A Chunk of Silicon Fell Off This Athlon XP—and It Still Worked

The End of an Athlon

While swapping CPUs during research on undocumented CPUID bits, Michal Necasek pulled a heatsink off an Athlon XP and found a large piece of the processor's silicon stuck to it. The CPU had been running fine despite a hidden micro-crack, which gave way under the force of removal. The incident highlights the fragility of early flip-chip PGA packaging, which both AMD and Intel briefly used around 2000 before switching to lidded designs for better durability.