Where Is The Gold Inside A Computer? - How To Find Precious Metals In Electronics

Recovering precious metals from electronic scrap and e waste is an interesting hobby and while it may not be profitable to refine at home, if you don't have a buyer for your scrap boards you may want to save the good stuff until you do. So by request, here is my gold in electronics list! If you're wondering: where is the gold inside a computer? Here is your crash course on where to find precious metals in electronics!
Ewaste Ben: / ewasteben
@eWasteBen
Here are the wire cutters I like!: amzn.to/3adv7kz
This is the cheaper version: amzn.to/2wjkMFd
And here are those grips I recommend: amzn.to/2QCJmYl
(If you make a purchase on amazon through the links above, a small amount of what amazon makes on the sale is shared with me. It's a great way to help support my channel, at no additional cost to you. Even if you buy something other than my tool recommendations!)
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Beats By Harris Heller
Ending: bsmith - Industrial Scrap

[@traplove9610]

I think it's pretty cool how you gave someone else a shout out . A lot of people don't do that. Also appreciate you getting straight to the point with valuable information I learned a lot thanks a lot I appreciate it.

[@riverboat28]

Very smart. There's been no mention of rare earth metals in these threads at all.

[@zolledz]

eWaste Ben is a legend

[@jonglewongle3438]

eWaste Ben operates on an industrial scale. But he has his streams figured. He has an immediate market for his circuit boards. He has two simultaneous things in mind as he deals with each circuit board, that being what to depopulate as against the quality of the board he wants to send on to his board buyer. It is what he wants to retain for future recovery as against what he wants to more immediately send on for processing by operators who will retrieve all the available metals. It is more cost effective to limit board depopulation to maintain board quality for his buyer. It is a categorical case of if you want something done right then you gotta do it yourself. If he let other people in to do it for him then it would get all fouled up. He's got quite a niche going there.

[@MrsMika]

Love your style and information. Please keep making videos as they are very enjoyable.

[@MrPhrankieBones]

Hey Thub, I really like your videos and have been subscribed for a while now as your channel has really helped me to learn a lot about scrapping and metal recovery/recycling. I just wanted to say thanks for this video. I have watched as many videos as I've been able to find from different creators on identifying tantalum capacitors , but for the most part they have been vague, and unfocused with too little information on what the different types actually look like, or if the videos did have good information it just wasn't presented well. The 30 seconds or so that you took to explain what to look for when it comes to Tantalum was better than all the videos entirely dedicated to the subject that I have seen so far. Clear, close up pictures of the notable types and identifying features! Hooray! Thanks again. Keep up the good work. Cheers!

[@beanz199]

for someone like me that doesn;t do this type of thing but enjoys watching ...this was soooo informative and entertaining at the same time....excellent content ..look forward to more !!

[@thubprint]

You got it!

[@johnnyrondo709]

Hey thanks for the info. It really helps knowing which is what and saves yourself a ton of time. Please continue with the great videos and your time.

[@skullmoldycandy]

best scrap page especially for learning !

[@oldnormal267]

here's a year-late tip: do NOT over look the gold corner BGA chips on circuit boards. forward to 4:09 in the video. The large chip with the silvery looking circle in the middle. Those can contain ALOT of gold compared to other IC chips. remove the epoxy body from the fiber base. You will see gold foil on the fiber base, but the vast majority of the gold is in the bonding wires encapsulated in the black resin. There are a couple way to economically process them. Good Luck!

[@hateantis8249]

Enjoy your enthusiastic videos! Keep it up. Very educational. Another small time scrapper.

[@holyshaz]

this is the most valuable video in youtube i ever seen. thank you

[@awoo2714]

Your videos are HIGHLY UNDERRATED!!!!

[@kimhallums9166]

Interesting. Thanks for this and keep up the good work.

[@jasonengle4707]

Love it! So information proper!

[@krisbennett9852]

Love the ewaste ben shout out. Seems like every scrapper on youtube looks up to Ben (myself included) keep up the good work

[@robertschultz1105]

Easter Ben is the the best I watch him all the time he knows what he's talking about!

[@thubprint]

Absolutely!

[@melvado]

Ewaste Ben got me into scrapping!

[@mr.g-sez]

ben is anotther level!

[@mr.g-sez]

@@melvado same, i did it 10 years ago and now im in again, i missed out on so much scrap! f.e: ceramic cpu's and ram, i had about 30kilo of them but somehow i lost them, i cant find them.

[@lisamg0704]

This and all of your videos have been the best, especially the way you explain, break it down, show pictures etc! I just found your channel a few days ago whilst searching for an explanation on #1 vs #2 copper. I don't throw any electronics away, I tell my family, "it's NOT trash, there's precious metal in there...somewhere!!" Now, thanks to you I know where and how to dig it out! We have a HUGE, heavy 70" tv from when they first came out, I think.. anyway, it has a removable adapter pack that people could buy after tv's upgraded instead of having to buy an entire new one, which were thosands of $$ back then, this giant thing has a pop up camera, HD, 3D, wave motion, voice command awesome picture & sound, I love it but when the Chiefs won the Super bowl over the Eagles, (we live in Philly), my hubby threw something very heavy and it hit the tv somewhere, IDK where it hit, i don't see any damage at all, (I wasn't t there for that scene lol) all know is when I plug it in it just buzzes then the pitch gets higher but theres no other sound or picture. Now, I know what to look for in it anyway.. Thanks Again! You're awesome!

[@tamaragentry2861]

Thank you for sharing.

[@sethryan09]

E wast Ben is amazing. I'm inspired by him. I just need alot more dumpsters. Iv got a ton of the gold e scrap just waiting for the right buyer to come along and make it worth my time to sell.

[@thubprint]

Nice profile pic bud 😉 an I get that. I think scrap gold is an investment of patience.

[@shaneyarrington4628]

i watched 2, 2 hr long videos from your shout out with the chickens, almost pt e to sleep. Thank you for being more direct and informative in a fraction of the time.

[@kevink.2719]

Awesome stuff 👍

[@tonydavis460]

Thank you sir very helpful

[@twosongs7396]

Thank you so much for this video. I always wondered what the hype was about; now I know 😄

[@grandpakevin3354]

Great info thanks. I am being educated!

[@richardbridges7962]

You do a fantastic job 👏 Thank you

[@KarmaHoax]

Another gem Thub. Happy to heat that you're saving the worth while stuff and things. I also started depopulating boards months ago and have started to build a solid collection. It's more a hobby then a money maker. We see the value that is there, plus no one should want toxic substance's going to a landfill. Lastly I love and respect E-Waste Ben. I have been subbed for over a year and learned a ton of stuff. Keep Doin' The Thing buddy!

[@rubensantiago6403]

You ROCK !!! Keep up the great work !!!

[@thinkaboutit7362]

I watched a video from this dude and decided to get all of my back up devices...ya know tv's, computers, game systems and stuff....i am a dude in Kentucky with access to scrap electronics regularly and I mean 6 days a week I can load my car up.... I used to fix them just because I could then squirrel them away... Now I'm teaching my 7 year old son who is "teaching" his 11 month old sister about what's in what....Thub I believe they stated as your name keep going brother inspire the next generation

[@thubprint]

I wish I had the scrapyards for boards that you folks do down in the states! Idk how much influence I have personally but I hope I contribute a little bit to helping people think about the end-of-life recycling of the products they spend hard earned money on.

[@gussuperman7565]

M8 you're a legend on your own right. Keep up the good work. God bless y'all.

[@thubprint]

You’re too kind 😄 I’ll keep doing what I can though! All the best to you 🤙

[@1972Russianwolf]

gold isn't used for conductivity, as silver is much more conductive. Gold is used, especially on contact points as gold doesn't oxidize or tarnish, so the contact stays clean and allows conductivity to continue. silver or copper can tarnish making the contacts less reliable. its reliability is the key, not the conductivity itself.

[@megansherrow7941]

Educational. Entertaining. And just the answers I was looking for. Thanks!

[@thubprint]

My pleasure! There’s a few KZbinrs far more knowledgeable if you want to get right into it, I learned everything from Ewaste Ben.

[@robinjonson5242]

Awesome !! Love the humor !👍

[@CandSMINING]

Thanks for all the info. Not really too sure what I will do with it.

[@Vandal-Vlogs]

I think that was one of your best videos.. Loved it nice work thub

[@thubprint]

Thanks so much! I tried a couple things differently but there’s still so much to learn lol

[@victoriaharrison-sewell6717]

Thank you for this informative video. I have been stripping down boards for Palladium, Silver, Gold & Copper, & hope to recycle to the bullion dealer from which I buy my wire for my craft work. I haven't actually sent any yet. Do I send it in it's raw state, as it is recovered from the phone/computer etc? Would appreciate your feedback, thank you..

[@najyotama9812]

Thankyou for infos and helping others😍

[@thubprint]

I’m trying anyway! 😊

[@Kali-King160]

I Love Your Sweet Sarcastic Humor Its enjoyable and brings an extra hint of spice to the Video... Nice Work

[@willsmith4233]

You have lots to learn my friend

[@stephenconner-py1gk]

Your the legend too bro!

[@mephenstessina6081]

Thank u for putting in the megaman music. It means a lot to me.

[@RHYGAR1]

Thanks.. I have to many bins of circuit boards and little knowledge of them... Now i know...

[@mgomez91792]

this is a better way to know what is in these electronic boards. this is very informative.. all i need to do is find the buyers

[@thubprint]

That’s certainly the fastest way!

[@ireginawells]

Peace, Love and Gratitude Brother! Way to Love the Mother.

[@jackmiller1209]

Great video! The viewer can get a good general idea of where to start with the PCB’s.

[@thubprint]

That was the idea! Of course there are many in-depth videos for folks who want to get right into it, but I figured there must be a handful of people who just want an easy quick-start guide. Hopefully they can find it!

[@TheLandlordPicker]

Finally....A Summary of parts. I'll save this one to look back on a few times. Thanks Man

[@thubprint]

That’s what I was trying to do! Glad it was helpful 🙂

[@brentjenkinsdesigns]

Well done. A start for beginners. Which, I believe was your main goal. Keep up the good work Thub.

[@thubprint]

Exactly! I know it’s not for everyone, but there are plenty of people looking for this video so I hope they find it helpful 😊

[@pederlindstrom3132]

Hello Thub, Sweden here again. My regular yard pays flat rate for circuitboards, doesnt matter if it's a board from a TV remote or a telecom board. Check the currancy, I get 4 swedish krona per kg. The other yard takes high grade boards only, minimum 100kg. Stay safe and take care.

[@thubprint]

Oh wow, that’s pretty low... I guess it’s not bad if you have a lot of lower grade stuff or you leave all the steel on them. Yeah, I’d be happy to have someone offer me that. What’s the other place do for high grade?

[@pederlindstrom3132]

@@thubprint I even leave the aluminium on the boards, board price is higer at the moment. The other yard, last time I took in high grade boards it was 20 swedish krona per kg, they also pay more for copper wire and non ferrous. What is your limit for high grade wire? Here it's 60% cu. I can check with the yards and do the math for you in CAD. Just for fun.

[@kieranbarley9128]

Good info 🎉

[@ryantimmins9479]

Thub, great video and very informative. I am glad you explained that selling the boards as is, is more lucrative then trying to recover the precious metals. Here's hoping that Canada eventually has a way for you to do so.

[@thubprint]

Thank you, and yep! Hoping the same thing lol

[@scrapbongo786]

Very cool info /thubs up cheers

[@magdalenehenricus2075]

Wonderful

[@ThunderboltWisdom]

Yeah. Go on man! Scrap magic! Like it!

[@thubprint]

You’re a gem ☺️

[@pryordvm]

Finally got a close look at your palm tat and... is that a Canadian maple leaf gold piece? Delightful. I like your style, dude.

[@henryk1031]

Cool video! Got me motivated to go scrap!

[@thubprint]

Just be intentional with your time and leave it better! 😎 hehe. Have fun!

[@dafovs]

Nice breakdown, very useful.

[@thubprint]

Thanks! I’m not the expert but I though a bite-sized overview would be useful to folks out there.

[@alsmall3444]

love your content

[@seanl.7088]

good quick hit on a saturated subject, thanks man

[@thubprint]

Thank you! That’s what my aim was, some folks were suggesting I take a crack at it and It’s been covered a lot already so this seemed like my best shot at adding some kind of value.

[@ScoutsIX3]

I love these guides, keep up the great work!

[@thubprint]

I sure will!

[@LogosBKC]

Yes they’re still creating a ton of value years later

[@wrriorofpce1152]

Hey man, great video, great personality. Clear and concise. Also, I have a chance to buy 94 (mostly older laptops) for around 200. what would the return be like ? Do you have any rough numbers?

[@nevercertain]

No idea but that sounds like a really good deal as long as they haven't had parts removed

[@j.jasonsantilli297]

Awesome brotha, thanks for the info...

[@thubprint]

Keeping it simple and to the point!

[@pjgraves03]

Good info as I am interested in scrap gold bars

[@dane-xxx-8713]

thanks man! great vid question is there any other way to remove the gold chips from a ram card etc other than acid?

[@thubprint]

I haven’t tried anything personally but I think we’re pretty much stuck with acid for the time being. I occasionally read about water separation technologies but afaik we’re all just waiting to see if there’s a better way.

[@dane-xxx-8713]

40% vinegar and 1 spoon of salt I heared some one say..bud that was after I wrote this comment, Thans, and indeed we will see. Cheers

[@makenocommento-kj4gq]

Thubprint, Cheers and Thanks for your consise video re ; Gold and other metals, there are too many videos Online which are way too long in relation to precious metals in computers etc.

[@thubprint]

Thank you! I have mountains of respect for the intelligent and informed folks who make those videos, I’ve enjoyed quite a few of them myself. I felt like there needed to be a short list version though, for those of us with short attention spans

[@gregorychollar3080]

This is pretty cool

[@MikeDial]

I'm so glad I watched this. Now I know that recycling precious metal from my old laptop is more work than I want to do for the little money I would get for just one laptop.

[@thubprint]

It’s pretty hard to make it worthwhile. The motherboards are high grade as boards go, but here in Canada I don’t have a good buyer for them yet

[@sakupljac6012]

Najbolji ste, pozdrav iz Hrvatske

[@Metaphysticles]

A relay note to add… I’ve come across relays &switches with all solid gold guts once you get through the plastic housing.. little tiny gold balls, and clips. Only ever milspec & medspec

[@hardcoreheatherpinuppflug7941]

Love the video it's very informative and easy to understand for those whom lack computer knowledge

[@user-uy4by4nn1w]

Yelo .. whats that goldish sircles on the greenbord made of and goldish corners

[@StokPrescott]

Thank you sir 🤩

[@thubprint]

Trying! 😆

[@jrb6969]

Finally! You Rock! And you did it in less than 5 min! Thank you! Honestly this is the 1st video I personally have found that actually explains what "Exactly" to keep. Every other one I have found says "keep this, but no explanation as to why and which one is or isn't except save them up"! But not that to do with them once I have them saves up?? Thoroughly appreciate you! I was in the middle of deciding to throw out the rest if what I've gathered as I took 3 bins of boards to salvage along with a bin of thick aluminum and a bin of copper. I walked out with $80. I was crushed as I knew there was more $$ in there I just didn't realize they actually want us to remove everything. They don't care or want boards with stuff on them! Who knew! Needless to say I'm now ready to do this correctly and have found an on liberal very reputable company to mail it to for maximum cash flow! Was the point, right! Again, many thanks!

[@thubprint]

Nice! I was in the same boat, I’d been digging through everything I could find to try and understand but nothing seemed to “sum up” the basics. Basically a continuation of the video series I was putting together. As a Canadian outside of Ontario I don’t have a decent buyer of boards so I just pick off the best bits and take the 10cents/lb I’m given for the leftovers, but I don’t process enough Ewaste to put together a shipment worth sending through the post.

[@chacedrinkwalter3346]

​@@thubprint hi, could you please send me links to your other videos? I'm not finding any

[@thubprint]

@@chacedrinkwalter3346 if you click on my profile pic you should end up at the channel page where all my playlists are

[@lindalong2297]

So glad u threw in the chips for laughs.✌🏻

[@mimpjr64]

Very informative! Thanks for the info. Totally diggin the tattoo on your left palm too. Dope

[@thubprint]

Thank you! It’s my favourite tattoo 😊

[@PonderousSage]

My old job had a long room with towers stacked to the ceiling, all late 90s early 00s. There were seriously 100 in there. I was asked if I wanted them and said no. They paid someone else to take them all, and a month later I learned about old computers having gold and the good chips

[@TheUltimateRecycler]

Nice Thub - you just need the white lab coat now to complete the mad scientist look! 🤣 I do like how the world wide scrapper community supports each other! I'm sure ewaste ben appreciates the plug! 😊👍

[@thubprint]

The Ultimate Recycler that’s a great idea! It can be my Smart Guy Does Science Worksona! 🤣 I’m sure Ben doesn’t need my help but I respect his work and he’s a mentor to me even if he doesn’t know about me lol. Would love to crack a beer with the guy and talk shop 👌

[@TheUltimateRecycler]

@@thubprint Yeah, I've been watching Ben for yonks! He's only an hour and a half down the road from me actually. He was nice enough to help me with some things when I first started my channel! 👍 Perhaps a scrapper's BBQ at Ben's place when we can all travel again! You must wear your lab coat & glasses tho! 😉🤣

[@pmae9010]

Thank you for the video, 'There is some gold in these words'.

[@janviuiuc4203]

Thankyou

[@najyotama9812]

Thankyou so much🤗🤗🤗🤗

[@thubprint]

Just trying to help!

[@jaxonryder]

This dude for all his videos is amazing

[@gregorytwerkingtonthethi-sr3dv]

Ik you are stock piling your gold circuit boards for a time in which you feel comfortable enough to attempt to carry out the process of gold recovery successfully and document it on camera to share with us. I can only ask you what is the wait for? You have experience enough to extract the gold from computer components now i think its time to figure out the next step. Today again I carried out the successful aqua regia process and it is much easier than you think. You need muriatic acid sodium nitrate urea and sodium metabisulfite. It is a $50 bill. It is awesome being able to extract the gold from what 99.99 percent of the world consider trash. A lot of people also sell you the concept of needing large amounts of circuit boards to get anything worthwhile but initially the most important thing is to discover that you have the ability and that simply requires a small amount. And by small amount I mean less than a lb of gold fingers will suffice to get you some beautiful brown pay dirt ready to be melted down. Simply one piece of advice is do not sell that stuff it is more valuable than you know. People down play its value yet buy it up for themselves. I will not sell my circuit boards anymore.

[@Callsignsoggybisket]

I tried recovering gold from circuit boards and ended up stopping once the gold had fallen off the boards because the first attempt I lost everything when I dissolved it into solution and couldn’t get it back out of solution

[@cdcVintage]

I am going to start leaving you more comments to help you out. I also shared one of your videos on my families big screen tv. You are famous now LMAO.

[@thubprint]

You’re a legend! 😁 I’ll keep trying to make videos worth sharing 😎

[@CHACHIE713]

thanks for the info

[@thubprint]

Doin my best!

[@randomdan85]

Thanks

[@andrewblade8857]

I got a bunch of 2015 broken chrome books do they have gold or are they to modern

[@MegaEngineer1980]

Hi. Ewaste best market for it where ?? Chaina or Jaban? Please can you share any details about this because I heard that big market foe Ewaste is Chaina,Jaban and Also Korea.

[@johandupreez662]

Hi Johan here.tel me after every thing have been removed from sercet bord.the fines .I call them scraped of the bord.will contain.say soldering.silver, gold scrapiping.ex setra.how would u separate.all of them .and are the value better for the gold because it clean .do u get more per ouns or wat

[@geofft3214]

Always interesting! Are there any non-metal things worth recycling for money? Well apart from bottles.

[@thubprint]

Oh for sure! I could do a whole video on... waitaminute 🤔😆👍 got an idea!!! Lol yep, you can get paid for anything if you have enough of it. Old clothes, cardboard, used fryer oil, plastic film canisters.. anything.

[@tommymadden9746]

Thub you should be a school teacher. Your more interesting than any teacher I ever had. Its hands on teaching. Our schools need that.

[@blueshadow1996]

hello i have an ibm syatem 34 that i have taken out the boards and wire it has so much ic cxhips how much do they pay at a scrap yard jw

[@aquarianshift]

I have been tearing down and collecting this stuff for awhile now. But I am too nervous to use chemicals to separate the gold. Do people buy the stuff raw like I have it, pre separated, or should I attempt to harvest the gold using the acids???

[@thubprint]

Yup, refiners will buy the components as scrap. Most folks shouldn’t be playing with the acids and toxic gases involved in the separation methods, plus you’ll lose a lot of metals that more complex methods would capture.

[@yardmine]

One of my favorites so far.. right in my lane. Great stuff man.

[@thubprint]

Nice! Well I wanted to add what I could to the subject 👌 hopefully some folks find it helpful!

[@johannesthe5th154]

This was by far the best What’svaluableontheboard video out there. Very informative 👍👍 and yes. eWaste Ben is great

[@thubprint]

He’s the man!! I really enjoy his videos, it’s like sitting down with a cool dude for a beer 👍 I thought this would add value by being real brief and straight to the point though. Glad it hit the mark!

[@shawnamansfield4510]

😅😂 you literally had me cracking up at chips

[@lukeadams1017]

Scrapping old first generation to 3rd generation tv's. I'm finding some high gold boards in there as well

[@thubprint]

Oh?? Like flatscreens right?

[@CanadianTreasureHunter]

Well said, Ben should link your video

[@thubprint]

Thanks! I think he’d be better off to just make one of his own though, he’s so much more knowledgeable than me. He did a great series on them but I think he just knows so SO much about it all that it’s difficult to make it short and not feel like anything is getting left out.

[@christopherfuentes1278]

Can I recover the metals from any circuit board? What are the best boards for recovery?

[@MikesComic_n_Stuff]

That was cool

[@duvanalvarez1535]

Bro saludos from Colombia you're really good bro

[@thubprint]

hola desde Canadá y muchas gracias! Agradezco el apoyo 😌

[@danielhall6938]

Just got old military data recorder. Looks like it has at least 30 boards. Can't wait to see what's actually inside. Sypris data recorder from 2008

[@thubprint]

Oooh, I’d love to go through some of that old stuff! I’ve been watching omegageek64, he’s started a series where he REALLY gets into what you can find on those kinds of boards. There’s a lot to know!

[@baltog]

Good information 👍

[@FernandoGambol-ur8fd]

Tnx