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EEVblog #1341 - AMAZING $250,000 IBM Processor TEARDOWN!

EEVblog · 713.7K views · 2020-10-05 · 29:44

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Overview

Dave Jones of EEVblog tears down a 1991 IBM 9121 thermal conduction module from a System/390 mainframe, a 63-layer ceramic hybrid module with 2772 pins worth about $250,000, and demonstrates a BGA desoldering technique.

On Hacker News

Cited in threads on chip packaging and cooling as a vivid look at vintage IBM mainframe module construction.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2021–2022

Topics

Repair, teardowns & right to repairHistory of computingComputer architecture & CPUs
Search by tags
ibm system/390teardownceramic modulechip packagingvintage computing

What people said

nom · 2021-01 · Recommendation

All the vintage mainframe stuff is pretty mind blowing. There is an awesome hidden gem on YouTube: CPU Galaxy. He has a huge collection of vintage CPUs. IBM 9121 Mainframe CPU [LINK] Dave from EEVBlog also made a video about it [VIDEO]

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ilyt · 2022-12 · Reference

This one does[1]. It have a bunch of pistons on springs touching each chiplet, all in mineral oil. Price bit out of range for typical desktop user tho * [VIDEO]

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formerly_proven · 2021-08 · Reference

The thermal solution and packaging looks a lot like mainframe systems from the 80s (IBM, Siemens, Japanese). Siemens H100: [LINK] [LINK] IBM: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by EEVblog, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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