# Northbridge chips



## rewalston (Sep 5, 2011)

I have some chips on a few mother boards I have, I believe they are the Northbridge and Southbridge chips. They are a flat fiberglass piece with an Intel chip on top. How the blue blazes do you remove them from the board? I've had a few that I could slip a blade under but some of them are stubborn as hell...has to be an easier way.

Rusty


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## nwviking81 (Sep 5, 2011)

I usually heat with a butane torch and slip a gasket scrapper under them and they pop right off, normally I do the black cover first then the fiberglass part, If these are the same, but it is pouring rain here and I can't go and get a pic now. Sorry 

Gary


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## rewalston (Sep 5, 2011)

Thanks Gary, I'll give that a try, all I've succeeded in doing is breaking the fiberglass..the rest doesn't want to budge. I'll give it some heat when I get ready to remove some pins.

Rusty


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## Geo (Sep 5, 2011)

i would place the board with the chips facing down and place bricks at the four corners then lightly run the flame of your propane or map gas torch over the back to loosen the solder tapping the board with a small hammer. try not to leave the flame in one spot too long as the smoke is noxious. you will over time learn to depopulate the whole board in this manner. its a real time saver. seperate your components as to metal content, like MCC's and connector slots.


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## rewalston (Sep 5, 2011)

Thanks Geo, I was thinking about depopulating the whole board but it's kind of iffy. I was looking the other day for the post about components containing PMs on motherboards, but I couldn't come up with the correct combination of words using search. Forgot to bookmark it. 

Rusty


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## Claudie (Sep 5, 2011)

I lay a wood chisel on the edge of the chip and strike it with a hammer. Usually one blow is all it takes and they pop right off in one piece. Sometimes I break one. :|


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## Anonymous (Sep 6, 2011)

Claudie said:


> I lay a wood chisel on the edge of the chip and strike it with a hammer. Usually one blow is all it takes and they pop right off in one piece.


This is exactly how I remove them,except I use a long skinny chisel,ground down to a sharp edge.Once you get really good at it,you can pop them off in about 1-2 seconds.I usually lay the board on it's side,and position the chisel facing down,and pop it with the hammer.


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## Claudie (Sep 6, 2011)

I forgot to mention, I lay the boards on the edge also. Just make sure your fingers aren't against anything sharp when you hit the chisel, been there done that.... :|


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## rewalston (Sep 6, 2011)

Claudie said:


> I forgot to mention, I lay the boards on the edge also. Just make sure your fingers aren't against anything sharp when you hit the chisel, been there done that.... :|


I have a few bloody shirts...done that a FEW times...that's what I get for using a jack knife.
I'll try a chisel I think I have one some where.

Rusty


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## jmdlcar (Sep 6, 2011)

Is there much gold in them? And what about the other chips and memory chips?


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## Geo (Sep 6, 2011)

almost all "flat packs" contain gold.


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## Claudie (Sep 6, 2011)

My best guess is about 4.3 grams of Gold per pound of packages. This will of course depend on the packages and your refining skills. That guess is the total amount of Gold, not just what is visible when you separate the fiber bottom from the top. Remember, I used the word "guess". I have no proof of this yet, I am basing my guess from what I have read on the forum about others experiences with these packages. :|


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## patnor1011 (Sep 14, 2011)

They are real pain to process. It is due to a lot of tin present. I used to split bottom part to get rid of as much tin as possible but still a lot of it stays.


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## vango57 (Oct 1, 2011)

I use a sharpened chisel and what ever plier or cutters are handy and give them a good wack and most just pop off but some need a little more convincing. I use this method to remove all my chips.

Then the ceramic breaks off very easily and I suppose they are very close to processing at this point.

Perhaps I can make a little video. I have accumulated nearly 3 pounds of these chips along with 5 or 6 pounds of other ic's on the boards.

Van


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## Geo (Oct 2, 2011)

if you just break the ceramic off without heat, a large part of the gold with stay on the ceramic piece. i hold one corner with locking pliers and heat the ceramic until it pops up, at that time it will be loose and there shouldnt be any gold stuck to it if you have heated the entire surface (i make it glow cherry red) when it comes off the gold wires can be seen plainly and all traces will be intact.


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## patnor1011 (Oct 2, 2011)

Geo said:


> if you just break the ceramic off without heat, a large part of the gold with stay on the ceramic piece. i hold one corner with locking pliers and heat the ceramic until it pops up, at that time it will be loose and there shouldnt be any gold stuck to it if you have heated the entire surface (i make it glow cherry red) when it comes off the gold wires can be seen plainly and all traces will be intact.



There are gold wires encapsulated in that black plastic.


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## Geo (Oct 2, 2011)

not sure about all of them but the ones that i have dealt with do. the wires are very small and connect the small chip to the traces that ring the chip. if you do what i said you will see for your self, if you just rip the ceramic piece off these wires stay with the ceramic. there is some form of epoxy that glues the ceramic to the base and it will tear the wires and part of the traces off with it. besides heating will release the short legs on the bottom if they are still attached. if you heat the board these legs will stay with the package when it comes off and if im not mistaken theres gold on the legs.


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