gbm wrote:
These falsely marked CPUs are not copies. They were pulled out from old PCBs, their pins were straightened and pulled at an angle to look like new chips, then the chips were remarked to look like new. Many remarked chips are false (like NMOS marked as CMOS) but some of them are real - see my case of remarked Z84C00 and V20. It's just that their marking is new and looks like new. I don't know how many companies back in 1990s were laser-engraving the chips (some did). I didn't see any original WDC, Zilog or ST chip made in 1990s with laser markings. The counterfeit ones are laser-engraved. Well, not all of them - the mysterious Rockwell R65C02s from 21st century are nicely painted.working V20, just remarked as HCZ-16 version.
Hmm...possibly.
I just can't see why someone would go to all the trouble to remove the marking from R65C02P4 chips, re-dress the tops to look like virgin plastic, straighten the pins and place them at an inserter angle then re-mark them as R65C02P4 chips with dates like '86, '93, '06 and '08 then sell them as 'new' for $1.30 shipping included. It seems like a bad way to make money. I don't know about you, but I would pay $1.30 each for them if they were used.
But nevertheless, it is all just speculation unless you have irrefutable evidence that there were no R65C02s made in the 21st century.
I'm sure there are some brain dead folks out there re-marking $8 Synertek, Rockwell or MOS NMOS chips as $1.30 CMOS chips, or undertaking the laborious routine mentioned above, but I'll bet it's not everybody on eBay doing it and I'll bet they won't be doing if for very long.
Again, if it quacks like a duck .... I'll pay $1.30 for a working R65C02P4 regardless of how pretty the top of the chip is.
Sure, I can see some scurrilous folks marking a cheap and cheerful R65C02 as a WDC W65C02S to make a few illegal bucks, but I find the other stuff is, at least with 6502s, to be a bit of a stretch.