Hi,

These rectangles on the P3's are actually small capacitors (more exactly capacitor arrays), used mostly for decoupling and making the chip more resistant to electrical "noise", I only have a single Tualatin P3 system, and because it is working fine I don't wish to remove it now to check whether it has all of them populated (If I remember correctly it has all of them though).

Also IIRC Coppermine P3's didn't always came with all of them populated, but if I remember correctly all Tualatin's I have handled had all of them populated.

Shader_BiH wrote on 2026-06-10, 19:26:

Hi folks, […]
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Hi folks,

I've been trying to get a decent-looking Tualatin and I found one that looks OK from the front, but on the back side, one of the small "gold" rectangles appears to have been scraped off. Personally I doesn't really bother me but do any of you know what these are and are they a functional part of the CPU? Image below

I think it might be okay. I have seen others like this online, both Pentiums and Celerons. It seems unlikely that those same three caps would break off on multiple chips without any others getting damaged:
https://www.amibay.com/threads/pentium-iii-s- … ockers.2449955/
https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Pentium- ... 0512).html
https://pcrebuilding.altervista.org/45/142/CP … 4GHz+SL6C6.html

Hey guys, thanks for the reply. I've crosschecked with other chips outthere... and yes these really are missing. Too bad really... but I think I'll wait for better opportunity since this one refuses to lower the price even by small margin.

TB1-stepping(1.5v) doesn't have these capacitors.

That pic looks like they were never populated to begin with. Usually if components are knocked off there would be leftover solder blobs and other signs of damage.

personally I’d just test it in a motherboard

xingjz wrote on 2026-06-11, 11:20:

TB1-stepping(1.5v) doesn't have these capacitors.

Wow, I missed that... the seller actualy states that it's tested so I suppose I'll keep an eye on this one afterall.

Shader_BiH wrote on 2026-06-11, 20:23:

xingjz wrote on 2026-06-11, 11:20:

TB1-stepping(1.5v) doesn't have these capacitors.

Wow, I missed that... the seller actualy states that it's tested so I suppose I'll keep an eye on this one afterall.

Sorry, but did you see my post above showing multiple examples of Tualatin chips with those same caps missing?

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-06-11, 22:18:

Shader_BiH wrote on 2026-06-11, 20:23:

xingjz wrote on 2026-06-11, 11:20:

TB1-stepping(1.5v) doesn't have these capacitors.

Wow, I missed that... the seller actualy states that it's tested so I suppose I'll keep an eye on this one afterall.

Sorry, but did you see my post above showing multiple examples of Tualatin chips with those same caps missing?

@Shader_BiH: As Ozzuneoj says he already posted links to multiple pages where there are pictures with those exact same capacitor arrays missing. My initial post was about what I remember with the Coppermine's and Tualatin's I have handled, all that I really suggested is that I personally didn't encountered a Tualatin with those caps missing. I also mentioned that in my memory Coppermine's sometimes had these missing, so after seeing pictures of Tualatin's missing the exact same 3 capacitor arrays, it is basically evidence that there are Tualatin's which came without those caps (If these were modified by people after buying them it would be very unlikely for no-one to try to remove them in a different pattern), so these are in my opinion shouldn't be considered more risky than those that have all of those populated.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-06-10, 21:06:

I think it might be okay. I have seen others like this online, both Pentiums and Celerons. It seems unlikely that those same thr […]
Show full quote

I think it might be okay. I have seen others like this online, both Pentiums and Celerons. It seems unlikely that those same three caps would break off on multiple chips without any others getting damaged:
https://www.amibay.com/threads/pentium-iii-s- … ockers.2449955/
https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Pentium- ... 0512).html
https://pcrebuilding.altervista.org/45/142/CP … 4GHz+SL6C6.html

MagefromAntares wrote on 2026-06-12, 05:43:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-06-11, 22:18:

Shader_BiH wrote on 2026-06-11, 20:23:

Wow, I missed that... the seller actualy states that it's tested so I suppose I'll keep an eye on this one afterall.

Sorry, but did you see my post above showing multiple examples of Tualatin chips with those same caps missing?

@Shader_BiH: As Ozzuneoj says he already posted links to multiple pages where there are pictures with those exact same capacitor arrays missing. My initial post was about what I remember with the Coppermine's and Tualatin's I have handled, all that I really suggested is that I personally didn't encountered a Tualatin with those caps missing. I also mentioned that in my memory Coppermine's sometimes had these missing, so after seeing pictures of Tualatin's missing the exact same 3 capacitor arrays, it is basically evidence that there are Tualatin's which came without those caps (If these were modified by people after buying them it would be very unlikely for no-one to try to remove them in a different pattern), so these are in my opinion shouldn't be considered more risky than those that have all of those populated.

Yes I think I had similar experience with some newer CPUs which were missing one or two of those... but they worked fine, it's just that I made few mistakes when ordering hardware from e-bay, sometimes I don't notice these things missing. It's very difficult on video cards that are overengineered too check every single SMD for example... so I think I developed a bit of missing SMDs anxiety 🤣 I actually already have one Tualatin 1.4 but it has all elements on the backside present, and I failed to consider differences in steppings. Honestly, I had no idea they differ in that way and that's why I really like this forum, I learn something every time.
My guess is that later revisions of the chip sometimes need less of these elements, probably becoming redundant because of "internal tweaks"...

Thanks folks 😀