Card-Edge Receptacles & Sockets
Look down into the slot at the contact tongues, not the pin tails — grey tongues mean tin and zero gold, and gold-coloured tails on the outside prove nothing because the tails are often the only plated part.
How to spot it
Long plastic slot body with two rows of internal spring tongues, a keying rib and PCB pin tails in one or two rows, marked with a manufacturer and pin count. Formats include DIMM/SIMM, PCI/PCIe, ISA/EISA, VME and DIN 41612, S-100, Multibus and 0.1/0.156 in edge-card. Mass 5–40 g; found on motherboards, backplanes, industrial racks, VME/cPCI chassis, arcade and vintage computer boards.
Metal content
| Metal | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | 0.15–0.50 g/lb for genuine gold-contact sockets | 0.03–0.10 mg per contact; consumer 15 µin, backplane 30 µin. Most modern consumer sockets are tin — zero gold |
| Copper | ~130 g/lb | Phosphor bronze/brass contacts, 25–40% of mass |
| Base metal | 55–70% PBT/LCP/nylon | Many refiners will not accept without prior incineration |
At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $27.5 per pound of contained metal — Gold 0.2 g = $26.1, Copper 130 g = $1.39. A refiner paying $25 returns about 91% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.
Safe removal
Working temperature: Hot air 330–360 °C, board preheat 150 °C
Hot air at 330–360 °C from the solder side — sockets have many pins and high thermal mass — or shear the body away and pull the contact comb out of the plastic with pliers. The comb is what you want; the housing is two-thirds of the mass and dead weight. Preheat the board to 150 °C if you want the socket intact.
Hazards
NEVER dry sweep or use compressed air on a scrapping bench. HEPA-vac or wet-wipe only.
NEVER burn boards, wire insulation or plastic. Ever.
NEVER dry-cut boards indoors without extraction.
Before you scrap it
The common trap
Questions
How much gold is in card-edge receptacles & sockets?
Gold: 0.15–0.50 g/lb for genuine gold-contact sockets. Copper: ~130 g/lb. At current spot that is about $27.5 of contained metal per pound.
How do you identify card-edge receptacles & sockets?
Look down into the slot at the contact tongues, not the pin tails — grey tongues mean tin and zero gold, and gold-coloured tails on the outside prove nothing because the tails are often the only plated part.
How do you remove card-edge receptacles & sockets safely?
Hot air at 330–360 °C from the solder side — sockets have many pins and high thermal mass — or shear the body away and pull the contact comb out of the plastic with pliers. The comb is what you want; the housing is two-thirds of the mass and dead weight. Preheat the board to 150 °C if you want the socket intact.
Is card-edge receptacles & sockets worth more working than as scrap?
Yes for obsolete formats, no for common ones. DIN 41612, VME, S-100, Multibus and Apple/Commodore-era edge sockets sell $5–30/pc to retrocomputing and industrial repair — 50–300× metal. Modern DIMM/PCIe sockets have no resale and are the only ones worth scrapping.
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