What Electronics Have Gold in Them?

Many scrap metal recyclers simply don’t realize how much gold can be found from old electronics. Old or broken laptops, desktops, laser disk players, gaming consoles, VCRs, and other electronics and information technology equipment. Knowing how to identify which electronics have gold and other valuable metals can substantially raise your recycling profits.

So, what electronics have gold in them? And how do you categorize and get the best value for those parts? We’ll take a closer look here.

Electronic Components That Have Gold In Them

Outdated or broken Desktops, Laptops, and Servers have several different components inside of them that contain gold. These components include:

Computer Memory / RAM

There are many different types of RAM in desktop computers, servers, laptops, and other electronics. Gold fingered RAM is the most common type of RAM you will see, but you may also see metal shielded or RAMBUS RAM. Some older computers will also have silver or tin memory RAM that is also valuable.

CPUs

CPUs, also called computer processing units or just processors, also have gold. There are many different types of CPUs that you may come across. Older or vintage computers have CPUs that can be very valuable.

Gold Finger Cards

Some examples of gold finger cards include video cards, networking cards, audio cards, and more.

Motherboards / Circuit Boards

All desktops and laptops have motherboards inside of them, and these circuit boards contain gold. There are many different types of motherboards out there, so you may have to do some research in order to find out how valuable the ones you have are.

Hard Drives

Old computer hard drives, whether they are SATA drives, IDE drives, or another kind, use gold.

Laptop and desktop computers aren’t the only electronic items that have gold. There are several other types of electronics where you can find the precious metal as well.

Cell Phones

Cell phones also have circuit boards inside of them, so they contain gold too.

Laser Disk Players

Large laser disk players have circuit boards with gold inside of them. The larger the dis player, the more gold it will likely contain.

VCRs

VCRs are easy to find and have gold in the circuit boards inside of them.

Cameras

Digital cameras have gold circuit boards, but so do those old film cameras you may have tucked away in your attic. If you have the time, ability, and patience to pull apart these relics, you can often recoup a good amount of gold from them.

Other Small Appliances

Other small household appliances like space heaters, toaster ovens, and air conditioners contain gold. However, it may only be a small amount so you may only see a return when recycling these appliances in large quantities.

If you have questions about the value of your e-scrap, please feel free to contact us today.