Desktop motherboards

Grade tracks the socket era. Large socket boards $7.75/lb, small P4 $4.40, metal-socket $3.65, i-series/AM4 only $2.10. Newer is leaner — modern boards have less gold and fewer through-holes.

Au 0.02–0.15 g/lbAg 0.6–2 g/lbPd 0.01–0.05 g/lbCu 15–20%

eBay typical$5–12per lb

Refiner pays$5per lb

Metal in it$7.96per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencehighof the yield figures

How to spot it

Coloured soldermask, one CPU socket, several expansion slots with gold fingers, moderate IC count, a mix of SMD and through-hole, 4–8 layers.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Gold	0.02–0.15 g/lb	era-dependent: modern boards assay near 50 g/tonne, 1990s boards 3–6× that. The old "8–11 troy oz per short ton" rule describes vintage boards, not current ones
Silver	0.6–2 g/lb
Palladium	0.01–0.05 g/lb
Copper	15–20%

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $7.96 per pound of contained metal — Gold 0.035 g = $4.57, Silver 0.9 g = $1.71, Copper 80 g = $0.86, Palladium 0.02 g = $0.83. A refiner paying $5 returns about 63% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Pull CPU, RAM, gold-fingered cards and the socket. Then sell as mid-grade board.

Hazards

☠ Lead — dust more than fume

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

🔥 Lithium battery fire

A standard ABC extinguisher will NOT stop a runaway lithium cell. Don't count on one.

The common trap

Claims of 0.4–0.7 g of gold per desktop motherboard are about 4× too high. A typical 500–700 g board holds 0.08–0.15 g. Remove the CMOS coin cell before any hot work.

Questions

How much gold is in desktop motherboards?

Gold: 0.02–0.15 g/lb. Silver: 0.6–2 g/lb. Palladium: 0.01–0.05 g/lb. Copper: 15–20%. At current spot that is about $7.96 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify desktop motherboards?

Grade tracks the socket era. Large socket boards $7.75/lb, small P4 $4.40, metal-socket $3.65, i-series/AM4 only $2.10. Newer is leaner — modern boards have less gold and fewer through-holes.

How do you remove desktop motherboards safely?

Pull CPU, RAM, gold-fingered cards and the socket. Then sell as mid-grade board.

Related in Boards

Cell phone boards Boards · $25–40/lb Au 0.09–0.50 g/lbAg 0.23–1.26 g/lbPd 0.025–0.07 g/lbCu 12–56% A Telecom / military boards Boards · $11–35/lb Au 0.3–4 g/lbAg 1–8 g/lbPd 0.02–0.3 g/lbCu 15–25% A Telecom backplanes Boards · $10–18/lb Au 1–3 g/lb wholeAg 0.5–2 g/lbCu 20–30% A Laptop motherboards Boards · $10–18/lb Au 0.20–0.50 g/lbAg 1–3 g/lbPd 0.02–0.08 g/lbCu 15–25% B Server motherboards Boards · $9–16/lb Au 0.05–0.3 g/lbAg 1–3 g/lbPd 0.02–0.10 g/lbCu 15–25% B Wire-wrap / pin boards Boards · $20–35/lb Au 0.6–1.5 g/lbAg 0.5–2 g/lbCu 20–30% B

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