Socketed Chips

Does anyone have an idea on whether or not socketed chips are still in
widespread use, and if so, whether or not the need for chips that can
be swapped out easily will be around for a while.

I'm working on a project involving these kind of chips and would
appreciate opinions.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[John Larkin]

On 10 Feb 2005 16:19:12 -0800, Searcher7@mail.con2.com wrote:

Does anyone have an idea on whether or not socketed chips are still in
widespread use, and if so, whether or not the need for chips that can
be swapped out easily will be around for a while.

I'm working on a project involving these kind of chips and would
appreciate opinions.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Except for Pentium CPUs, socketed chips are rare these days. I can't
remember the last time I saw a socketed IC in a computer or piece of
test equipment. Most everything is surface-mount now.

I'd love to socket BGA chips, but the sockets tend to cost $1000 or
thereabouts.

John

 

[robin.pain@tesco.net]

Searcher7@mail.con2.com wrote in message news:<1108081152.593382.264910@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>...

Does anyone have an idea on whether or not socketed chips are still in
widespread use, and if so, whether or not the need for chips that can
be swapped out easily will be around for a while.

I'm working on a project involving these kind of chips and would
appreciate opinions.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Avoid sockets in production; it's another layer of "mechanical"
failure, extra bulk, expense and inventory.


Cheers
Robin

 

[tlbs]

Are you talking about "thru-hole" components vs. surface mount? We
still manufacture boards that use "thru-hole" components, but solder
them directly to the PC board without a socket (the space / hi-rel
industry is slow to embrace SM parts, but it is happening).

Just because a component is "thru-hole" doesn't mean it has to be
socketed.

As for parts that might have to be replaced (i.e. PROMS), there are
in-circuit-programmable solutions that can be soldered onto the board
-- no need for a socket.

 

[peterken]

<Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote in message
news:1108081152.593382.264910@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...

Does anyone have an idea on whether or not socketed chips are still in
widespread use, and if so, whether or not the need for chips that can
be swapped out easily will be around for a while.

I'm working on a project involving these kind of chips and would
appreciate opinions.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

socketed chips are still used, usually if replacing them might be necessary
or in first production runs
afterwards most of them are soldered onto the board
today indeed industry is tending to use smd more
under some conditions socketing is *not* advisable, say hi-speed circuitry
or locations having high mechanical stress (vibration)
and indeed most computers nowadays do not use socketed chips due to the high
speeds involved and volume reduction

 

Thanks everyone.

So upon factoring out the increase incidence of connectivity problems,
there doesn't seem to be any real use for socketed chips any more.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Fritz Oppliger]

Unless... to keep up with the hobby you love, with eyesight fading and
dexterity compromised, AND you want to be able to poke around on there...
be able to repair... Sockets DO have their place.

On 11 Feb 2005 16:18:04 -0800, <Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:

Thanks everyone.

So upon factoring out the increase incidence of connectivity problems,
there doesn't seem to be any real use for socketed chips any more.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

--
Fritz Oppliger

 

[Michael Black]

"Fritz Oppliger" (invalid@nospam.biz) writes:

Unless... to keep up with the hobby you love, with eyesight fading and
dexterity compromised, AND you want to be able to poke around on there...
be able to repair... Sockets DO have their place.

I couldn't figure out what the question was about. It's here in

sci.electronics.basics and that did imply to me hobby use, at which
point it often makes sense, if for no other reason than that you can
so easily move the ICs to another project when you tire of the first, or
suddenly need the IC. The fact that industry rarely uses sockets these days
is irrelevant for hobby use.

But there also seemed to be something in the original post that implied
commercial use, at which point the benefits of sockets to the individual do
not apply. One only has to mention the Apple III and its socket problem to
point out that they can be a negative thing in industry.

Michael

On 11 Feb 2005 16:18:04 -0800, <Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:

Thanks everyone.

So upon factoring out the increase incidence of connectivity problems,
there doesn't seem to be any real use for socketed chips any more.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.




--
Fritz Oppliger

 

Michael Black wrote:

"Fritz Oppliger" (invalid@nospam.biz) writes:
Unless... to keep up with the hobby you love, with eyesight fading
and
dexterity compromised, AND you want to be able to poke around on
there...
be able to repair... Sockets DO have their place.

I couldn't figure out what the question was about. It's here in
sci.electronics.basics and that did imply to me hobby use, at which
point it often makes sense, if for no other reason than that you can
so easily move the ICs to another project when you tire of the first,
or
suddenly need the IC. The fact that industry rarely uses sockets
these days
is irrelevant for hobby use.

But there also seemed to be something in the original post that
implied
commercial use, at which point the benefits of sockets to the
individual do
not apply. One only has to mention the Apple III and its socket
problem to
point out that they can be a negative thing in industry.

THis actually involves a couple of inventions I came up with, but if
the idea of an easily removable/pluggable chip is no longer valid, then
it isn't worth it to pursue.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, new York.

 

[John Larkin]

On 14 Feb 2005 17:20:43 -0800, Searcher7@mail.con2.com wrote:

Michael Black wrote:
"Fritz Oppliger" (invalid@nospam.biz) writes:
Unless... to keep up with the hobby you love, with eyesight fading
and
dexterity compromised, AND you want to be able to poke around on
there...
be able to repair... Sockets DO have their place.

I couldn't figure out what the question was about. It's here in
sci.electronics.basics and that did imply to me hobby use, at which
point it often makes sense, if for no other reason than that you can
so easily move the ICs to another project when you tire of the first,
or
suddenly need the IC. The fact that industry rarely uses sockets
these days
is irrelevant for hobby use.

But there also seemed to be something in the original post that
implied
commercial use, at which point the benefits of sockets to the
individual do
not apply. One only has to mention the Apple III and its socket
problem to
point out that they can be a negative thing in industry.

THis actually involves a couple of inventions I came up with, but if
the idea of an easily removable/pluggable chip is no longer valid, then
it isn't worth it to pursue.

There's nothing wrong with sockets if they have a purpose. Lots of
people socket EPROMS or other programmable chips.

John