How much silver is in a computer?
A study out of the Harare Institute of Technology also listed that printed circuit boards contain, “about 20 wt% copper, 0.04 wt% gold, 0.15 wt% silver, and 0.01 wt% palladium,” with wt% representing percentage by weight.
And, in every million recycled laptops, cellphones, or computers, we recover about 30 pounds of palladium, 75 pounds of gold, 770 pounds of silver, and 35,000 copper. So, it begs the question: how much gold is in a computer, laptop, or cellphone? A computer contains about 0.2 grams of gold, valued at about $12.
Valuable & Precious metals – where they are in Computers:
Silver – Printed Circuit Boards, Computer Chips, keyboard membranes, some capacitors. Platinum – Hard Drives, Circuit board components.
Money in Computers
The average older desktop computer contains about $0.80 worth of gold – more if they have additional components like modems and memory or CPU chips installed. Laptops typically contain about that same $0.80 worth of gold.
Smartphones are pocket-sized vaults of precious metals and rare earths. A typical iPhone is estimated to house around 0.034g of gold, 0.34g of silver, 0.015g of palladium and less than one-thousandth of a gram of platinum.
Some reports suggest that an older laptop may contain $30 worth of gold, while newer units would include gold worth $15 to $25.
Average Price | High Price | Low Price |
---|---|---|
0.1 USD/LB | 0.2 USD/LB | 0.06 USD/LB |
It depends on the type of RAM cards. DDR Ram cards? about 1.2 grams gold per 1 kg. DDR 2 & 3 Ram cards? about 3.75 grams gold per 1 kg. RD Ram chips? about 5 grams gold per 1 kg.
But that's not counting the cost of removing it. Some other sources estimate that your average computer contains about 1/5th of a gram, or about $12 worth, of gold in them. Laptops, on the other hand, typically contain about 1/10th of a gram of gold, or around $6 worth.
Where to find FREE SILVER in scrap electronics! - YouTube
How much gold is in computer pins?
For every 500 grams of gold plated pins on CPU's, the average refined yield is typically around 1 gram of pure gold.
Silver: SIlver is used in printed circuit boards, cell phones, computer chips, keyboard membranes and some capacitors.

Laptops, phones, cameras, and the like are filled with gold plated circuit boards even printers and scanners have gold, silver, and copper, even platinum in them. Gold is a precious, conductive, and pliable metal that retains a stable value better than many commodities.
How much Gold is in a Laptop? While slightly less gold gets layered through a smaller computer laptop. In our research, with today's gold price, over $6 of gold is layered in an average laptop. In other words, just over 1/10th of a gram of gold can be recycled off one singular laptop on average.
Motherboards and Circuit Boards
Motherboards – the biggest circuit boards inside both laptops and desktops – often contain the “mother lode” of gold in used computers. Their edges have gold contacts and connectors where wires slide on. You will also find thin layers of gold applied to motherboards' surfaces.
Today a Tandy 1000 is worth $250, sometimes more. Radio Shack had a rough transition into the 21st century, so anyone under 35 probably has poor memories of that store. But their old computers have a certain retro coolness to them, and for running 1980s games, a Tandy 1000 makes an ideal DOS gaming machine.
You can expect to make around $5 scrapping each CRT monitor. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Valuable & Precious metals – where they are in Computers:
Silver – Printed Circuit Boards, Computer Chips, keyboard membranes, some capacitors. Platinum – Hard Drives, Circuit board components. Palladium – Hard Drives, Circuit board components (capacitors)
Region | Price |
---|---|
North America, US East Coast | $20.0 per Lb |
US Midwest, US West Coast | $20.0 per Lb |