Suspicious eBay CPU find

[slyxndree]

Scrolling through eBay looking for a used 12900K, found this "12900K ES" for about $200.

 

On the images it shows intel LGA1700 CPUs,but it doesn't say 12900K, it says "intel confidential"

LGA pads very shiny

 

Wondering if this is a legit CPU and if I should take a chance and buy it.

 

If anyone asks, here is the reference link

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175205735731?hash=item28cb135d33:g:j5YAAOSwqb1iNKEF&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA0O%2FgoF0zFemA3vQ3SxuPMQCqKRA77TnB4zbGQZCAegoxkjAer%2FfxVoZ9SackqaHu7c0KT7c729lF6HTZS4ZGV2TdBPIU%2BH81Lz3q3j%2BU3ylbY4wwsCSLTyd5mIZnakSW4tV8h9MLXY35CvuL3rTMfBRADKmT1zTYmyG1ZJLQOFLFOEyucb2nlfq01RZGZPTqiNd%2Bt%2FEGXk6Q8yaYElL7p%2BCHJumxUEpqjRmMrg5tFnSePUALVeHAZe%2B%2BGOI4Png8spgUsTxUikaMo9KCydwnvhs%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_6xu7GMYQ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bmx6454]

It seems legit, they do specify in description something about having to use the second pci slot, and that only certain mobos will work with it, so not sure if it’s worth the hassle or not. If your not very tech savvy, and would prefer a warranty and plug and play without issue, I would avoid.

[Applefreak]

3 minutes ago, slyxndree said:

Scrolling through eBay looking for a used 12900K, found this "12900K ES" for about $200.

 

On the images it shows intel LGA1700 CPUs,but it doesn't say 12900K, it says "intel confidential"

LGA pads very shiny

 

Wondering if this is a legit CPU and if I should take a chance and buy it.

 

If anyone asks, here is the reference link

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175205735731?hash=item28cb135d33:g:j5YAAOSwqb1iNKEF&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA0O%2FgoF0zFemA3vQ3SxuPMQCqKRA77TnB4zbGQZCAegoxkjAer%2FfxVoZ9SackqaHu7c0KT7c729lF6HTZS4ZGV2TdBPIU%2BH81Lz3q3j%2BU3ylbY4wwsCSLTyd5mIZnakSW4tV8h9MLXY35CvuL3rTMfBRADKmT1zTYmyG1ZJLQOFLFOEyucb2nlfq01RZGZPTqiNd%2Bt%2FEGXk6Q8yaYElL7p%2BCHJumxUEpqjRmMrg5tFnSePUALVeHAZe%2B%2BGOI4Png8spgUsTxUikaMo9KCydwnvhs%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_6xu7GMYQ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ES stands for Engineering Sample. Don't expect it to work in any board and to be feature complete. The CPU itself is legit, just not meant for sale to the public.

[RONOTHAN##]

2 minutes ago, slyxndree said:

Wondering if this is a legit CPU and if I should take a chance and buy it.

 

No. 

 

These ES chips are mainly to help validate the motherboards to make sure they work, they're never meant to make it into the hands of consumers. Because of that, a lot of boards don't have BIOS support for these chips, and even if they did the boards generally are missing a few somewhat important features like functional PCIe lanes. 

 

If you want to buy an Intel Confidential chip, stick with the Quality Samples (QS) instead, those are pretty much the same as the retail counterparts, though they can still occasionally have weird issues and have significantly lower clock speeds. 

[QuantumSingularity]

As said above - legit CPU, just that it's an Engineering Sample. Used to be favored over traditional chips once upon a time (i was there, 3000 years ago), now they are mostly the scrapes at the bottom of the barrel. Think of most of them as the other end of silicon lottery. Might work on your mobo, might not. Might have some additional features that are cut off from the main product, might be stripped to bare minimum. Few years ago landed my hands on an ES i7 which performed worse than i3. So fun for experiments and stunts, not for regular everyday use. 

[freeagent]

I’ve had ES that were good, but not all are. They have been called Intel Confidential for eons now, just an fyi.

[Ralf]

Watch this before you buy it:

 

 

[setsakara]

So in a nutshell this is kinda just a quick test to see if it meets the requirements before release?