engineering samples

[MeDownYou]

what are they?

How does one obtain one?

Can i buy one?

If i find one to buy should I?

Is it legal to buy one?

Are there problems with them compared to the real production products sometimes?

 

 

tl;dr pretty much any info on this topic would be nice

[Guest]

Engineering samples are a kind of completed prototype that are given to reviews sometimes prior to the release of the consumer version. I wouldnt buy one but you might on occasion be able to find one floating around the web. There might be additional problems with the engineering ample due to the fact it it not officially complete and as far as i know its not ilegal to have one.

[Jade]

They are literally what it says. Engineering samples. Samples from the engineering stage -- not meant for consumers.

Leaked out of Intel via employees, reviewers, otherwise. Other than that, we don't know or shouldn't share the information.

You can buy one, but not straight from Intel.

It's no better than a consumer grade one. Why not just buy consumer?

It's illegal to steal one and maybe is depending on the agreement between Intel and the reviewers or whatever, however I don't believe they're typically gathered/sold by legal means.

Can be.

[MeDownYou]

They are literally what it says. Engineering samples. Samples from the engineering stage -- not meant for consumers.

Leaked out of Intel via employees, reviewers, otherwise. Other than that, we don't know or shouldn't share the information.

You can buy one, but not straight from Intel.

It's no better than a consumer grade one. Why not just buy consumer?

It's illegal to steal one and maybe is depending on the agreement between Intel and the reviewers or whatever, however I don't believe they're typically gathered/sold by legal means.

Can be.

interesting sounds like even linus couldn't get one of these things sent to him for review though is that correct? From what I gather dell, hp and others get sent them as well as mobo manufacturers and other people related to figuring out what they are going to sell on launch. 

[Jade]

interesting sounds like even linus couldn't get one of these things sent to him for review though is that correct? From what I gather dell, hp and others get sent them as well as mobo manufacturers and other people related to figuring out what they are going to sell on launch. 

That's typically why they're released, yes. No reason to review a CPU-- you literally put it in, turn on the PC, and do whatever. The performance would be the only reason, and if that's what you're going for, you'd send it to an actual organization / company for benchmarking real world scenarios.

[Egoist]

They are literally what it says. Engineering samples. Samples from the engineering stage -- not meant for consumers.

Leaked out of Intel via employees, reviewers, otherwise. Other than that, we don't know or shouldn't share the information.

You can buy one, but not straight from Intel.

It's no better than a consumer grade one. Why not just buy consumer?

It's illegal to steal one and maybe is depending on the agreement between Intel and the reviewers or whatever, however I don't believe they're typically gathered/sold by legal means.

Can be.

While this is correct one should add that  engineering sampels are often highly binned so that reviews seem more impressive. (Overclocking and whatnot)

[MeDownYou]

I think it's illegal for them to be selling us one since that's technically a leak correct?

[Jade]

While this is correct one should add that  engineering sampels are often highly binned so that reviews seem more impressive. (Overclocking and whatnot)

Of course. Only the stupid would send out bad chips to people who'll be putting out very public and potentially respected information. In a real world scenario, no overclocking and similar, they're virtually the same 100%.

[QueenDemetria]

what are they? Engineering samples are parts that are pre production, so depending on how far it is in the development process it can be basically finished or truly "in development".

How does one obtain one? Someone selling one(like on eBay), or a friend/family member that works for the company(That can bring home an engineering sample).

Can I buy one? Sure, if you can find and want one.

If i find one to buy should I? If you wan't it, but not really. I bought a 90's AMD engineering sample CPU because it was cool, but I don't actually have  use for it(nor know if it works lol).

Is it legal to buy one? Yes, as long as it wasn't stolen

Are there problems with them compared to the real production products sometimes? Depends. Some of them can work perfectly fine(like my Patriot Gauntlet Node), but others can have problems.

 

 

tl;dr pretty much any info on this topic would be nice

My answers in pink.

[Jade]

interesting sounds like even linus couldn't get one of these things sent to him for review though is that correct? From what I gather dell, hp and others get sent them as well as mobo manufacturers and other people related to figuring out what they are going to sell on launch. 

Linus frequently gets engineering samples from Intel and AMD, by the way.

[MeDownYou]

That's typically why they're released, yes. No reason to review a CPU-- you literally put it in, turn on the PC, and do whatever. The performance would be the only reason, and if that's what you're going for, you'd send it to an actual organization / company for benchmarking real world scenarios.

That makes sense I guess. I'd assume they get sent to other companies for compatibility testing too then. Hence why we have leaks of them people are technically selling the manufacturers product i guess illegally.

[MeDownYou]

Linus frequently gets engineering samples from Intel and AMD, by the way.

That sounds really strange. I could understand 1st batch production shipped early to him, but engineering samples just seem strange...

[MeDownYou]

i got one from nvidia only because every 970 was out of stock and people were overcharging for it,thus after pulling some string they arranged one,mine can oc to 1600mhz which is so better than the final  comsumer version of the card 

Huh...interesting...now if you'll excuse me I have to figure out how I can get these for review.

[Jerakl]

Engineering samples are a kind of completed prototype that are given to reviews sometimes prior to the release of the consumer version. I wouldnt buy one but you might on occasion be able to find one floating around the web. There might be additional problems with the engineering ample due to the fact it it not officially complete and as far as i know its not ilegal to have one.

I believe @tmcclelland455 has a E.S 480.

[marioo1182]

Not sure why you would want one. It's worse than a regular chip most likely.

If you were an engineer there isn't much you would be able to get from it anyways, unless you had multi-million dollar equipment. (Aside from stuff that you can get in the BIOS and what-not) 

[shadowblitz3]

they are more like collectibles

[flibberdipper]

Not sure why you would want one. It's worse than a regular chip most likely.

If you were an engineer there isn't much you would be able to get from it anyways, unless you had multi-million dollar equipment. (Aside from stuff that you can get in the BIOS and what-not) 

That would make no sense. Hell, stock 480's run at 607/1674. My Engineering Sample runs at 650/1600 (not sure on the memory, so...).

[Cheese4395]

I have an engineering sample 680. I haven't played with it yet but I'm hoping it is killer.

[marioo1182]

That would make no sense. Hell, stock 480's run at 607/1674. My Engineering Sample runs at 650/1600 (not sure on the memory, so...).

That's not a big difference anyways.

Consumer products are clocked lowered and what not to increase reliability. Engineering samples have 

a higher clock because they are basically test product. You could most likely overclock a stock to match your engineering sample no problem.

[ElDiabeto]

I have an engineering sample 770. It runs fine.

[fringie]

eBay, I was really tempted to buy 2x 8core xeons a while back they were only like £50 ea. I decided not to cause they were like 2ghz sandy bridge, not so good for gaming .

[Techotic]

I think it's illegal for them to be selling us one since that's technically a leak correct?

There seems to be some misinformation being spewed on here regarding Intel ES CPU's.

This is direct from Intels site:

"Intel Engineering Sample Processors ("Intel ES Processors"), also known as Intel Qualification Sample Processors, are pre-production processors loaned to Intel's Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Original Device Manufacturers (ODMs), and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to be used in the product design cycle prior to product launch.

These processors often include additional features that production processors do not include for customer pre-production evaluation and test purposes. The following conditions apply to Intel ES Processors:

Intel ES Processors are the sole property of Intel.

Intel ES Processors are Intel Confidential.

Intel ES Processors are provided by Intel under nondisclosure and/or special loan agreement terms with restrictions on the recipient's handling and use.

Intel ES Processors are not for sale or re-sale.

Intel ES Processors may not have passed commercial regulatory requirements.

ES Processors are not covered under Intel warranty and are generally not supported by Intel"

Source: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-030747.htm

There were also a bunch of engineers that were arrested a few years ago, for selling ES CPU's on eBay - reported here: http://www.techspot.com/news/46902-engineers-arrested-for-selling-sample-cpus-on-ebay.html

[MeDownYou]

There seems to be some misinformation being spewed on here regarding Intel ES CPU's.

This is direct from Intels site:

"Intel Engineering Sample Processors ("Intel ES Processors"), also known as Intel Qualification Sample Processors, are pre-production processors loaned to Intel's Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Original Device Manufacturers (ODMs), and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to be used in the product design cycle prior to product launch.

These processors often include additional features that production processors do not include for customer pre-production evaluation and test purposes. The following conditions apply to Intel ES Processors:

Intel ES Processors are the sole property of Intel.

Intel ES Processors are Intel Confidential.

Intel ES Processors are provided by Intel under nondisclosure and/or special loan agreement terms with restrictions on the recipient's handling and use.

Intel ES Processors are not for sale or re-sale.

Intel ES Processors may not have passed commercial regulatory requirements.

ES Processors are not covered under Intel warranty and are generally not supported by Intel"

Source: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-030747.htm

There were also a bunch of engineers that were arrested a few years ago, for selling ES CPU's on eBay - reported here: http://www.techspot.com/news/46902-engineers-arrested-for-selling-sample-cpus-on-ebay.html

so essentially intel property = illegal for them to sell because its not their property.

[Techotic]

so essentially intel property = illegal for them to sell because its not their property.

Pretty much. They can't be sold or re-sold, period.