What are the limits of collecting?

[Neon]

I started to collect chips only about 2 years ago. My collection contains whatever cpus I find or can afford to buy, and a few bit slicers and eeproms. Recently, I won an auction for a lot of "salvage, AS-IS, unknown condition, GOLD! GOLD!" chips, and then cleaned, sorted, straightened pins, learned about, and tested these chips. Although most of these are only standard desktop chips, many are new to my collection. Of course, their condition varies considerably. So that makes me wonder where are the limits for a chip collector. What chips do you consider to be "collectible"? Is there consensus about these factors:

Age of chips. 30 year old DIP, yes. What about current generation or 2 year old processors?

If the chip is not functional (I define that to mean the chip does not POST in BIOS or otherwise power on)?

If the functionality is unknown, or cannot be tested?

If one or more pins are missing? Bent pins?

If the core is chipped?

If the ceramic is cracked or chipped?

If the heat spreader is missing (delidded processor)?

What about scratches and similar cosmetic blemishes?

Are fakes collectible?

I suppose whatever someone wishes to collect is "collectible" (buttons, beads, beetles), and pricing will be whatever someone is willing to pay, but where do you perceive the limits?

[chip68]

[chip68]

And again, collecting "chips" and collecting "CPUs" aren't the same thing.

- CMW

[JAC]

Collecting has limits?

[el_gecko]

Interesting topic ! These are my whishes:

Age of chips. 30 year old DIP, yes. What about current generation or 2 year old processors?
It depends on price. So I usually avoid <2-3 years old chips or so.

If the chip is not functional (I define that to mean the chip does not POST in BIOS or otherwise power on)?
No.

If the functionality is unknown, or cannot be tested?
Yes.

If one or more pins are missing? Bent pins?
Missing: no. Bent: yes.

If the core is chipped?
No.

If the ceramic is cracked or chipped?
A bit chipped: yes, if I really want the chip. Otherwise: no.

If the heat spreader is missing (delidded processor)?
No.

What about scratches and similar cosmetic blemishes?
Yes, but depending on scratches my offer will be lower.

Are fakes collectible?
Yes, just for fun and history souvenir.

[iguana]

Age of chips. 30 year old DIP, yes. What about current generation or 2 year old processors?

Standart (non ES or ect.) desktop 3-5 years processor - NO.
I'll collect them in 5-10 years when there will be no CPUs from 197x-8x .
These days - it's the last chance to find pre x86 chips!!! So no sens to spend the time for chips like PII-400 or Duron-700.
Now I collect Pentium, K6, 6x86 and older down to 4004

If the chip is not functional (I define that to mean the chip does not POST in BIOS or otherwise power on)?

If I have no other functional - YES

If the functionality is unknown, or cannot be tested?

YES

If one or more pins are missing? Bent pins?

If I have no other better - YES

If the core is chipped?

NO

If the ceramic is cracked or chipped?

If I have no other better - YES

If the heat spreader is missing (delidded processor)?

NO

What about scratches and similar cosmetic blemishes?

YES

Are fakes collectible?
If the fake was made years ago to be P100 instead P90 for example - YES
If it's a fake was made nowadays to trick collector - NO

[smithy]

As a general rule, NOS will always be the most valuable and will be highly sought by collectors now and in years to come. I will always pay more for good condition and generally avoid damaged or significantly scratched

[johnorun]

I am grabbing as many older (pre-1990) chips and boards as I can afford to buy and store, first, since these won't be around for long. I keep newer CPu's just if I get them free or buy to upgrade some PC's with.

I have a feeling that there won't be many CPU's or other chips in the future that will be as interesting to collect as the vintage material we have been saving so far....

As for condition, for a rare chip, I'll take any condition (almost) to fill in the space, until I find better. The more common the chip, the more perfect a specimen it needs to be.

(By the way, see my post in the Forum about my discovery of a possible source of collectible material for us that has "unlimited possibilities"!!!)

[Chiefish]

Age of chips. 30 year old DIP, yes. What about current generation or 2 year old processors?

i think the older the better right now, but i will take newer model chips if they are good examples of a particular chip.

If the chip is not functional (I define that to mean the chip does not POST in BIOS or otherwise power on)?

This really doesnt matter to me, i have niether the time or resources to spend on testing them and seeing if they function, and why would i? mt kids playstation has more computing power.

If the functionality is unknown, or cannot be tested?

see above

If one or more pins are missing? Bent pins?

Bent pins are no problem , i have straightened out pretty ugly chips to look as good as new. But missing pins NO, someone here once said it was like looking at a super hot chick whos missing an arm. I agree

If the core is chipped?

Not if i can help it.

If the ceramic is cracked or chipped?

again not if i can help it, unless its an extremely rare specimen.

If the heat spreader is missing (delidded processor)?

Cool to look at but not prized i would think

What about scratches and similar cosmetic blemishes?

Well small scratches arent too bad, but when they go thru the gold plating or look obscenely bad on a white ceramic, then no.

Are fakes collectible?

Fakes could be collectable i think, i also think its a good idea to kind of track the fakes so people dont end up buying them thinking they are genuine.

and to quote Forest Gump , thats all i have to say about that

[Wizzard1]

My limit is only the beauty of the chip, and how much it fits in my sparce budget

[pinkie]

Age of chips. 30 year old DIP, yes. What about current generation or 2 year old processors?
Any CPUs are welcome to me if their condition are good enough and price are cheap enough.

If the chip is not functional (I define that to mean the chip does not POST in BIOS or otherwise power on)?
YES if they are really RARE.

If the functionality is unknown, or cannot be tested?
Yes.

If one or more pins are missing? Bent pins?
Missing: YES if they are really RARE.

If the core is chipped?
YES if they are really RARE.

If the ceramic is cracked or chipped?
YES if they are really RARE. Pass on common ones.

If the heat spreader is missing (delidded processor)?
YES if they are really RARE

What about scratches and similar cosmetic blemishes?
Just a little is ok for me.

Are fakes collectible?
No. I don't like those.

[Neon]

Since I am new to collecting cpus and other integrated circuit "chips", there is still much history for me to learn.

There has been good feedback to my questions, so I thank the posters to this thread for your thoughts about these issues. This will help me to better consider whether certain devices are worth adding to the collection.