Engineering sample CPUs? Should I buy one?

[lexidobe]

I am curious about what the difference is between engineering sample and regular CPUs. Since engineering sample CPUs are pre production, does that mean that they are likely to have glitches or something? Are they "better" than an equivalent normal CPU? I heard that they overclock extremely well. Also, is it legal to buy an engineering sample CPU on Ebay? I kind of want to buy one and put it in a system to see the differences first hand, but I do not want the police at my door either since, according to Intel, "

• ES processors produced by Intel are the sole property of Intel.
• ES Processors produced by Intel are Intel Confidential.
• ES Processors are provided by Intel under nondisclosure and/or special loan agreement terms with restrictions on the recipient's handling and use.
• ES Processors are not for sale or re-sale.
• ES Processors may not have passed commercial regulatory requirements."  Does that mean that if I buy one on Ebay, will the police be at my door? Also, where would someone get an ES CPU to sell? Would an ES CPU likely to be stolen from Intel? Thanks!

[vanished]

You're not allowed to own or sell them, there's a link on the Intel site (probably AMD too) where you can report them when found

[lexidobe]

Just now, rrubberr said:

I wouldn't, not because intel is going to come after you; to be clear, they aren't.

 

However, in many cases the core count, clock speeds, and memory management are not finalized, and thus they perform substantially worse than their released/finalized counterparts.

Ok, so I am safe to buy one to experiment with? 

[RadiatingLight]

ES CPUs are worse than their retail counterparts. the only reason why you should ever get an ES CPU is if it's WAY cheaper than its retail counterpart, and also people have tested that exact model, and you can know that it's stable, and that it actually has good performance.

 

I can't speak for OC capabilities, but it would make sense that some ES CPUs can OC almost to retail levels, while some might not be able to.

[aisle9]

ES CPUs are a crapshoot. Sometimes you find a $50 i5-6500. Sometimes you pay $200 for an i7-6700 with hyperthreading disabled and a clock capped at 3.0GHz.

 

Long story short, unless it's from a known good source, I wouldn't gamble on one. That's if you put aside the ethical questions about owning one in the first place.

[Himommies]

1 minute ago, lexidobe said:

Ok, so I am safe to buy one to experiment with? 

If it's cheap sure but I woudn't pay above the MSRP of the CPU unless your a collector,Also it's illegal 

[lexidobe]

Where would someone get an ES CPU to sell though?

[RadiatingLight]

1 minute ago, lexidobe said:

Ok, so I am safe to buy one to experiment with? 

Yes, but don't count on it living up to the same standards as a retail CPU.

it might crash/bluescreen every once in a while

there might be some horrible bugs in the actualy CPU itself, which might cause some programs to crash

it might run very hot, OC poorly, require overvoltage to be stable, etc.

 

 

you also need to research which motherboards on which BIOSes are compatible. not all are, and usually only on the first releases.

[aisle9]

Just now, lexidobe said:

Where would someone get an ES CPU to sell though?

Auction sites and Chinese retailers are the two places I see them listed most often

[lexidobe]

Just now, aisle9 said:

Auction sites and Chinese retailers are the two places I see them listed most often

But where would those sites get them? Would they steal them from Intel or something?

[lexidobe]

Just now, rrubberr said:

I think he means how does one get one from Intel, in which case they send them to select people who they want input from.

But wouldn't the few people that they send them to need to send them back? 

[aisle9]

Just now, lexidobe said:

But wouldn't the few people that they send them to need to send them back? 

Are you asking questions or formulating a business plan?

[RadiatingLight]

Just now, lexidobe said:

But where would those sites get them? Would they steal them from Intel or something?

Kinda.

It's not as simple as walking into the intel building and taking some secret covfefe lake CPUs.

 

once the retail architecture is released, some people who were given ES CPUs to test decide to make some spare cash by selling them on ebay/Chinese auction sites.

not 100% sure on this though, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

[lexidobe]

4 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

ES CPUs are a crapshoot. Sometimes you find a $50 i5-6500. Sometimes you pay $200 for an i7-6700 with hyperthreading disabled and a clock capped at 3.0GHz.

 

Long story short, unless it's from a known good source, I wouldn't gamble on one. That's if you put aside the ethical questions about owning one in the first place.

Why would owning  one be unethical? It's not like Intel would use it if you send it back to them...

[TheCherryKing]

Qualified Sample(not engineering samples) CPUs are much more stable and still come at a decent price.

[lexidobe]

1 minute ago, rrubberr said:

Yes, even if intel did care, it would not be the buyer's issue, the issue would be with the seller.

So they would go after the seller, if anything?

[aisle9]

1 minute ago, lexidobe said:

Why would owning  one be unethical? It's not like Intel would use it if you send it back to them...

I don't personally have an ethics problem with owning one, so long as you acquired it in good faith. Others do, believing that if someone opens Pandora's box and politely asks that we return everything to it and close it behind us, we should do so.

[Himommies]

2 minutes ago, lexidobe said:

Why would owning  one be unethical? It's not like Intel would use it if you send it back to them...

It's like how some companies give their employees cars

Spoiler

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

• ES processors produced by Intel are the sole property of Intel.

 

[aisle9]

Just now, Himommies said:

It's like how some companies give their employees cars

  Hide contents

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

• ES processors produced by Intel are the sole property of Intel.

 

I can't even begin to imagine how f*cked I'd be if my boss saw my car pop up on Ali Express.

[lexidobe]

Just now, aisle9 said:

I can't even begin to imagine how f*cked I'd be if my boss saw my car pop up on Ali Express.

Yea, I know right?

[Himommies]

Just now, aisle9 said:

I can't even begin to imagine how f*cked I'd be if my boss saw my car pop up on Ali Express.

If it's on Ali Express i doubt he would find it

[aisle9]

1 minute ago, Himommies said:

If it's on Ali Express i doubt he would find it

She's seen my browsing history.

 

"aisle9, why do you always visit arstechnica.com, reddit.com, tomshardware.com, techreport.com, newegg.com, profootballtalk.com and aliexpress.com between 12-1 PM? And how do you look at all those sites in the space of an hour?"

[Himommies]

1 minute ago, aisle9 said:

She's seen my browsing history.

 

"aisle9, why do you always visit arstechnica.com, reddit.com, tomshardware.com, techreport.com, newegg.com, profootballtalk.com and aliexpress.com between 12-1 PM? And how do you look at all those sites in the space of an hour?"

You only procrastinate for a hour.Damn

[aisle9]

Just now, Himommies said:

You only procrastinate for a hour.Damn

I don't know what you Canadians do from 12-1, but down here, we eat lunch and mindlessly surf the internet looking for engineering samples and/or company cars on Ali Express.

[Himommies]

1 minute ago, aisle9 said:

I don't know what you Canadians do from 12-1, but down here, we eat lunch and mindlessly surf the internet looking for engineering samples and/or company cars on Ali Express.

I fell Canadians abuse the free health care system too much we are always doing something dumb.I have a friend who got 3 casts in the span of a year and I had a client for music who had like 6 broken bones that year and a broken ribcage