I've gone into the rabbit hole of trying to identify RAM that is more valuable to resell instead of scrap... And I'm even more lost than before.

I have far more examples than these photos below, but what is the best way to identify if a RAM stick is rare/older and not to be scrapped? The age of computers that my organization receives have a 20+ year span, so there are all types that I see through the year.

Easiest first.
EDO memory has a long standing acceptance as a mandatory component for worldwide existence. To be grandiose in comment.
In reality EDO memory is generally an entirely separate commodity that exists outside of every aspect of computing and collecting.
This is one of the rare cases where no one dares make individual decision. Every computer, video game, A/V, and collector’s auction company abide by long standing agreements to not “F” with EDO. Prices are what they are. And the backlash for charging outside the accepted range are beyond extreme. You can’t demand substantially more or less than internationally agreed rates without being blacklisted far beyond ebay or Amazon.
If you have EDO memory price it the same as everyone else or suffer. Period. Too low you’re a thief. Too high someone is going to dox you.
It is what it is and just deal with it is HONESTLY my best advice on the topic

Apocalyptic warning now covered:

Parity costs more than non-P
ECC costs more than Non-ecc.

Beyond that the extremes of size or speed cost many times more than standard ram in a given spec. 48K DDR4 modules are double the price of 32K speed regardless of size. The rare 2200 DDR2 DIMMs from Kingston cost 5X the 800K standard. 512MB SIMMs will fetch major cash. Thousands with a memtest printout. The 1GB (1024MB) SIMMs could buy you a half-way-Decent car from 2016.

The highest and lowest space DIMMs hold the highest values. Very little comes close in RAM. The highest pinpoint the most extreme of a computer’s ability. The lowest are often the highest choice for the last generation. Gigabyte, IBM, and ASUS have all used the higher end of last generation ram tech on first releases of next generation tech. Providing upgrade paths.

Look up the module’s generation (DDR, DDR2…DDR3) on Wikipedia. The info box tells you the general size range.
If you have the lowest or are at or above the highest spec for capacity you have money. Everything else is rather basic in sales.

Again EDO is a beast of its’ own. 8 and 12 pin DIP and ZIP ram ICs are always better off sold. Those can fetch crazy prices since they’re still used today and have a very limited source supply.

_________________
42 6F 61 72 64 73 6F 72 74 2E 63 6F 6D

Thank you so much. This is going to require more digging and searching for sure.

Taking your advice I looked up ram stick 1 and found it's a 30 pin SIMM and most specifically: "Micron Technology Inc. DRAM CMOS 1Meg x 4 , EDO, 1K refresh 60ns speed"

As a newbie, that is a lot of info to decipher. But, I did find a useful breakout that decoded the number on the stick, number by number.

Micron (MT) - 4 Megabit
How do I read the type number?

MT4C4007J-6
^^----------------- MT = Micron Technology Inc.
MT4C4007J-6
^---------------- 4 = DRAM
MT4C4007J-6
^--------------- C = CMOS
MT4C4007J-6
^^^^----------- 1004 = 4Meg x 1 , Fast Page, ?? refresh
4001 = 1Meg x 4 , Fast Page, ?? refresh
4007 = 1Meg x 4 , EDO, 1K refresh
MT4C4007J-6
^-------- Speed: 5 = 50ns / 6 = 60ns / 7=70ns

I don't want to sell it for any more than standard market. I want it to stay in circulation but retain some value. Now I just need to set up a non-profit ebay site and get these listed. Realistically that won't happen for a few weeks but I now have more info to help with the listings.

I appreciate the help!

$5-$10 per stick looks good right now.

Just ebay EDO, back out of the Japan category it tries to default to, switch to computers and components: and look at postings.

I know I’m more vocal about it but a few others on site have mentioned It as well. It’s one of the few items in tech where the open market is actually really protective of pricing. Much of the industrial and transportation backend systems depend on it. Without it plains couldn’t take off or land, trains loose their safety systems, cargo and cruise ships would float in circles lost at sea. Huge sections of the internet trunk would go offline. -> it’s everywhere. Automotive manufacturing. Automated conveyor systems. Elevators.
Point of sale. Vending machines. Mechanical road signs. Emergency help call systems. Gas pumps! Cash registers. Commercial fryers (think McD’s).

It’s still made in low production runs. The industry as a whole as moved to recovery over replacement though. Making old modules vital. It’s far less expensive to recover from old than to manufacture new.

_________________
42 6F 61 72 64 73 6F 72 74 2E 63 6F 6D

I really appreciate the information Lost- especially the part about non working pieces. Today I pulled the sticks in the picture below from an ancient computer (hard drive was 1.6 gigabytes and from 1997). The ram was discolored like a red rust color on parts of the second stick so I’m glad you mentioned this!

Yep. Definitely corrosion. Not sure from what but likely capacitor oil or cadmium. Brush it off, bag it, post it as untested. ;)


You’ll find with EDO the older the modules are on he more, diverse, the chips are. I’ve come across Kingston sticks with Samsung, AMD, IBM, and Motorola chips on the board. Out of a Leading Edge computer. :O
Obviously didn’t ship that way. :)

People have been servicing this market with swap outs for decades now. EDO was invented by Micron Tech in the late 80s; released in the early 90s. It was widely licensed and mass produced for a few years at then unheard of quantities. The prices at the time had it Wind up in everything from portable game systems and entry level PCs to high end theatre equipment and A/V.
Then production generally stopped as technology moves past the benefits… but! It was SO everywhere at a time when so much of the world was moving into computers and digital that it ended up inside everything since it was so inexpensive.

Price had a run up in the early 2000s but most sellers at the time were also users, members of clubs and associations, etc. Somewhere along the way a bunch of different hand shake agreements made price fixing the norm and it’s stayed that way ever since.

I remember in the early 2010s one show I was at where a vendor had his table upturned and was forced off the floor. When I got up to ask they said he was over pricing EDO. That image stuck with me.

There are very few things in the computer world that get protected pricing world wide. Along with EDO memory you find LTO cartridges (rarely over $100), ultra wide SCSI cables ($10 is average), ADB cables (under $25) and ADB:USB converters (never over $50). All are items deeply entrenched in the non-public computing industry.

Even eBay takes some measures in protecting pricing limits. Yesterday there were 5 different 3D acceleration cards on ebay. All with onboard EDO memory. 4 at the gawd awful markup graphics cards are floating in now. And one was $50. Only one is still posted today.

You’ll find in their TOS that “certain items” will have their auctions halted when they reach a company determined value. I’ve had auctions stopped for LTO tapes when they reached $125 in bids.
Tiger’s market sellers also have limitations on those above items (and a few others).

_________________
42 6F 61 72 64 73 6F 72 74 2E 63 6F 6D