9 ms·

The article mentions this, but this was before CPUs had lids. When delidding a CPU, you have to be very careful not to crack the silicon die that you are applyi

by jdiff 25d ago

The article mentions this, but this was before CPUs had lids. When delidding a CPU, you have to be very careful not to crack the silicon die that you are applying force directly to. In the case of this Athlon, even care wasn't enough.

polpo 25d ago
Interestingly, AMD's previous gen processors, the K6/K6-2/K6-III, were all lidded flip chips. A delidded K6-era CPU looks remarkably similar to the early Athlons which did away with the lid.
- 3453f4f 25d ago
  There are three good pieces of history for you to look at. First, the NexGen Nx686 prototype... that became the K6 after AMD bought NexGen. https://web.archive.org/web/19990901212245/http://www.sandpile.org/impl/nx6.htm https://web.archive.org/web/19990901212245/http://www.sandpi... https://web.archive.org/web/20000831030211/http://www.sandpile.org/impl/pics/nexgen/nx6/nx6a_top.jpg https://web.archive.org/web/20000831030211/http://www.sandpi... https://web.archive.org/web/20000831030227/http://www.sandpile.org/impl/pics/nexgen/nx6/nx6b_top.jpg https://web.archive.org/web/20000831030227/http://www.sandpi... Second, the AMD K6 prototype... which came in a small footprint ceramic package. https://www.cpushack.com/chippics/AMD/K6/AMDK6-Processor-CA-ES.html https://www.cpushack.com/chippics/AMD/K6/AMDK6-Processor-CA-... Third, the AMD K7... which also came in that small footprint ceramic package, on a Slot A PCB, with L2 cache chips. http://www.cpu-galerie.de/html/amdk7athlonslot.html http://www.cpu-galerie.de/html/amdk7athlonslot.html Enjoy!
  - srean 25d ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49407748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49407748 Thanks for the nostalgia trip.
  - cogman10 24d ago
    Man I sort of miss the cartridge CPU. I get why it's not a thing anymore, but man was it fun to slot in a CPU like you would an old SNES game.
Dwedit 24d ago
Pentium 4 had lids. AMD Athlon XP did not.

by jdiff 25d ago

polpo 25d ago

Interestingly, AMD's previous gen processors, the K6/K6-2/K6-III, were all lidded flip chips. A delidded K6-era CPU looks remarkably similar to the early Athlons which did away with the lid.

3453f4f 25d ago
There are three good pieces of history for you to look at. First, the NexGen Nx686 prototype... that became the K6 after AMD bought NexGen. https://web.archive.org/web/19990901212245/http://www.sandpile.org/impl/nx6.htm https://web.archive.org/web/19990901212245/http://www.sandpi... https://web.archive.org/web/20000831030211/http://www.sandpile.org/impl/pics/nexgen/nx6/nx6a_top.jpg https://web.archive.org/web/20000831030211/http://www.sandpi... https://web.archive.org/web/20000831030227/http://www.sandpile.org/impl/pics/nexgen/nx6/nx6b_top.jpg https://web.archive.org/web/20000831030227/http://www.sandpi... Second, the AMD K6 prototype... which came in a small footprint ceramic package. https://www.cpushack.com/chippics/AMD/K6/AMDK6-Processor-CA-ES.html https://www.cpushack.com/chippics/AMD/K6/AMDK6-Processor-CA-... Third, the AMD K7... which also came in that small footprint ceramic package, on a Slot A PCB, with L2 cache chips. http://www.cpu-galerie.de/html/amdk7athlonslot.html http://www.cpu-galerie.de/html/amdk7athlonslot.html Enjoy!
- srean 25d ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49407748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49407748 Thanks for the nostalgia trip.
- cogman10 24d ago
  Man I sort of miss the cartridge CPU. I get why it's not a thing anymore, but man was it fun to slot in a CPU like you would an old SNES game.

Dwedit 24d ago

Pentium 4 had lids. AMD Athlon XP did not.