# gold content in SPARC processors



## rontrusi (Jan 26, 2009)

Does anyone happen to know the gold content in the micro SPARC II processors (including the pins & backplate)?

Thanks


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## rontrusi (Jan 26, 2009)

Nobody? Bummer!


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## butcher (Jan 27, 2009)

well great this gives you a chance to process them and then teach us


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## Fever (Jan 27, 2009)

Got pics? That would help us identify the item in question. Then maybe someone will know the answer to your question.

Fever


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## rontrusi (Jan 27, 2009)

I'll try & get them done tomorrow afternoon....I've got to head into work right now & won't get home until 6:30 am.
Right now I'm not sure what gold content (if any) it has. The pins are silver (colored) and there is both a frontplate & backplate that is gold colored. I'm hoping that they have some gold in them at least.


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## rontrusi (Jan 28, 2009)

I've got a question..... I've got about 12 of these boards that hold 24 slots of 32Mb RAM. I've removed all the RAM & harvested the fingers off of them. But do the slots contain gold as well that holds the RAM? If so, is it enough to try and harvest & what would be the best way to do it? Crush the slots & use AP and then ACl like for the fingers?
Here's a couple pictures of what I'm talking about.

[img:800:600]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/7/16/1269763/DSCN0218.JPG[/img]

[img:800:600]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/7/16/1269763/DSCN0217.JPG[/img]


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## rontrusi (Jan 28, 2009)

OK...here are the pictures of the SPARC processor...... I'm guessing the easiest way to recover the gold is ACl....skip the AP portion?? I'm not able to get the front & back plates off using a heat gun...just bashing the heck out of it with a hammer!
I'm open to ideas....as long as they're easy!!

[img:640:480]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/7/16/1269763/DSCN0221.JPG[/img]
[img:640:480]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/7/16/1269763/DSCN0222.JPG[/img]
[img:640:480]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/7/16/1269763/DSCN0224.JPG[/img]


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## butcher (Jan 29, 2009)

yes the connectors look to be plated Au,I put board in vise and use a propane torch to heat solder pull connectors off with plyers, then acid peroxide.


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## rontrusi (Jan 29, 2009)

What type of metal do you think is under the metal plating on the connectors...copper...silver...tin?
Am I correct in understanding that Acid Peroxide will only dissolve copper, ...not silver, tin, or gold?


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## rontrusi (Jan 29, 2009)

Also....the gold plated front & backplates on the processors..... what material is usually under the gold? Is it easier to just use HCl-Cl and dissolve everything & then use SMB to drop out the gold or will there be too much contamination from other metals this way?


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## butcher (Jan 29, 2009)

the way i do it is get base metals with acid peroxide, and fish tank bubbler.this will leave gold flakes if let run till done,
the acid peroxide will attack the small amount of solder although slow and when I let my solutin sit for long periods will collect the solder as gray powder,it being only slightly soluble as a chloride in the acidic solution,
if processor has a large heat sink soldered on, I desolder them with torch
the processor can be put in AP till pins fall off and they almost float, as only shells of gold left, then removed and then crushed to powder to get the gold inside,
or you can also process in nitric to rid base metals, then Aqua Regia or Hcl/ bleach,
the base metals in your aqua regia or HCl Bleach is just asking for trouble.
I cant tell from picture but are the traces on the board gold plated?


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## rontrusi (Jan 29, 2009)

I can't tell for sure, but it does look like some of them are gold plated. All I'll be using off the boards are the processor components (front & back plates & pins) and maybe the header pins. 
I'm going to have quite a bit of board scrap that I'll need to find a home for. Hopefully there is a electronic scrap recycler somewhere near me that will take it off my hands so it doesn't end up in the landfill.


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## Fever (Jan 29, 2009)

The boards do look like they have a gold mask underneath. As far as scrapping, I would separate your unwanted boards into two piles- one with the gold-masked boards, and one with the usual copper-masked boards. You will get better money in scrap for the gold-masked ones. 

It would be nice to try and recover the gold on these masks, but the amount of gold returned vs. the amount of board material processed is not very practical, as the mask is extremely thin.

Fever


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## rontrusi (Jan 29, 2009)

yea....just a little too much work for my little newbie butt to recover the mask! It's going to be enough work just trying to recover anything from the header pins!


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## rfd298 (Jul 29, 2009)

I acquired a few Sun Workstations, here are a few pictures of what is inside in case anyone was curious. Pictures 1 & 2 are of a SPARC II, picture 3 is a UltraSparc 5


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## Anonymous (Aug 14, 2009)

Fever said:


> The boards do look like they have a gold mask underneath.
> Fever


How can I remove a layer of a varnish from the board?
Best Regards


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## netseeker (Aug 14, 2009)

From what I've read on this forum and tried out myself there are several different ways to remove the varnish being tried. It's been discussed extensively in other threads so your best bet is to use the search function and see what others are trying. For me it's an ongoing project since there must be several different protective coatings used. I don't think anyone has found a completely satisfactory method yet - although I'm not completely up to date on the newest techniques tried and probably need to do a search here myself. The quest goes on  .

Robert


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