Is a white (6502) CPU worth anything?

MajorHavoc

Well-known member

Donor 2011
Joined
Jun 6, 2007
Messages
1,661
Reaction score
108
Location
Saint Leonard, Maryland
Someone contacted me about a Starship 1 PCB I had for sale. A couple weeks later I finally find out that he is looking for a white 6502 CPU. I don't care so figure I'll just trade him for a couple of CPUs. But then I do a search on ebay and see that some other old white CPU sold for $400!

BTW, if you are on these forums, hello Cameron! :)
 
Wonder if it's the same guy my buddy was trying to track down a white 6502 down for. He called me asking if I had one, but I didn't have time to look, so he got him the one out of his Night Driver. I think the guy wanted one for some Apple computer resto...
 
Uh, what arcade games used an Intel 4040 chip again? I *seriously* doubt that a white 6502 is worth anywhere near what an early Intel chip is - the 6502 is far more common, as it was used in consumer stuff (i.e. games).

-Ian
 
I wonder if those are old Soviet knock-offs. I bet those would be worth a bunch!
 
4004's were first used in a calculator that was manufactured for a japanese company. They contacted intel to make it. It is the rarest processor and the first if I recall correctly. 4040's were an offshoot of it.

Found the link:

http://www.intel.com/museum/archives/4004.htm

Price one of those...the white ones. There was a white 6502 for 30 dollars that did not sell.
 
Last edited:
I have an old EPROM programmer from Intel that is loaded with the old 4 bit cpu and support chips.

I should take a look at it.

I had a guy contact me about a white 6502. He said he was rebuilding an Apple I.
 
I have an old EPROM programmer from Intel that is loaded with the old 4 bit cpu and support chips.

I should take a look at it.

I wouldn't scrap complete hardware for a couple of chips. The "chip collector" guys tick off us classic computer guys as much as the MAME guys tick off the arcade collectors.

-Ian
 
I wouldn't scrap complete hardware for a couple of chips. The "chip collector" guys tick off us classic computer guys as much as the MAME guys tick off the arcade collectors.

-Ian

+ a bazillion. Think about finally finding a nice Star Wars cockpit, or Boxing Bugs, etc. and it is nothing but a shell.
 
Wouldn't any 6502 work? Why does it have to be "white"??

Edward

The white ones were the ceramic package that MOSTek first came out with. They were the ones that they were selling out of the fishbowls to all the electronics nerds in Silicon Valley. The black and grey pacs came out later.

As I recall, if you left a business card you could buy up to 3 for $25 each, which is how Woz got his first one (he only had $26 in his pocket if I am remembering the story correctly).

You have to remember Intel was selling the 8080 at that point for $225 each and Zilog had just come out with the Z80 for $189 each and nobody was offering quantity discounts, so a real CPU for $25 was unbelievable at the time.

For a while, I believe the early Atari 2600's came with white CPU's as well as the Apple Is. By the time I bought my Apple ][ they had the black 6502s.

ken
 
People pay alot for the old white eproms too just as collector pieces. I dont get it at all, whats the big deal?

Occasionally, people do. But again, it's not the general "white EPROM" that's worth something - it's the occasional, rare version of an early chip that could be worth something. Likewise, another area where eBay has artificially inflated the perception of an items value because people list them for lots of money. They almost never sell, but that's beside the point.

An early EPROM like a 1702, in the early white ceramic package, is probably worth about ten bucks. Maybe. If you get the right sucker.

A 'normal' EPROM, like a 2716 or a 2708, in white ceramic, is probably worth two or three times what the usual plain brownish-purple ceramic chip is worth - which is about a buck.

And, some of the unusual russian versions of these chips might go for more than that.

That said, I do like the white EPROMs - they're pretty. But not worth spending extra money on. In fact, looking on eBay right now, I could buy some - but the shipping costs exceed the cost of the chips....

-Ian
 
I got contacted through VAPS by someone wanting to know if I had a white CPU in my Night Driver that I am restoring. This is getting strange...Was it these two $300 and $400 auctions that have people coming out of the woodwork? No, I didn't reply...my Night Driver restore is still ongoing. At least it will be once it warms up!
 
Back
Top Bottom