Plastic CPU with gold pins (P4, Athlon, S370/462/478)

Green or tan organic substrate with a dense grid of gold pins. No ceramic — flex it slightly and you can feel it's fibre, not brittle. Some have a copper heat spreader, some are bare die.

Au 0.5–1.0 g/lbAg trace–0.3 g/lbCu IHS on P4

eBay typical$30–90per lb

Refiner pays$16per lb

Metal in it$98.3per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencemedof the yield figures

How to spot it

Socket 370, Socket A/462, Socket 478, early LGA-era PGA parts. Pentium III, P4, Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron, Celeron.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Gold	0.5–1.0 g/lb	0.03–0.06 g per chip
Silver	trace–0.3 g/lb
Copper	IHS on P4	strip it, it's dead weight

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $98.3 per pound of contained metal — Gold 0.75 g = $97.9, Silver 0.2 g = $0.38. A refiner paying $16 returns about 16% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Cold

Socket lever. If it has a heat spreader, refiners pay roughly 3× more for de-lidded clean plastic CPUs — pop the lid with a razor blade in a vice, or a lid-removal jig.

Before you scrap it

Socket A Athlon XP mobile chips and specific Tualatin Pentium IIIs have a retro-computing following. Check before scrapping.

The common trap

YouTube figures of 0.2–0.5 g per P4 are 5–10× reality. The gold is pin plating and substrate traces only. Real number is 0.03–0.06 g.

Questions

How much gold is in plastic cpu with gold pins (p4, athlon, s370/462/478)?

Gold: 0.5–1.0 g/lb. Silver: trace–0.3 g/lb. Copper: IHS on P4. At current spot that is about $98.3 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify plastic cpu with gold pins (p4, athlon, s370/462/478)?

Green or tan organic substrate with a dense grid of gold pins. No ceramic — flex it slightly and you can feel it's fibre, not brittle. Some have a copper heat spreader, some are bare die.

How do you remove plastic cpu with gold pins (p4, athlon, s370/462/478) safely?

Socket lever. If it has a heat spreader, refiners pay roughly 3× more for de-lidded clean plastic CPUs — pop the lid with a razor blade in a vice, or a lid-removal jig.

Is plastic cpu with gold pins (p4, athlon, s370/462/478) worth more working than as scrap?

Socket A Athlon XP mobile chips and specific Tualatin Pentium IIIs have a retro-computing following. Check before scrapping.

Related in Processors

Ceramic CPU — gold lid + gold pins Processors · $500–650/lb Au 2.0–3.5 g/lbAg 0.5–2 g/lbBase Kovar S Pentium Pro Processors · $500–700/lb Au 0.25–0.45 g eachAg trace S Ceramic CPU — no gold lid (black top) Processors · $130–250/lb Au 1.0–1.8 g/lbAg 0.3–1 g/lb A AMD ceramic with aluminium top (K6) Processors · $80–150/lb Au 0.7–1.2 g/lbBase Al plate B IBM Multi-Chip / Thermal Conduction Modules Processors · $36–115/lb Au 1–5 g per module ≈ 0.3–0.7 g/lbCu ~48 g/lbBase Mo internal wiring B Slot 1 / Slot A cartridge CPU Processors · $60–120/lb Au 0.3–0.75 g/lb wholeAg trace–0.5 g/lb B

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