Intel Pentium III CPUs pins are made with iron

I figure if didn't know this, there are others starting in scrap electronics who don't know, also. I'd hate to see somebody buy a whole load of them of them and counting on a decent return.

I started buying computer scrap and found out by accident that Pentium III CPUs are strongly magnetic. I don't know what the percentage of pin weight is iron, but it must be significant, judging by the magnet's "pull". Fortunately, I've only got one pound of them from all the CPUs I've bought. I'm assuming they can still be refined, just have to estimate the yield downward. Are there any other like that?

the are kovar Kovar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Like a lot of the alloy family it has a low thermal expansion.

Eric

It's not gold - might as well be 100% iron. Just glad I found out before I went after them, figuring on volume.

Originally Posted by Mick

It's not gold - might as well be 100% iron. Just glad I found out before I went after them, figuring on volume.

If they are just the pin removed from the CPU than they will/should be gold plated. Most all the magnetic gold plated pars on any of the CPU are made from kovar.

Eric

Well, yesterday just wasn't my day. Another batch of CPUs I'd bought arrived. They'd been advertised as nine AMD Anthalons. What I got were nine Pentium III and xeons. Already got all the money back. Not surprisingly, he didn't want to pay postage to get them back.

Lesson - Be more careful. If I'd paid more attention to the picture, I'd have known they weren't AMDs.

Hopefully the seller isn't a member here. I'd like to think either he just needed educated (I made my complaint very specific) or he shipped me the wrong batch. BUT - by his feedback, this wasn't the first time. PM me for the seller "name", if you want.

Mick, did you do a negative feedback?? That one would be justified.

I had a listing that I had mistakenly put the wrong part number on but the photos did show what the real part number was. According to the buyer the item did not work and sent it back to me without prior notification. He went on to write bad things about me and threaten to give me bad feed back if I did not pay the return shipping. Return shipping is not included in my return policy and is spelled out. Later the guy informed me that the item had been miss identified. I felt the entire problem was my error so I paid for all costs including the return shipping. Had it just not worked I would not have paid the return shipping.

I also had a "neutral" overturned because the buyer had threatened to give bad feedback in messages through the ebay messages. I only communicate through ebay messages to keep me as protected as I can. Mike

Originally Posted by Bear

I don't understand all this. How does it matter Mick, whats in the pin, if it's gold plated, and buyers buy them?

And Mike, how does it get a neg removed from Ebay because he had threatened to give one?

It's all about the gold content. The AMDs that I expected contain AT LEAST 0.08 grams of gold each (Anthalons contain 0.11 grams (each gram is approx $42)) Each Pentium III & xeon that I got has less than 0.05 grams and are generally considered "worthless" for refining. Regardless, I got less than half the gold content I expected.

I still left a positive feedback with a narrative that "Although it was not as advertised, seller made it right". It may seem like I "got away" with nine CPUs but, if I had known they were Pentium IIIs, I wouldn't have bought them at all. They simply weren't worth the postage to me.

if they were advertising the lot as fiber cups and not as amd fiber cpus then the seller is correct, the problem is since you have already processed them theres no way to return, if i were you id just do a claim thru paypal instead of ebay, your odds of getting your money back with paypal are higher

you state that if you had studied the picture you would have known so my guess is the seller advertised the lot as either fiber cpus or pentium 3 cpus, either way you cant file item not as described

Originally Posted by jghilino

if they were advertising the lot as fiber cups and not as amd fiber cpus then the seller is correct, the problem is since you have already processed them theres no way to return, if i were you id just do a claim thru paypal instead of ebay, your odds of getting your money back with paypal are higher

you state that if you had studied the picture you would have known so my guess is the seller advertised the lot as either fiber cpus or pentium 3 cpus, either way you cant file item not as described

I don't think you read what I wrote. They were advertised as AMDs. I already made a claim through eBay detailing the discrepancy and got my money back. Here's the listing:
Lot of 9 AMD Athlon Duron Processors for Gold Recovery Scrap | eBay

thats good, your basic point is about the different yields of fiber cpus so wouldnt it just be better to make a list of the different types and yields of cpus and post it here as a sticky, a good resource for gold refiners

i have always sold the fiber cpus mixed for about $20 pound, but it sounds like buyers are getting more picky about them now?