Hardware Autopsy
RECYCLE
Once the primary recycler has extracted
commodities such as aluminum and steel, it
typically ships them to recyclers that special-
ize in the respective materials. CRTs, which
can harbor considerable amounts of lead, are
usually delivered intact to a company with
expertise at separating that hazardous mate-
rial from glass, plastic, and metal. Precious
metals and printed circuit boards are often
sent to a smelter for separation.
As these materials are slowly heated, each
base element liquefi es at a different tempera-
ture. The liquefi ed material is then drained off
and the process is repeated until everything
has been recovered. Since the smelting pro-
cess can release hazardous materials into the
environment, special fi lters and scrubbers are
deployed to trap the potential pollutants.
Where does all this stuff ultimately wind
up? Recovered plastic can be used in the
manufacture of everything from shoes and roof
tiles to park benches and storage bins. Metals
recovered from old batteries during the smelt-
ing process can be recycled into fresh batter-
ies. And the fi berglass recovered from printed
circuit boards is typically used in the construc-
tion industry for concrete fi ll.
REVISE AND REDESIGN
The representatives of several companies
we interviewed for this story told us that,
in theory, they can recycle an entire PC in
a closed loop, turning every used material
into something new. But they also admitted
that reaching that level isn’t always practical.
Most companies manage to reuse 90 to 98
percent of the material in a personal com-
puter. It’s often too expensive for a recycler
not equipped with a smelter or a shredder,
for example, to separate metal rivets embed-
ded in plastic or thin copper wire from its
insulating jacket.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the leftover
material is bound for a landfi ll. If it can be incin-
erated safely, it can be used as fuel for gener-
ating electricity, recovering at least some of the
energy required to produce it in the fi rst place.
High-profi le recyclers maintain detailed
paper trails to keep track of the parts
they take in and process, often hiring out-
side consultants, such as Environmental
Resources Management, to act as outside
auditors. Above-board recyclers avoid
shipping recyclables to countries with lax
environmental protections, and none of
the companies we spoke to ships waste
across borders. But dark corners remain in
the recycling industry: “There will always
be people down the food chain,” said ERM
partner Kristyn Malina Rankin, “who will not
do the right thing.”
Any requests? What hardware—new or old—would you like to see go under
Maximum PC’s autopsy knife? Email your suggestions to [email protected].http://www.maximumpc.com | MAR 08 | MAXIMUMPC
8-PORT GIGABIT ETHERNET SWITCH
As you probably guessed based on its sheer size, this chip
is the most important component in the switch. The Vitesse
SparX-G8 in this model integrates eight gigabit Ethernet
ports, eight tri-speed (10/100/1000Mb/s) copper transceiv-
ers, and an 8051 CPU.Gigabit Ethernet Switch
An Ethernet switch is the most vital component in your wired local area network (LAN), aside
from your DSL cable modem. We took apart this D-Link DGS-2208 to see what’s inside.DUAL-PORT MAGNETICS MODULE
Four magnetics modules sit behind the RJ45
jacks and serve as the interface between
the jacks and the switch. Because these are
dual-port modules, each one supports two
Ethernet ports.RJ45 JACKS
You’ll plug your Ethernet
cables into these RJ45
jacks (or to be technically
accurate, these 8P8C
jacks. The acronym
stands for “eight position,
eight contact”). Use
Cat5e or Cat6
cable to ensure
gigabit
performance.STATUS LEDS
Eight of these LEDs glow to indicate a live
connection: Amber indicates the link is
operating at 100Mb/s; green indicates a
gigabit connection. The LED off by itself is
the power indicator.