How do I know if the CPU's on Ebay are the correct CPU?

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jjdynomite

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Aug 11, 2016
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I am interested in using used Xeon CPU's in a dual socket motherboard, I don't do much gaming anymore my rig is now used more for machine learning. TheseE5-2683 v3 (ebay link) CPU's seem to fit the bill are used on ebay and seem strangely affordable($700 for the pair) for the amount of computing power they offer vs a 6850k. I have seen a bunch of CPU's on ebay with the "ES" in the title, which I guess means Engineering Sample (the ones linked do not) and are about 60% of the price without the ES. Are the CPU's linked the same as the ones from this spec sheet? It says a single CPU was MSRP $1800 Q3 2014 now they are ~$360 each on Ebay, I understand server hardware has a shorter life cycle but that is crazy. Are these the actually CPU or a strange version? How do I know I have the correct version?
 

William

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May 7, 2015
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Those are not ES processors, they have the actual CPU model number on it.

ES processors do not have that and they say Engineering Sample or ES on them.
 
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William

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May 7, 2015
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That is true about Spec number, sometimes they do not show up any place. I even had some that I had a friend run them through Intel's site and they didn't show up.

There is risk purchasing ES chips from any place and there is a reason they are engineering samples and not retails. Purchase ES chips at your own risk I say.
 

Terry Kennedy

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Jun 25, 2015
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That is true about Spec number, sometimes they do not show up any place. I even had some that I had a friend run them through Intel's site and they didn't show up.
Intel's PCNs (Product Change Notifications) can be a useful resource for mapping unknown S-specs to model names and vice versa. You won't find "deep cover" things like rumored NSA processors in there, but you will find things like the AWS models. For example, this PDF.
There is risk purchasing ES chips from any place and there is a reason they are engineering samples and not retails. Purchase ES chips at your own risk I say.
Agreed. Possibly not for the reasons some people think, though. A common school of thought is that Intel deliberately makes these processors with a short lifespan. That's unlikely as the board / system manufacturers are going to torture those parts with both intentional (system thermal qualification) and unintentional (board layout errors w/ shorts, excess capacitance, etc.) out-of-spec operations.

My main area of concern, even given a processor that is reported to be identical to the production version (for example, the X5698 Q5C1 vs. SLC32) is that microcode updates for the production part won't apply to the ES/QS part due to the ID being different. Long after the design is set in stone (silicon), tweaks are being made to the microcode and patch files are being created. The "first customer ship" of a processor model may be several microcode revisions newer than the base microcode in the chip. Customers never notice this because the board / BIOS partners include the patch file in the BIOS, even on those first systems. While the manufacturers may get microcode patch files for ES/QS parts, they're unlikely to make it into a release BIOS, and asking Intel "pretty please, can I have the latest microcode patch file for a processor labeled "Intel Confidential" and actually getting the file is even less likely.
 

William

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May 7, 2015
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Yes, getting early steppings to work can be a real issue sometimes, that's why I say stay away from A-B steppings generally.

I used to think Intel had manufactures drop all early ES microcodes from BIOS to kill the ES market after processors get released. I think its more along the lines of if the manufacture wants to keep them in or clean them out. This is why some chips work on one board and not others.

On the few boards I have flashed back to very early BIOS to get A0 steppings to work the result was not great. The BIOS in question did not have all the features in it and somethings just didn't work. In the end it simply was not work the trouble.
 

horse horse

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Jan 5, 2017
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Can anyone please recommend sellers that sell QS (not ES) of any of the E5 2630 v4 or 2650 v4 CPUs?

By the way, I strongly recommend to be careful about one Japanese seller on Ebay. I purchased 2x E5 2650 v4 (ES) and the seller cancelled (and refunded) the transaction twice and wanted to force me to re-do the transaction off Ebay through Paypal, something which I politely declined and something he never mentioned beforehand (I exchanged couple messages before purchasing). The seller then started throwing expletives at me and became rude and it became pretty apparent that something seems extremely dodgy about this seller. I am new to this forum and I am not sure it is desired or going practice to name black sheep by name openly in the forum so I refrain from doing it right now.
 

horse horse

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Jan 5, 2017
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Thanks, what about the 2650 v4? Which stepping would you recommend and have you seen them sold recently?

Thanks a lot


I was actually thinking of ordering from him so that's why I asked. If you want a E5-2630 V4 (QS) you want to look for QK3G (has R0 stepping same as OEM) but it's an ES2. However they are hard to find and get sold out quickly. At the moment I didn't see any in-stock aside from QHVK which is ES1.
 

horse horse

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Jan 5, 2017
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That is very useful information, thanks a thousand.

I have a Supermicro X10Dai-o board.

The E5 2650 V4 being sold I see are ES1 (L0 stepping) such as this:

Intel Xeon E5 2650 V4 ES 2.0Ghz 30MB L3 12 Core Max Turbo 2.4Ghz 105W CPU

It's an early engineering sample so it depends on the motherboard you will be using but it's like the QHVK (ES1) meaning it's a first sample unlike the QK3G (ES2). Also A0/A1/L0 are not production steppings. Only B0/M0/R0 are production steppings.