Why are pins so bendy?

[pigpen]

I'm sitting here looking at a Pentium CPU labeled Intel SX-963; '92-93. DOn't know what the hell it is, but it's ancient. And what strikes me as interesting is the pins are unmovable. It's impossible to bend one with just using your fingers. What gives? What happened? Is there a reason that today's CPU pins bend just by breathing on them?

 

[InorganicMatter]

Probably the fact that the number of pins has dramatically increased (current AMDs have 939 pins), but the size of the die has stayed the same/decreased.

 

[HighwayAssassins]

Maybe less pins means slightly larger pins?

 

[wee96]

Its just because so many are needed to fit even a smaller space than the cpu your looking at, so they have to become smaller, and therefore much easier to damage.

 

[drizzt81]

Its just because so many are needed to fit even a smaller space than the cpu your looking at, so they have to become smaller, and therefore much easier to damage.

indeed, higher pin density requires thinner (smaller) pins.