CPU Yields - Any Advice Appreciated

[Anonymous]

Recently I have been accumulating a quantity of various CPU's to perform some quantitative and qualitative analysis of yields.

This weekend I intend "nuking" them in seperate batches of AR, weighing the precipitates and "waste" ceramic as I go.
The precipitate will be filtered using a buchner funnel and flask, dried and weighed. The ceramic will be crushed and further extraction attempted.
(I have lab scales capable of 2 decimal gram +/- 1 accuracy.)

The proposed batches are:
176 x K6 CPU's various models (minus top cover and adhesive)
189 Pentium MMX PPGA CPUs (minus top cover plate)
137 Pentium CPGA CPUs (minus boton cover plate)

In the next couple of weeks I will also have sufficient processors to also do:
Approx 120 Pentium Pro CPUs
Approx 60 MII Cyrix CPUs
Approx 50 Duron CPUs
Approx 190 PIII FC-PGA CPUs
Approx 70 486DX CPUs

Do any members have any advice or warnings regarding the process I am going to try ?
As this has taken some time to set up, I don't want to stuff it up now.
So any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers
Warrigal69, Brisbane, Australia

 

[EDI Refining]

if this is your first go at refining. Do a small lot first, wouldnt want you to run all thoses cpu's without getting near full recovery down pat first.

If you decide to sell the CPU's, I would purchase and can pay cash or in .99 Au ingot form

good luck

 

[4metals]

Sounds like an interesting project. From a hobby standpoint, acid refining of the entire lot in small manageable portions may be the way to go. Doing it in single piece mode will not be accurate given the accuracy of your balance.

If you're doing it from a business standpoint running small assay sized lots by classic refining will help you identify yields and what you can pay for each type.

Once you know that, it's more cost effective to watch it and sample the results from a big refiner than to do it at home. Once you learn what you're watching at the refiner.

 

[dick b]

Hello:

I have a couple suggestions.

I would take a photo of each different type of cpu and include it along with the results. That would help us new guys know each of the different type of chips and have some idea of what we should expect from our own refining results.

You might use a lot size of 25 or 50 chips since that would be a managable size that the hobby refiner would expect to work with.

I really like your idea and look forward to your future posts on the outcome.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Everyone
To answer a couple of your suggestions.

No, this is not my first attempt at refining, I have been doing mixed batches for a while. I'm just the type who believes "if you can't measure it, you can't control it" business logic.
I probably confused some with my shorthand description of my scales, the accuracy is to 2 decimal points of grams, plus or minus .01g. I recalibrate it before taking any recorded readings.

My methodology is to record raw weight of processors, clean weight of processors (minus heat caps etc) and weight of silicon after processing in AR.
Normally I would then melt into small ingots and put them through a Shor simplicity electroloysis process (twice) to achieve what they claim to be 99.99 fine. This goes directly to jewellers.

This time I will be paying a certified assay lab in Adelaide to determine purity and yield.

I am recording the results on an Excel table and will include CPU pictures if anyone is interested. (Good suggestion about the pics, thanks)

This will help me measure and control the purchasing and processing costs.

My main concern is if anyone knows of contaminents that may effect the process. I have read the tech sheets for each processor but don't want to be blind-sided. That is why I thought I should ask the people with real experience.

Cheers

Peter R (Warrigal69)