Money for nothing? or give my old Computer stuff away for free?

ANTVGM64

Howdy everyone, as I'm sure no one knows, I've amassed quite a large collection of computer-y things. Two cores - motherboard, powersupply, cage, etc, a laptop, and another emachine that's fully functional, as well as assorted hard drives, CD rom drives, keyboards, mice, etc.

And I've been told to get rid of all these machines. They're all Circa 2005, so rebuilding a machine seems a bit impossible as one gets no power and the other turns on but I think the video is bummed. Thus, is there a service or junk yard kind of thing that pays for all the precious metals in the computer? Namely the copper / gold / etc in the motherboard?

Speaking of mother, my moms seems to think we should just take them all to best buy and give it away for free, but for some reason I think I can get money for them! So what's the best resource for this sort of thing? Is it a thing?

The Ender

I'd recommend taking it to a place that has a recycling program.

There aren't any large reclamation dealers that will buy the scrap, partly because of difficulty in safely storing the material, partly because they'd have to compete against recycling agencies. There might be one or two outfits out there, but I wouldn't hold my breath while looking for one.

ANTVGM64

Cool, and he recycling program pays zero dollars I presume? Which is cool, just want to confirm.

Hevach

Some scrapyards will pay, it's becoming more common for them to buy electronics that they then sell to a larger rare earth recyclers. They don't pay much, though. I take stuff like that for free at my shop, and I need to load a van to make it worth the time.

ihmmy

I posted my misc. computer junk on kijiji for free and got about a bajillion responses. That meant someone came to my house and picked up the materials so I didn't ahve to bother with them. I mostly had miscellaneous cords and covers and small bits, not a large haul. I was just lazy and recycling seemed like too much work.

azith28

5 years old seems very unlikely to get you anything. You MAY want to look up the components (RAM and video card) on ebay to see if maybe you have some ram that is hard to find. There are occasionally people who want to keep there same computer because its a server or something but they cant find components for it (RAM is a pretty common factor). If you plan to ever build your own computer, keep the bones (Case/power supply). you can always throw it away later.

Mego Thor

Goodwill donation and tax write-off.

ANTVGM64

Cool, I ended up giving it away to a recycling program. Thanks a bunch everyone!

Mrtimothy

Recycling programs are great- I'm psyched to hear you found one that works with tech stuff.

I've heard of a program where you can donate your reasonable machine parts, which then go to High School technology classrooms for tinkering / repairing / nerducation. I don't know if there's one of these in the Seattle area, where I am, or where you are.

ANTVGM64

Yeah I used to go to a tech school for that very thing and loved the chance to tinker with machines that were ultimately worthless, so I felt more inclined to play. As a result I have a Tech job I can't do without and a couple of free certifications (A+ / Net +) that I didn't have to pay for. Highly recommend.