Do we *really* need 754 pins?

C

Carl B

Friends call me xbd
Legend
Well, the thread title is more a rhetorical question than anything...

But today when messing on my office computer (ie replacing the motherboard), some of the pins on my trusty 2800 A64 got bent. Well, this type of thing happens too frequently, and so I of course bent them back. But I guess I missed one, and when I re-inserted it into the slot, the strain was such that when I was trying to recover the angle, it snapped off.

I was pretty upset, because I really have been fond of this chip - but deciding I would try it out anyway, I put it in and booted the machine up; no problems that I can tell thus far.

Should I be concerned? I know somewhere out there there's a pin mapping that would tell me what exactly I lost - I'm hoping it's something redundant. It seems to be in any case.
 
Wow, I second the :oops:

I have never seen a detailed Athlon 64 pin-mapping, though.
 
I thought I had once, but a cursory Google search yielded me nothing. I emphasize cursory though...

Ah well, it works in a normal environment at least - for now.

Whatever that pin was, it's obviously not mission critical, but I'd still like to know exactly what I'm dealing with now in my system. This machine will be tasked with such low-intensity stuff though that I'm not going to worry about it until I get some strange crash or freeze-up; at that point maybe I'll consider a cheap Sempron replacement.
 
You could attempt to solder it back on, though that may be difficult. This is why Intel decided to go with their pinless config.
 
These pins are needed for power. Many of these pins are for power and ground. Imagine if you try to pass 30A current through a wire as thin as a CPU's pin, it would cetainly overheat and maybe burned. Some overclocked CPU failed because their power pins actually detached from the CPU.
 
xbdestroya said:
Should I be concerned? I know somewhere out there there's a pin mapping that would tell me what exactly I lost - I'm hoping it's something redundant. It seems to be in any case.
Click to expand...
You might have been lucky. IIRC, there needs to be at least 1 power and 1 ground pin for every N signal pins (where N is about 5 I think). You might have got a redundant ground or power.

FWIW back in the "old days", I broke off a pin while soldering in an SRAM (which had about 14 pins - it was over 20 years ago). By melting the plastic package I managed to attach a wire, get a connection, and save the chip. :)
 
I have several "Socket 938" and "Socket 937" processors :LOL: As Simon says, a large chunk of the pins on a modern CPU are just for the ground plane, so if you lose one the rest of them take up the slack. You have to be lucky and just lose those, though!
 
ANova said:
You could attempt to solder it back on, though that may be difficult. This is why Intel decided to go with their pinless config.
Click to expand...
But aren't there pins on the motherboard?

I dislike this even though the CPU is usually more expensive than the motherboard, it is more of a hassle to replace the motherboard than the CPU.
 
_xxx_ said:
So what was it after looking at the pin mapping? Just curious.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not going to remove it from the motherboard right now (or ever?) just because another pin was weakened as well and I don't want to stress it... but the pin that broke was either B2, B28, AH2, or AH28 - so I guess I'm in the clear! :cool:

@breez: Thanks a lot for the reference chart!

@Simon: The packaging is too dense on these chips for me to consider soldering it, but I was thinking (if I could find the pin - which I can't) of putting it in it's slot in the motherboard with a little solder connection point on top, filed down to reduce strain, and just sort of leaving it there as long as this CPU is the boards resident. But, yeah without the pin it's all moot anyway, though I guess I could do the same with a bit of copper wiring.
 
xbdestroya said:
@Simon: The packaging is too dense on these chips for me to consider soldering it,
Click to expand...
Oh gosh, I wasn't trying to suggest you try soldering it. That would surely be the path to insanity.:D
 
Thankfully, I only ever lost one pin from a CPU (and, being intentional, it probably doesn't count). Although I did manage to sever a PCB trace on a Savage4 going to 'pin' B64 which according to specs is the AD1 signal... curiously enough, it worked fine in a Super Socket 7 board. *shrug*
 
ANova said:
You could attempt to solder it back on, though that may be difficult. This is why Intel decided to go with their pinless config.
Click to expand...
Don't even try this, it will most likely make it worse. It is probably a ground pin you snapped off or something. I snapped one off on a Socket A processor (weell actually a friend did and gave it to me) Anyway attempting to solder it back on was a total fubar...

Some people said to break a needle and stick it point up in the socket where the missing pin was, perhaps it would work, but I never tried it b/c I did not have excess motherboards to ruin, but I had the excess processor. It is stil in my desk drawer actually.
 
Most pins are there for electromagnetic shielding. They carry power or (most) ground. It won't matter very much (if anything) if you lose one of those, as it is sufficient that they are attached at one side.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top