Intel Pentium Unfinished

An unfinished Pentium P54C CPU! An interesting piece; it's completely blank and doesn't have a 'die' fitted. On the pictures you can see what is located under the 'die' and clearly see the tiny leads that connect the 'die' to the 296 pins on the CPU.

I used the term 'die' a couple of times: a processor like the original Pentium has a package with pins. The package is often made from ceramic. Inside this package is room for a 'die' (the empty spot in the picture of this unfinished Pentium). The term 'die' is derived from 'dicing'; which is cutting the 'die' from a silicon wafer. Inside this silicon 'die' the actual processor core is located.

A thanks note goes out to tsuimusya on a CPU-forum; he was kind enough to share two blank CPU's with me .