How many are we? And where's the focus?

[wepwawet]

My guess is that chip collecting is seriously comparable with philately - stamps - in contrary to phone cards or (I don't know it's name outside Germany) Ü-Eier (surprise-eggs?lol)

It is comparable because
- it exists longer than one generation and people get stuff and knowledge from their parents
- chips are still produced in countable numbers (modern chips divided in Sspecs and so on) and old ones are still available (attic finds like stamps)
- they will not become obsolete in general like phone cards, however cpu development will continue

As we can see we get more and more members here.
Many new RICH buyers appear on ebay, maybe they use this forum only as an information source or don't know it but I've never seen eg. Fred or Serge here, just to name two.

This will continue, every year we will have some new hardcore collectors.

But WHAT THE HELL is the direction?
Intel-Only?
I don't believe in this.
ES only?
Only white CDIPS?
Pentiums and up?
Flat Packs from the Minuteman period?

I focus on 8 Bit and below, ceramic preferred, Intel chips everything with four digits, 1101 up to 8801 (more or less following Lee's collection or George's guide)
Since my visit at Smithsonians I urge to own flat packs, recently I got some, fourty years old like me:-)
And going deeply into this time, the 60ies, it is really fascinating what was going on then - before what we call a CPU.

What's your guess for chip collecting future?

[Komz]

Remember that Grampa's forum was the first (If I'm right - 6 moths before this one)
OMG it was 5 years ago...

[CPUShack]

I started collecting in the 90's and remember the first auctions on ebay that apeared to be specifically fro collectors (Steve Emery) think he now does chipscapes lol.

[unte13]

Obviously a growing hobby.
I believe anyone who works in computer domain is a would be collector.
First there is a story behind chips so you can transmit it to your sons.
There is also business as rare chips would be pricier as number of collectors increases.
There is also something like fashion. When you see someone with gold cufflinks with C4004 gray chips you will say that's nice I want.
It's like a rumour. When a non collector talks with a collector, the non collector can become a collector depending on the power of conviction
(history, business,geekness). And then the newest collector can convert others one. But when there will be too many collectors, the number will decrease because chips would be too pricy so collecting will be too costly (10 000 $ for a C4004), collectors will talk about same stories they already know which is boring (1101 chip story) and everyone will have C4004 cufflinks so fashion will die.


Jerome still looking for C4004 cufflinks, keen on computer chips stories, still willing to spend money for chips.

[el_gecko]

I agree with everyone but don't you think that the actual market (mainly Intel and AMD, some Sun and VIA chip...) is less interesting than in the past ? To promote a collecting hobby, I think the most important thing is to imagine how it can be the future, and for the moment the future is a bit... restricted, isn't it ?

[wepwawet]

Hey, great!
Chip collecting already has a history!

One reason more to take this as a serious thing:-)

I started around 2000, so much later than some of you.
Also my first ebay experience and trades were with Steve.
He is a very good multiplier!

[unte13]

Yes you're right. My sentence was too short and your point is certainly the most important thing that explains 90%(maybe more, maybe less) of the growing price trend.

[tlccomp]

Right now I collect anything that's processor related. Cpu's, Mpu's memory, support chips, books, "eye candy" etc.

I started last summer. I was researching gold/scrap values and looking for a place to dump my old chips and when I found this site.
After reading through the forums I became hooked.

In the short time I've been doing this there seems to be more and more new people becoming interested everyday and it's international.

In my opinion 10-20 years from now is when we'll really see "rare" chips.
By todays standards what we consider rare now should actually be considered scarce.

[D.8080]

In 1987-88 I had an 80186 under my hands, with Gwbasic to play games and some autoboot disks. Then a 286+287, and in 1990 my father bought a 386/387 second hand. My first collected processor was that 286-12 from Amd with 287 co-processor. Compaq machine.

After a 486 Dx2-66 came the pentium, there I had plenty of upgrades, so I can say that it started with cpus I kept.

In fact I never realized I was collecting, it was just keeping them away instead. I used to collect banknotes, so I never cared. It piled up.


My focus is every chip that can be called "cpu", from 4004 to anything. No fan boy, so anything goes.


Recently I started to keep motherboards to test the cpus, in order to have fun with the old software. And I think that many of you do the same, take the max fun out of collecting.

[wepwawet]

[cocoe]

I started my collection some years ago, in 2003, as a way to get some processors compatible with my first old PC motherboard (one PLCC-286/16 with AMD processor). After, I discovered a big world around CPUs, eBay, etc.
I think more collectors every day and less old CPUs to get.

Some years after and difficult to get standard CPUs from now.
A big challenge for us is gold recovery.

Rgrds

[Vlad The Impaler]

I started in 1997, my first chip was a 286-6 out of a dumped IBM AT system in a skip. In the early days, I focussed on collecting sealed Retail Box CPUs; an expensive hobby at the time and a subsection of collecting that still seems to be populated by just me. It took me two years to find a sealed PII 266.... Never seen one since.

With all this said, I am bored. I have really lost my interest in this, and I have 1200 or so CPUs sat in the attic. Maybe I will sell them one day...

[CPUShack]

[debs3759]

I have about 6 that are NIB and a couple in boxes that have been opened. I'd buy more if I found them at prices I like - I consider NIB to be perfection (better than just saying something is NOS - if the box is still sealed then there is a guarantee that there is no damage!)

[tlccomp]