How much Gold is in our gold-plated chips?

[johnorun]

Is there any knowlege base that explains how to determine the amount of gold in gold-plated chips or other plated common-produced items?

I often wonder what the intrinsic gold value is in many of my shiny gold chips, for instance.
Are 386-486 era chips the highest in gold content?
It would be interesting to know that there is a base value in certain gold chips, disregarding their collectible value, to help value them if the need to sell them ever arose (emergency only, please!).

Is it significant enough to be an issue?
The % number I have heard whispered is that only about .1-.3% of a plated item is actual gold?
Any metal experts out there?
Thanks.

[UMMR]

Hi,
it's difficult to exactly estimate the gold content of a CPU package, because it is variable depending on the manufacturing process
adopted. You have to know this method, then you can calculate an approximate value given the volume of the package's gold lid and
the density of metallic gold (19.3 grams per cubic centimeter). If the gold is only electroplated, there is matter of microns in thickness...
But if there is an alloy of gold with some other metal/metals, the value can be much higher. A specialized report of IEEE in 2004 tells there is more gold in a (metric) ton of PCB scrap (note: PCB, not just CPUs) than in a 15-17 tons of mined gold ore. Another important source of gold
in CPUs are the pins (this one reason for the high market price of PGAs) and the thin internal contact leads. In a 486 there are roughly 2.6 - 3 USD of gold (at the current price per ounce), more in military and radiation hardened components. Remember, this gold is difficult to extract, the extraction involves the use of acids as well as dangerous/pollutant chemical substances like Mercury (Hg) and "aqua regia", a highly corrosive misture of concentrated nitric and hydrocloric acid. The gold is dissolved and then precipitated from the solution.
Be very, very, very careful if you plan to use these acids...
It's perhaps a better idea to sell the CPUs to a recycler (or to conserve them... the gold price is rising... as well as the number of collectors!!! )[/b]

[johnorun]

I have no intention of trying to extract the gold from my collectible chips. I agree, it's a dangerous and risky process to say the least!
I just want to learn, for valuation sake, what the approx. Gold value is in some of the basic chip types. As our collections grow, it is important to value them for selling or inheritance purposes, and the Gold content could be a significant percent of the collectible value of a collection.
I bet some collectors in this group have collections already worth many thousands of Euros/Dollars and the values will only increase as more collectors enter the hobby and the supply of old chips decreases.

I look forward to any other input....
Thanks,
-J.

[chip68]

[CPUShack]

[chip68]

[smithy]

Agree on the 15 cents. Even if the gold price went to US$5000, the gold content would still be worth less than $1.

As a sideline, does anyone seriously believe C4004s will go down in value? I haven't seen any on ebay for a while now and if there were a lot around people would be selling them at US$500 a pop if they weren't collectors. I watched vintage wine prices reach crazy prices because of the collectability. 10-15 years ago one of our famous wines, Penfolds Grange, vinatge 1951 (the first) was fetching $1000 per bottle. Many were still around and being sold at auction. Collectors started buying and the latest price for one sold is $50800. They are still being sold at auction. I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened to rare chips in 10-15 years. I still think the >US$1500 paid for the grey 4004 will turn out to be a good buy (for whoever purchased it).

Sorry highjacked your thread...

[FDIV]

As I recall chipcollector had a list of how much gold was in some common chips like 486 and pentium. I believe 486's had the most gold per raw pound. The current gold value of ceramic processors on e-bay is about $60 per lb. (must have a cap and gold wireing to the die as that is where the bulk of gold is not in plating.) In the past the going rate has been as high as $78 per lb. I do not know why it has dropped since gold has not. I do not think most the scrappers are really that knowledgeable about gold content. I think there is alot of guesswork on their part.

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admin: spammer's URL deleted, account deleted and IP banned.

[Barren Realms 007]

Only if you care to get ripped off would you want to send your gold there. You might get 20% of value. There are ways to get a better price for your gold.

[JAC]

Look at the post dates dude, and with the content it is clearly a troll/spam.

Posts should be deleted!

[Barren Realms 007]

Cool it was taken care of..