Great place for (ES) CPU's on Ebay

Discussion in 'Great Deals' started by mobilenvidia, Jul 7, 2012.

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  1. mobilenvidia

    mobilenvidia Moderator

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    I got my Core i5-3450T from here.

    He's got a ton of Engineering Samples and other CPUs for way less than retail.

    dinsdale_rd

    Cheap shipping too, if only my money tree would bare more fruit :)
     
    #1
    mobilenvidia, Jul 7, 2012
  2. cactus

    cactus Moderator

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    Did you get the 3450T working with ECC?
     
    #2
    cactus, Jul 7, 2012
  3. mobilenvidia

    mobilenvidia Moderator

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    Nope, can't tell if its the CPU or the Mobo holding up ECC
     
    #3
    mobilenvidia, Jul 7, 2012
  4. awedio

    awedio Active Member

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    I guess one just has to take a chance, with such low pricing you can't be too worried about a warranty?

    I assume one couldn't send these back to Intel in case of a failure?
     
    #4
    awedio, Jul 8, 2012
  5. mobilenvidia

    mobilenvidia Moderator

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    No there would be more questions than answers if you did that.

    The i5-3450T is working well
    My X3470 I've had for 2 years now still chugs along its also an ES chip.
     
    #5
    mobilenvidia, Jul 8, 2012
  6. Mike

    Mike Member

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    I would be cautious with the E5's as the desktop counterparts had that vt-d bug. If you don't use it that's fine but if you buy it to go on virtualisation duty...
     
    #6
    Mike, Jul 9, 2012
  7. cactus

    cactus Moderator

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    There are some B0 stepping E5 quads on there that looked enticing. Anyone remember what stepping got the vt-d fix?
     
    #7
    cactus, Jul 9, 2012
  8. Patrick

    Patrick Administrator
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    First off, buying engineering samples is not good practice even though those are excellent deals as they are technically Intel property. Second, I would be a bit careful as the equivalent processors are about 100MHz off. The 100MHz off versions are earlier spins.

    Also, did see the E5-4xxx chips for $850 each. Drool!
     
    #8
    Patrick, Jul 9, 2012
  9. mobilenvidia

    mobilenvidia Moderator

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    You takes your chances, huge savings......but........

    I have done well over the years with ES versions, do you home work, let the buyer beware.
    I can only spend my hard earned $$ once, I need to make the most of the little I have :)
     
    #9
    mobilenvidia, Jul 9, 2012
  10. cactus

    cactus Moderator

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    And he has 4 of the E5-4xxx. *Only* $1600 for the SuperMicro X9QR7-TF+ on amazon or $2400 for the SYS-8027R-7RFT+.
     
    #10
    cactus, Jul 9, 2012
  11. awedio

    awedio Active Member

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    Can anyone tell me what's the difference between this

    from Intel: http://intel.ly/Me7FHa

    vs

    from dinsdale_rd: http://bit.ly/Me7PhP

    I want to make sure I'm reading correctly & not just getting excited
     
    #11
    awedio, Jul 9, 2012
  12. sotech

    sotech New Member

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    One is legally the property of Intel and theoretically shouldn't be sold, and is a pre-release stepping so it may not work as expected - I would check up on whether VT-D is functional in C0 stepping, as there were errors in the implementation of that which prevented its use in C1 stepping that were fixed in C2... I think from memory they were also present in C0 stepping but I don't recall.

    If a) VT-D works or b) you don't care about VT-D or the technicalities/potential legalities of ES (engineering sample) CPUs and are prepared to take the (probably small) risk that it won't be stable then it's a lot cheaper than the release CPU. No warranty on ES CPUs, either, since you shouldn't have one :)

     
    #12
    sotech, Jul 9, 2012
  13. cactus

    cactus Moderator

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    It is also worth mentioning that ES cpus may not work with some BIOS versions. I know there were some ES 1366 chips that would not work on anything but the first or a modded supermicro BIOS.
     
    #13
    cactus, Jul 9, 2012
  14. sotech

    sotech New Member

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    Good point re: the BIOS - after a quick google it seems that the same is the case for the Sandy Bridge-E ES chips, in that some of the B0/B1 ES chips just won't work with the currently-available BIOS'.
     
    #14
    sotech, Jul 9, 2012
  15. mobilenvidia

    mobilenvidia Moderator

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    Chances are an older stepping will be recognised in a newer BIOS version.

    My Mobo came with BIOS v1.10 and even the newer v1.20 still does not support the i5-3450T as per CPU support chart.
    But I'm happliy watching TV on the highly improvised HTPC with the i5-3450T, the BIOS recognises it as the correct CPU, CPUz reports everything that's it's supposed to support is enabled.

    A BIOS would have to exclude a certain stepping for it not to work.
    All OEMs get ES samples to make their BIOS's from and Intel send the stepping/microcode listings to the OEMs.
    It would be very unlikely that a CPU would not work, unlikely but still possible.

    It could very well be that certain things may not work on the CPU.
    It's all a risk, I've yet to be stung, but one day I might, but do you homework, let Google be your friend.
     
    #15
    mobilenvidia, Jul 10, 2012
  16. cactus

    cactus Moderator

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    The supermicro example I mentioned, ES stepping were taken out of the newer released BIOS'. For the socket 2011 Xeons, C1+ steppings were released for sale, so I dont think anyone would have a problem with them, but watch out for the B0 steppings.
     
    #16
    cactus, Jul 10, 2012
  17. ehorn

    ehorn Active Member

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    #17
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2012
    ehorn, Jul 24, 2012
  18. Patrick

    Patrick Administrator
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    I am trying to find low cost E5-2400 CPUs but those are not so plentiful on ebay as nobody is selling anything but new chips.
     
    #18
    Patrick, Jul 24, 2012
  19. ehorn

    ehorn Active Member

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    I see that... Even the 2403's and 07's are marked up to full "Intel retail" pricing...

    I assume demand is lower (for now) and, as such, pricing is not as flexible yet?
     
    #19
    ehorn, Jul 24, 2012
  20. awedio

    awedio Active Member

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    Wow, that's a saving of a grand per proc.

    Yes that drilled hole is a little unsettling...

     
    #20
    awedio, Jul 24, 2012
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