Gold on old CPU\'s worth anything?

[muddle171965]

Anyone out there got CPUs, I would really like them and I can assure you they wont be going to China! Or any other third world country, this down on luck, out of work, fed up of signing on Englishman will put them to good use!

 

[beenthere]

Only if you have about ten thousand CPUs then you'd get about ten cents.

 

[Guest]

You would have to process parts on an industrial scale to make any profit put of the process! Not only that you will need access to some very nasty and dangerous chemicals! Even if you had a hundred processors, the chemicals would cost more than the gold you will extract, the thing about gold plating, is that is very very thin.

 

[jaguarskx]

CPUs definitely has gold (and other metals) in them. I actually read an article about extracting gold from CPUs earlier this year. There is more than $0.10 of gold in your average CPU, it's probably around $0.75 to $1.00 from what I can remember.

The problem is you have to extract the gold on a large scale to actually make it somewhat profitable. And to maximize your profits you should also extract the other metal used CPUs as well such as Aluminum, beryllium, gallium, palladium, platinum, mercury and arsenic (yes, arsenic is considered a metal, or more precisely a metalloid), amongst other metals.

Extracting gold from CPUs, other types of chips and circuit boards can be quite hazardous. You need "Aqua Regia" (Latin for "Royal Water") for this process. "Aqua Regia" is a combination of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid that is mixed in approximately a 1:3 ratio. Those acids are very dangerous to use.

On the plus side, "Aqua Regia" also dissolves platinum as well.

Good luck, don't forget protective gear, and a respirator if you choose to pursue this endeavour.

 

[jaguarskx]

Also note that the price of gold has been falling due to global economic uncertainties and more importantly the strengthening US Dollar. Gold reached it's peak at around $1,926 per troy oz. back in August 22nd or 23rd. But it has dropped to around $1,643 last Friday, September 23rd.

 

[Jay_83]

There's gold in them CPUs pardner!
Just not very much...

 

[z2v124]

Check out this website - www.goldcomputerchips.com
They have a wide variety of chips that supposedly have high gold content.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

you would do better salvaging copper from old wiring, pipes, water heaters etc.

 

[jimmysmitty]

CPUs definitely has gold (and other metals) in them. I actually read an article about extracting gold from CPUs earlier this year. There is more than $0.10 of gold in your average CPU, it's probably around $0.75 to $1.00 from what I can remember.

The problem is you have to extract the gold on a large scale to actually make it somewhat profitable. And to maximize your profits you should also extract the other metal used CPUs as well such as Aluminum, beryllium, gallium, palladium, platinum, mercury and arsenic (yes, arsenic is considered a metal, or more precisely a metalloid), amongst other metals.

Extracting gold from CPUs, other types of chips and circuit boards can be quite hazardous. You need "Aqua Regia" (Latin for "Royal Water") for this process. "Aqua Regia" is a combination of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid that is mixed in approximately a 1:3 ratio. Those acids are very dangerous to use.

On the plus side, "Aqua Regia" also dissolves platinum as well.

Good luck, don't forget protective gear, and a respirator if you choose to pursue this endeavour.

I think it was a THG article about extracting gold from mobos and such. They got a BB sized grain from like 10 or 15 mobos.

 

[jaguarskx]

Old (or rather ancient) mobos and circuit boards will have more gold in them than current ones.

While watching CNBC I saw a blurb which stated that the average cellphone is estimated to have $1.20 - $1.40 worth of gold with current gold prices. I believe it was also estimated that worldwide, around 186,000,000 cellphones will be replaced with newer cellphones this year alone.

That's a decent chunk of change if someone manages to collect all of them to extract the gold. That's excluding other valuable metal that can be extracted as well.