General G3/G4 ZIF upgrade questions

[Phipli]

I just got back from vacation yesterday, so I can resume these projects again. Had a wrench thrown in too, when 10 of 10 233/266 ZIFs I bought all had bent pins from horrible packing.

A propelling pencil can help getting the straight.

 

[macuserman]

@cobalt60 Just curious which specific carrier card are you using for your experiments? There are at least 3 different carriers that I know of but there may be more as well.

 

[macuserman]

Powerlogix:

XLR8:

Newer Technology:

IOData:

Formac:

These are the one's I'm aware of but there may be others. Figured I'd make a quick post with all the cards in one place, I don't think I've ever seen anyone layout the options all together before. Anyhow interesting to see the differences.

Edited to add formac card just because I like seeing them all together!

 

[Phipli]

Powerlogix:
View attachment 60719
XLR8:
View attachment 60721
Newer Technology:
View attachment 60722
IOData:
View attachment 60720
These are the one's I'm aware of but there may be others. Figured I'd make a quick post with all the cards in one place, I don't think I've ever seen anyone layout the options all together before. Anyhow interesting to see the differences.

Formac also made one.

Sorry Kai, borrowed your picture :

 

[macuserman]

Formac also made one.

Sorry Kai, borrowed your picture :

Oooh Nice! I didn't know about that one. I'm going to add it to my above post if it will let me.

 

[Phipli]

Deleted

 

[Phipli]

Or this:

 

[macuserman]

Or this:

I've never seen the card version of this only the zif direct. Was this ever actually sent into the wild? Or just marketing pictures. I know the non card version was actually made, although I can only confirm that a version compatible with the beige G3 was ever sold, supposedly they made or were making one compatible with the B&W but I haven't found actual evidence of it beyond marketing so far.

 

[Phipli]

I've never seen the card version of this only the zif direct. Was this ever actually sent into the wild? Or just marketing pictures. I know the non card version was actually made, although I can only confirm that a version compatible with the beige G3 was ever sold, supposedly they made or were making one compatible with the B&W but I haven't found actual evidence of it beyond marketing so far.

I think they were sold. Never seen one. I've been half looking for years, but know I'd never be able to afford it these days, so meh.

Everyone wants a dual G4 7500

 

[macuserman]

Everyone wants a dual G4 7500

lol such a practical machine, what with the bus limitations and all. Still what a thing it would be!

 

[cobalt60]

Wow thanks @macuserman for that montage, it's wonderful. I am using the XLR8. It's only being used for bus speed testing. I have a B&W G3 for any riskier experiments.

 

[cobalt60]

Sticky heatsinks

 

[cobalt60]

A propelling pencil can help getting the straight.

I tried, but the majority of the pins are bent. There's not un-bent neighbor pins I can align to. At least 2 have pins that have detached or broken internally. What gets me is they were advertised as "collectors items" and in "excellent condition"

There's 5 modules in this box, they need to be compressed in just to fit. The only padding is ~5mm foam under the pins. The box wasn't labeled fragile. It's just so obvious they'd get damaged. The seller wants to imply I was up to something, and then blame USPS, instead of taking responsibility for his own horrendous packing job. I would hardly have the patience to straighten the pins normally, but definitely not in this situation.

I can still use them to practice BGA soldering, and pull off the PGA assemblies and see how they're built, and just generally use these modules to familiarize myself with how they're built, so it's not a total loss.

 

[Phipli]

I tried, but the majority of the pins are bent. There's not un-bent neighbor pins I can align to. At least 2 have pins that have detached or broken internally. What gets me is they were advertised as "collectors items" and in "excellent condition"
View attachment 60772
There's 5 modules in this box, they need to be compressed in just to fit. The only padding is ~5mm foam under the pins. The box wasn't labeled fragile. It's just so obvious they'd get damaged. The seller wants to imply I was up to something, and then blame USPS, instead of taking responsibility for his own horrendous packing job. I would hardly have the patience to straighten the pins normally, but definitely not in this situation.

I can still use them to practice BGA soldering, and pull off the PGA assemblies and see how they're built, and just generally use these modules to familiarize myself with how they're built, so it's not a total loss.

I've had a lot of trouble buying PCI cards. People usually don't pack them well enough to protect them from bending and they arrive with detached chip pins.

You don't want to know how many eBay PCI cards I've had to repair so far this year. I tend not to complain if I can fix them, but I ask their permission to try first. Most sellers don't do it on purpose, but I do wish they'd send things so that they arrive in one piece.