# Huge old IBM processor! TCM I think??



## silversaddle1 (Sep 1, 2009)

Well I have found this monster in some old IBM stuff I am scrapping. It's a monster as you can see. IBM p/n is 25F7701. Anybody ever processed one? I'm thinking it's going to be worth more to a collector than for scrap, as I have the socket and mounts. Any input would be great.


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## cheese (Sep 1, 2009)

It appears that TCU is still a commonly used item.
You may want to see if any of the resellers are interested in
purchasing it as is:


Part / Model: 25F7701Brand: IBM

Description: Refurbished Tcm W/ 96f6549 

Warranty: 30 Day Warranty

Stock: In Stock 
Request Price by email, live chat or call. 

Call: 800 - 392 - 6962
714 - 662 - 4959
The Online Global Parts Source


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## teabone (Sep 1, 2009)

Those chips are worth a couple of hundred dollars in gold alone. I'm sure you can get much more than that from a collector , you might want to try ebay. A couple of years ago , I saw one sell on ebay for three hundred and twenty dollars.


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## silversaddle1 (Sep 1, 2009)

teabone said:


> Those chips are worth a couple of hundred dollars in gold alone. I'm sure you can get much more than that from a collector , you might want to try ebay. A couple of years ago , I saw one sell on ebay for three hundred and twenty dollars.




Well I hope you are right. I now have two of these as I just pulled the second one out of the machine! I'm guessing this is an oil-cooled chip?


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## Anonymous (Sep 2, 2009)

happen to have or can you get a picture of the machine you pulled it out of . thanks victor


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## glorycloud (Sep 3, 2009)

I imagine that it came out of one of the IBM 3745 communication cotrollers.
Back when I had hair and it wasn't "grey", they were big ticket items.
I sold the dayllights out of the IBM 3274 and then the 3174 terminal controllers
that "talked" through them to the mainframe. 8)


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## silversaddle1 (Sep 3, 2009)

glorycloud said:


> I imagine that it came out of one of the IBM 3745 communication cotrollers.
> Back when I had hair and it wasn't "grey", they were big ticket items.
> I sold the dayllights out of the IBM 3274 and then the 3174 terminal controllers
> that "talked" through them to the mainframe. 8)




Yes, a 3745 controller. Lots of gold bearing scrap in this unit, also lots of pallidium scrap too. I really like the old "buss & tag" type cable connectors on the back of the unit. Appear to be very good gold plating on them. A pic, I suppose. Let me eat supper, then I will go out a take a photo for you.


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## glorycloud (Sep 3, 2009)

The best bus & tag cables were the 360 series cables. Those cables
had great connectors on the ends and the cables had to have been
at least two inches in diameter and heavy as all get out!! The ends
were black and probably 4"x5"x1.5" with two nice buttery gold colored
rows of connectors. 8) 

The newer cables were blue in color and not as heavy and the ends
didn't seem to have as high quality of gold pins.


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## silversaddle1 (Sep 3, 2009)

glorycloud said:


> The best bus & tag cables were the 360 series cables. Those cables
> had great connectors on the ends and the cables had to have been
> at least two inches in diameter and heavy as all get out!! The ends
> were black and probably 4"x5"x1.5" with two nice buttery gold colored
> ...




So what would a machine like the 3745 run back in the day, cash wise?


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## glorycloud (Sep 3, 2009)

Geez - when they were new from IBM I am sure they were well upwards
of $100,000.00 depending on the model and config. I also saw the previous
generations of IBM 3705 and 3725 comm controllers. My main market was
with the terminals, printers and controllers that communicated with them.
Ultimately, I also sold PC's with coax, twinax, sdlc, ARTIC, token ring,
ethernet, store loop, etc. emulation cards in them. 

LOL - I am old!!! 8)


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## rfd298 (Nov 19, 2009)

I'm picking up an old IBM Mainframe S/390 and associated support hardware along with a couple of NAS and tape back ups. I hope to have some pictures of the juicy wares that are contained inside, soon. Any pointers as to what I should really be looking out for besides all that glitters gold? I've never ripped apart a mainframe before but am looking forward just to see how they are put together.


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## Chumbawamba (Nov 21, 2009)

I acquired a 3705 a few years back but they are so rare I kept it for a friend on the east coast who collects old IBM iron. It was missing the front panel so it wasn't complete, but that might show up from another unit some day. Even if I knew how much gold it had at the time I wouldn't have scrapped it. I'm a sucker for old computers


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## zamistro (Nov 23, 2009)

Post new pix please!


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## rfd298 (Nov 24, 2009)

I finally got some pictures from my load of stuff.
The IBM S/390 Mainframe
The Processor




Same Proc with its board




1/2 of of one side


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## rfd298 (Nov 24, 2009)

Here is some of the EMC equipment that came with the IBM mainframe lot
1/2 of a drive array




Here is the backplane for the drive array




Need a little memory? Check out this card.




A couple of ceramic procs plus look at the connectors.


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## silversaddle1 (Nov 24, 2009)

Yes! EMC disk arrays! I have scrapped more than a few of those!

That backplane will yield some nice gold pins! They take a little work to remove, but can be done. I have a ton of boards with the type of connector you have. You will find that the gold plating is only on one side of the tab, and they are kinda a pain to remove.

Nice stuff!


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## goldsilverpro (Nov 24, 2009)

Speaking of mainframe backplanes, I once got involved with a semi-load that had tiny round 18K gold points on the contact areas of the pins inside the connectors. You have to look carefully with a loupe. I think these were made by NCR or Burroughs. Burroughs, most probably. They were worth more than double the all gold plated backplane pins from the same company and about 8-10 times the pins that were only plated on the contact area.


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## Chumbawamba (Nov 24, 2009)

Man, are they already scrapping S/390s? Those can run something like 47,000 instantiations of Linux in virtual mode. You can still do a lot with an S/390.

I gotta get me one.


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## glorycloud (Nov 24, 2009)

I can probably arrange that. PM me if you are serious. 8)


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## glorycloud (Sep 26, 2012)

My latest finds!! 8)


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## glorycloud (Sep 27, 2012)

Anyone processed any of these? I will probably sell them
to collectors but I was curious if anyone knew what they might yield
in gold / PM contect? I have see estimates all over the place but I wonder
if anyone had any practical experience with them?

Cutabove used to like them but I haven't seen him on the
forum in a while.


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