What are CPU prongs made from - Gold?

[ZapZilla]

I've about 50 various old CPUs from 8086s through Pentium II Class.

I was looking at 'em all and was wondering if all of those gold colored little prongs sticking out of the bottom really were Gold.

I was thinking I could clip 'em, melt 'em and make a good sized nugget.

Anyone know what the prong metal is composed of?

Also, I've several old ISA and PCI cards. What are the metal contacts along the bottom edge made of?

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

good question lol
i don thtink they would be all gold...maybe partial...or gold plated?

but maybe it is all gold lol


i dunno about pci/isa cards....they refer to them as "gold connectors"...but as to wtheer they are gold or not i have no idea

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

and wowzerz
50?!?

wanna send me a couple hehe?

 

[drewski]

i sold a p166 last year for $25.

some people are collectors or just have old machines. forget the couple of grams of gold. you could have $1k+ worth of cpu there!!!

 

[Jeff7181]

I would guess they're a copper alloy plated in a cheap gold alloy.

 

[Torx2]

Originally posted by: drewski
i sold a p166 last year for $25.

some people are collectors or just have old machines. forget the couple of grams of gold. you could have $1k+ worth of cpu there!!!

hehe i just made a keychain out of a p166 the other day


On the topic of gold connectors..... I worked in a shop for a while where we made isa modems. The contacts are real gold, but they are chemically etched (or some process thats totally alien to me) to the board and it's so thin we would use 1 oz of gold for both sides of the contacts on 100s of boards. I have no idea about the cu pins...i can dig up some i cut off that p166 & see.

 

[SinfulWeeper]

To my knowledge the are gold plated, not solid gold.

I do not know if you noticed but compared to years ago. the price of gold has dropped. Computing had a very small impact on that. Everyone wants low priced computers. But with gold prices high, so were computers.

I think a pound of gold can be extracted out of tens of thousands of computers. Maybe a few thousand for a half ounce. It is just too thin...

 

[Blooz1]

Those pins are gold plated copper. And when gold is used in electronic applications, the plating is measured in millionths of an inch....It's used for electrical contact and anti-corrosion purposes. I'm a QA Manager in the electroplating business, so I'm very familiar with the specs.....

And you'd need a huge number of chips before it would be worth it to even think about reclaiming the gold.....

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

lol
guess i was right, its gold plated

 

[WalMart1564]

hehe i just made a keychain out of a p166 the other day


man i never thought of that ive got a 667 celeron i burned up
ima drill a hole in it

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

lol
them old tbirds on the ceramic core were hard to drill
...not that it has any relevance to the post...but wahtever

 

[Zap]

Hey ZapZilla!

Just gold plating, as others said.

 

[ZapZilla]

Thanks for the info.

Though I was sure hoping that I could make a big 'ol nugget of gold.

My box of CPUs is heavy enough to have had pure gold prongs.

Now what should I do with my old CPUs?

 

[clicknext]

They would cost a lot more if they were solid gold.

 

[magomago]

In my old town there is this guy who accepted computer to recycle. He would take them (for free obviously...but when some people are just trying to get rid of old computers they go to him) and then recycle what he could, and then make a lot of money witht he gold, and other metal stuff on motherboards...

but this guy was dealing with tens of thousands of mobos though...not sure how he seperated them...

 

[Blooz1]

There's a whole "niche" business which has evolved..people buying obsolete computers and parts, selling them to China, where they are recycled. I read a whole series of articles about people who work in this industry in China, exposed to all types of fumes, etc....

Imagine standing over a barrel full of burning PC boards waiting for the solder to melt so you can pick off the parts! We ship huge quantities of such parts every day...and many major companies are in collusion with these brokers...