board.

As I said, that is the very basic of the entire operation and there is a lot of information available here on the forum. I believe that there are even some links to some videos by other members that could be of tremendous help to you.



But don't worry, you will get there. We all started out somewhere in the business and it takes a while to learn the ropes.