R80188 Scrap or Sell? CLCC68 / LCC68 Ceramic & Gold Package

[eprigge]

I have quite a few R80188 CPUs manufactured around 1990 and I'm trying to decide whether to scrap or sell them. I feel bad about destroying them since they are in excellent condition but on the other hand the prices they bring on eBay look like they could be lower than the gold content value. And they sell very slowly. The only estimate I've seen is 0.27g Au/chip, which would be about $25ea. I have no idea how accurate that is, of course.

I would enjoy processing them and learning but I don't want to do it if it's impractical. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I also have quite a few Motorola 68000 series chips. I have no idea how much Au they contain but they will sell for ~$20 ea on eBay. Eventually.

OT: If I want to post refining project details on the forum would the "Gold Refining Gallery" be the right place or is there a better thread for that?

 

[FrugalRefiner]

OT: If I want to post refining project details on the forum would the "Gold Refining Gallery" be the right place or is there a better thread for that?

The Gallery is a good place to show the final results. For process details I'd lean toward the Chemical Processes & Chemical Discussion section.

Dave

 

[Shark]

I have quite a few R80188 CPUs manufactured around 1990 and I'm trying to decide whether to scrap or sell them. I feel bad about destroying them since they are in excellent condition but on the other hand the prices they bring on eBay look like they could be lower than the gold content value. And they sell very slowly. The only estimate I've seen is 0.27g Au/chip, which would be about $25ea. I have no idea how accurate that is, of course.

I would enjoy processing them and learning but I don't want to do it if it's impractical. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I also have quite a few Motorola 68000 series chips. I have no idea how much Au they contain but they will sell for ~$20 ea on eBay. Eventually.

OT: If I want to post refining project details on the forum would the "Gold Refining Gallery" be the right place or is there a better thread for that?

Great question with some good input. Following Dave's advice will make it easier for future searchers to find.

 

[anachronism]

Nice chips eprigge. Where did you get the yield data from please?

Jon

 

[eprigge]

Nice chips eprigge. Where did you get the yield data from please?

Jon

Here. It's the only one I've seen regarding this type of CPU. I think I'm going to try to process 4-5 of them carefully and see what I get.

 

[anachronism]

Here. It's the only one I've seen regarding this type of CPU. I think I'm going to try to process 4-5 of them carefully and see what I get.

Thanks. I think the yield figure is a little high but if you can process some discretely I'd appreciate your numbers.

If I may suggest process 30 not 4 or 5. The losses you will get are the same regardless of the input volume so your results will be far better.

 

[eprigge]

If I may suggest process 30 not 4 or 5. The losses you will get are the same regardless of the input volume so your results will be far better.

Why would the losses be the same? I am new to this but I figured they would be proportional to the batch / volume size. I will definitely share what I get.

 

[anachronism]

Why would the losses be the same? I am new to this but I figured they would be proportional to the batch / volume size. I will definitely share what I get.

You're nearly right. In processing terms the losses are (if taken theoretically) are dependent upon lot size but in.practical.recovery terms they are not.

A well run recovery process in a home lab will lose the same gold out of 10g as from 100g.

 

[Shark]

My returns on a stock pot saw a very minimal increase from working on 100 grams of gold filled versus one pound of gold filled. Typical of 100 grams would be just under .1 gram recovered. From one pound of gold filled my stockpot would only return around .2 grams. I'm not sure if there is point where the change is greatly noticable, but recovering as much gold as possible up front can be very important if your working on some(one) else's material.

 

[orvi]

I have quite a few R80188 CPUs manufactured around 1990 and I'm trying to decide whether to scrap or sell them. I feel bad about destroying them since they are in excellent condition but on the other hand the prices they bring on eBay look like they could be lower than the gold content value. And they sell very slowly. The only estimate I've seen is 0.27g Au/chip, which would be about $25ea. I have no idea how accurate that is, of course.

I would enjoy processing them and learning but I don't want to do it if it's impractical. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I also have quite a few Motorola 68000 series chips. I have no idea how much Au they contain but they will sell for ~$20 ea on eBay. Eventually.

OT: If I want to post refining project details on the forum would the "Gold Refining Gallery" be the right place or is there a better thread for that?

These yields are exaggerated in my opinion. Our average from whatever 186/286 ceram mixes (intel, sab, motorola etc.) was more like 15g/kg. Plus minus.

Nowadays, not worth to process if you have just couple of them. Better save them as pieces of history and sell them to people who appreciate them more than in gold value That won´t produce quick cash, but with few dozen in hand, this makes more sense.

 

[eprigge]

These yields are exaggerated in my opinion. Our average from whatever 186/286 ceram mixes (intel, sab, motorola etc.) was more like 15g/kg. Plus minus.

Nowadays, not worth to process if you have just couple of them. Better save them as pieces of history and sell them to people who appreciate them more than in gold value That won´t produce quick cash, but with few dozen in hand, this makes more sense.

If you are right then that's only 0.06g Au/chip as they are ~4g each. At $5 Au ea, that would not make sense. I may test a few just for the hell of it.

 

[orvi]

If you are right then that's only 0.06g Au/chip as they are ~4g each. At $5 Au ea, that would not make sense. I may test a few just for the hell of it.

If you want to be sure, crush and process 6-8 pieces to get measurable and relatively reliable number yield. Maybe you havbe some richer type But I doubt they will run above 20/kg, that would be too much for modern western chips I think. If in good shape, you can easily aim at 10-20 USD for piece on eBay and they will slowly but steadily go one by one at a time. There is not enormous demand for these, like in case of rarities like 4004 or 8080 old ceram goldcap chips, but hey, it can be nearly called an investment Low liquidity, but still investment