Other · Tier D

Clip-on and bolt-on board heatsinks

Weigh it in your hand — copper is three times as dense as aluminium, and worth about six times as much per pound at the yard.

Cu 0–450 g/lb

eBay typical$5–25per lb

Refiner pays$0.6per lb

Metal in it$0.32per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencemedof the yield figures

How to spot it

Extruded or stamped finned blocks clipped over TO-220 regulators, bolted to bridge rectifiers, or pushed onto northbridge and GPU chips. Aluminium is light, dull grey, often black anodised. Copper is heavy and warm-toned. Some coolers are aluminium fins on a copper base — separate them.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Copper	0–450 g/lb	copper sinks are essentially pure Cu; aluminium ones contain none — a mixed lot is mostly aluminium

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $0.32 per pound of contained metal — Copper 30 g = $0.32. A refiner paying $0.6 returns about 187% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Unclip cold; hot air 350 °C for soldered tabs

Unclip, unbolt, or hot-air the retaining tabs at 350 °C. Scrape off thermal pads and pull steel clips, springs and plastic pushpins — a yard downgrades the whole lot for one steel screw. Watch for white BeO insulating washers under old power devices; never sand or break those.

Hazards

☣ Beryllium oxide (BeO)

NEVER grind, sand, file, saw, drill, abrasive-cut, sandblast, hammer, crush, shred, torch, melt or incinerate anything that might contain BeO. Sell or dispose of suspect parts intact. Broken beryllium parts are worth nothing; your lungs are worth everything.

🪚 Fibreglass and board dust

NEVER dry-cut boards indoors without extraction.

☠ Lead — dust more than fume

NEVER dry sweep or use compressed air on a scrapping bench. HEPA-vac or wet-wipe only.

Before you scrap it

Named CPU and GPU coolers and vintage copper chipset sinks fetch $10–40 each to retro builders.

The common trap

Heatsinks feel valuable because they're the heaviest thing on the board. Clean aluminium extrusion is $0.55–0.75 per pound and clean copper $3.20–3.80. No precious metals in either, and anodised aluminium with steel hardware attached gets bid as irony aluminium for even less.

Questions

How much gold is in clip-on and bolt-on board heatsinks?

Copper: 0–450 g/lb. At current spot that is about $0.32 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify clip-on and bolt-on board heatsinks?

Weigh it in your hand — copper is three times as dense as aluminium , and worth about six times as much per pound at the yard.

How do you remove clip-on and bolt-on board heatsinks safely?

Unclip, unbolt, or hot-air the retaining tabs at 350 °C. Scrape off thermal pads and pull steel clips, springs and plastic pushpins — a yard downgrades the whole lot for one steel screw . Watch for white BeO insulating washers under old power devices; never sand or break those.

Is clip-on and bolt-on board heatsinks worth more working than as scrap?

Named CPU and GPU coolers and vintage copper chipset sinks fetch $10–40 each to retro builders.

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