# Flat chips on mother boards



## solarsmith (Mar 23, 2008)

what are the flat chips I am finding on a lot of mother boards.
they have a gold corner and are glued down to the mother board
I have been removing them with heat to the back of the board.
there are usualy 2 on a board. are they worth colecting..

Bryan from Denver Colorado


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## Arcani (Mar 24, 2008)

I believe they are, i think there some threads on this in 'Types of PM Scrap'


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## Redders (Mar 24, 2008)

There are two distinct parts to these chips. You can push on the edge of the wider, lower part (the part with the gold flash on one corner) You can then work the two parts apart to reveal some gold inside. Steve will know best how to process these chips..... ask him.... (I'd like to know, too)


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## pilotdan (Mar 24, 2008)

Redders said:


> There are two distinct parts to these chips. You can push on the edge of the wider, lower part (the part with the gold flash on one corner) You can then work the two parts apart to reveal some gold inside. Steve will know best how to process these chips..... ask him.... (I'd like to know, too)



If you have figured out a way, I would like to know about it.


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## Redders (Mar 24, 2008)

that these chips are easily knocked off the motherboards. Put a chisel or a wide screwdriver against the edge of the chip at the motherboard.... a few taps of a hammer and they are off. There are two or three on a motherboard and they are usually on video cards...


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 26, 2008)

redders,
are you speaking of IC's? or actual memory chips? (largest 2 part chips)


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## lazersteve (Mar 26, 2008)

Cal,

I believe they are talking about the chipset ICs. They are usually flatpaks with a green board and a black plastic top.

Steve


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 26, 2008)

Steve,
so they mean the little IC's you find littered throughout every mainframe board? i understand there are some values inside by grinding and chopping, then seperating by agitation/ striation table, but dosnt exactly seem profitable for hobbyists/ smaller refiners. - if that is what they are talking about. you would literally have to run thousands at a time to recover identifiable values. 
keep up the gold work!


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## pilotdan (Mar 27, 2008)

Yes, the controller chips. The question was, or is for me, how they are opened to expose the internal PM, if any.


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## calgoldrecyclers (Mar 27, 2008)

to my knowledge, they are ground and smashed, values seperated by agitation. a table bouncing back and forth, seperating the heavier material from the lighter.(silicon) there is gold wire inside the chips, though, i couldnt tell you if it is actual gold wire, or plated wire.


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## Redders (Mar 27, 2008)

these are the chips which I was trying to describe....

[img:160:120]http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd144/Levytag/th_P3270055.jpg[/img]


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## Redders (Mar 27, 2008)

three with tops removed


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## silversaddle1 (Mar 27, 2008)

Interesting. So I wonder, are these BGA type chips? I see BGA's on alot of boards I scrap but never have opened one up. Do they all have the gold in them.... I guess we'll have to see!


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## meng2k7 (Mar 27, 2008)

yes, this chipset is BGA type ic's, first step of process is by burning, this is to make the chipset easy to grind.

thanks.


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## Redders (Mar 27, 2008)

What kind of machine do you used to grind up chips?

Also, I don't think that you can get away with doing the burning in the US. I know that it is done in the Phils but it is against all kinds of regulations.... for commercial-type operations on a regular basis.

Do you know Roly who recovers gold in Manila?


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## skyline27 (Mar 27, 2008)

That doesn't stop my neighbor from burning plastic and trash on a regular basis. Total disregard for the planet. Totally selfish. Unless you have a proper fume scrubber you have no business incinerating e-scrap of any kind.


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## Anonymous (Mar 27, 2008)

Mine used to do that, then I started burning manure around bbq time - he got the idea.


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## meng2k7 (Mar 27, 2008)

hi red!

is it rolly of HMR? i do burning under my filtered fumehoods all the way to my little water treatment system.

i live in residential area with a lot of neighbors.

after burning i used large mortar and pestle.

thanks.


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## Redders (Mar 28, 2008)

meng, roly is not with HMR (that is Randall.... though I haven't met him) Roly is a philippino who buys in Sydney and processes in Manila. he lives in both places.

regards


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## solarsmith (Apr 9, 2008)

do the flat packs with out the gold flash in the corner have any value?
they are square and have about 20 to 30 pins on a side going down to the pcb... Thanks BRYAN


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## Anonymous (Apr 12, 2008)

They would only be worth seperating from the board if you have a lot of them and a lot of extra time.The easiest way I have found to extract them is to keep the bottom attached to the board and knock the top off with a very small chisel or a small trowel and a light tap with a hammer or mallet.Then you can seperate the bottom half from the board using the same process.


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## JustinNH (Apr 12, 2008)

I have opened up some of those with the gold in the corner and some have a fair amount of gold in the inside, and some have tiny gold wires in them, so they are definately worth saving! 

Even the ones without the gold int he corner, that are attached to the boards in a similar way (just need to pop them off as opposed to cutting all the edges where they are attached) tend to have a good amount of gold in them. Of course, thats just from what Ive seen- as each one is differs from manufacturer and purpose... and im just startin out at this.


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## Anonymous (May 10, 2008)

I think the chips which you are talking about are the onboard sound (smaller one) and onboard graphics (larger one) cards. They are usually from the same manufacturer and come as a set.

Mike


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## Jehu (Oct 4, 2008)

sorry for the bump but I think this might help help in clearing upwhat these chips are. I'm a computer tech by trade and can tell you what most of these chips do. 

The 2 big chips on the motherboard, the ones in the photo posted before, are the main chipset IC's known as the North and South bridge. They interface the CPU to the other controllers on the motherboard. They have to deal with high speed interconnects so they should by rights have gold or silver in them for the sake of reducing electrical resistance. 

The other smaller chips are controllers for the BIOS, sound, network and hard drive interfaces, so there maybe PMs in these too. 

Also in the manufactoring of IC's, I believe that Gallium Arsanideis used. I'm not sure if that is of any interest. Also Iridium is used in the manufacturing of TFT LCD displays. I don't know if you have found a way of recovering it from these screens yet but it could become valueble soon as the LCD industry is quickly gobbling up the worlds supply of Iridium. Also Okley sunglasses have an Iridium coating on some of the lenses. 

Don't know if this helps but I hope it does.


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## jimdoc (Oct 4, 2008)

Jehu,
Are you sure you don't mean indium in the LCD screens?
I have never heard of iridium being used in them.
Jim


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## Jehu (Oct 4, 2008)

Ahh, yes I think you're right on that one. Wikipedia says that it's Indium but I always take any info from there with a grain of Sodium Chloride. But I have heard that Iridium is used in them too. I'll have to back through my info.


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