Flat chips on mother boards

[solarsmith]

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

 

[Arcani]

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

 

[Redders]

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)

 

[pilotdan]

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.

 

[Redders]

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...

 

[calgoldrecyclers]

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

 

[lazersteve]

Cal,

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

Steve

 

[calgoldrecyclers]

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!

 

[pilotdan]

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

 

[calgoldrecyclers]

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.

 

[Redders]

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

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

 

[Redders]

three with tops removed

 

[silversaddle1]

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!

 

[meng2k7]

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.

 

[Redders]

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?

 

[skyline27]

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.

 

[Anonymous]

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

 

[meng2k7]

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.

 

[Redders]

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

 

[solarsmith]

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