Bulk RAM Stripping in Acid

[@scouseurbanminer5106]

Nice work Anthony, looking forward to the refining section

[@badideametals]

Hey thanks :). I am going to try to strip all my DDR 2 / 3 / 4 stuff before I do the final video for this series. My estimates scare me to what I may see as a final result. (Good "scare") It will take me months to just strip everything down. That will be a fun end of summer if I can get it done by then.

[@scouseurbanminer5106]

@@badideametals yeah takes longer than most people realise when you factor in weather and life commitments, take your time, don’t rush anything, and definitely don’t do what I did, make sure you do at least three nitric boils on the chip remains and do more if you’re still getting reactions, worth spending extra time at that part of the process, I made the mistake of only doing one long extraction over a couple of days thinking that as the reaction stopped completely I had got all the base metals, a couple of months after I published the video I re-ran the remains with another two poor man’s nitric extractions and there was still loads of metals still in there, including an extra chunk of gold, hope this helps matey

[@badideametals]

@@scouseurbanminer5106 That does. I probably have discarded enough gold to feel really stupid about... I do my best to get what I can. There are days that I get surprised by a low yield and I have to retrace my steps (processes) ... I am still learning what works best for me, my setup, and what I want to get back from all this. Thank you for your recommendations and your help :). Stay safe.

[@robertbeighter6336]

I just bought 4 of those 16Gb modules from ebay for $100 for a new build!! LOL I have been soaking ram in Muriatic acid for years.... Great way to lazily depopulate after the fingers are trimmed off. Also use it to separate the fingers from the boards..

[@badideametals]

Ya, I do a cost estimate on the RAM. If the resale value is below the gold value, I strip it and refine it. These 16GB DDR3-R sticks estimate to $15 - $20 of gold per stick. The Ebay average for them as "functional" was $10 - $15 per stick before shipping and seller fees. Also, they were in a server that sat out in the weather for a month. I hate selling things and then find out the weather made them unreliable long term. Then I get the return request, and I give the refund... which puts me out the money, and the sticks of RAM... and leaves me nothing. So, at the end of the day, I am trying to guess where my better return and earning potential will be. Sadly for these sticks of RAM and for those who wish to find use of them, they are going to add to my refinement collection. I am happy that the acid can work 24/7 and all I have to do is get it started.

[@robertbeighter6336]

@@badideametals Wow, I didnt realise there was that much gold in them, and my mistake, it was DDR4 modules I bought. I have been collecting the fingers, but have also started putting the BGA's away for some time I can figure out what to do with them after incineration.

[@cptrikester2671]

Looks interesting. Waiting for the next installment. For myself, don't like the idea of the acids (not a chemist and don't have the proper equipment).

[@badideametals]

Ya, the chem is bad news. It smells pretty bad most of the time... strong smell of chlorine. Definitely an outdoor activity (or in a fume hood). I am hoping to get all my RAM cleared by mid summer and I will get the final reveal for this done by the end of summer ... hopefully

[@johnross8939]

Anthony, are you going to try this depopulation process on other circuit boards? Might have to cut apart the larger ones...

[@badideametals]

@@johnross8939, No, I don't do this on other boards... too many other things that the HCl will attack. For video cards, I just use pliers on the fingers ... takes seconds each card. And the BGA ICs are so simple since they are seperated on the board. The hardest part of GPU cards are the small screw mounted fans. Usually, I just do the fingers and put the rest of the cards in a box. When the box is full, then I get all the fans and chips off ... and I evaluate if there is anything else I want (like gold pins) Motherboards and specialty cards usually only have a few things I want too ... so I put them all in boxes until I get board and then I go out and process for a few hours until I have more chips and pins. A paint scraper (cheap one) and a hammer do very nicely. I think I did a video recently about that. Pretty fast to get what I want. The rest get sold as lower value stuff that I just don't care about.