Intel Engineering Sample Processors

[ChristopherH]

Hi Tippers,

 

I have done some research into Intel Engineering Sample processors, and the benefits between them and production processors. I have seen some of them available for sale on sites like eBay, etc.

 

Pros:

• Non-K processors are unlocked so they can be overclocked if desired.
• More features available than standard production variants.

Cons:

• Are not "legally" available to the general population.
• No warranty and support is provided.
• More reasons listed on https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005719/processors.html - Need I say more?

Now, what are everyone's thoughts on this? TBH, I'm quite surprised that eBay is allowing them to be sold given that technically they are "stolen" hardware ("Produced by Intel are the sole property of Intel" - See here), therefore those who are advertising them for sale do not have the legal rights to do so. And given that the support article was last reviewed as recently as 17 November 2017, it would still be very much relevant.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Christopher H.

[kelvinhall05]

I think if it was a big deal it wouldn't be happening, but I can go on eBay right now and find tons and tons and tons of engineering samples...

[PineyCreek]

I've seen Intel go after these sellers off and on.  If it's a much older chip, they probably wouldn't bother (much like buying an original Sonic the Hedgehog cartridge with NOT FOR RESALE on it).  Legally?  I'd be more scared about buying an engineering sample CPU than I would buying a not for resale game or a reviewer's copy of a book.  Why take a chance on someone coming to your door because you're in possession of effectively stolen property?

 

Also, I strongly doubt ebay has enough human eyeballs on its staff to examine every auction listing unless someone reports it.  I mean...a lot of stuff slips through the cracks with electronics recycling.  I've bought old hardware off ebay with hard drives not wiped and enterprise routers that had custom OS builds that the manufacturer had made for the customer.

[Bananasplit_00]

i probably would not go for one, seeing as they are not legal and would be tough to resell later

[porina]

18 minutes ago, ChristopherH said:

Pros:

• Non-K processors are unlocked so they can be overclocked if desired.
• More features available than standard production variants.

I've got Xeon ES and it is actually limited to lower turbo clocks than the eventual production version of it. Also, what "more features" are there? When you see tech-tubers with unreleased or cutting edge samples, often they're ES but presumably they're close enough to final production to be identical to the product you buy. Earlier ones aren't necessarily like that.

 

Like many things, if it is worth a gamble is up to the potential buyer. I got the Xeon in my case as I fancied a 14 core CPU to play with that you're not going to get easily otherwise without throwing a lot of money at it. The price I paid for it was comparable to non-K i5. To me that is the only advantage. For any other use case, get a production sample.

[Jurrunio]

Engineering samples can be bargains, but are even more risky and need a lot of skill to use. Nearly all of them run much slower than the production models, so locked ones are not for gaming. Unlocked ones still require careful pick, earlier problems, as you would expect, get more problems than new one. I did hear some users saying that golden samples overclock better than the best production models, though crap samples do terribly.

[ChristopherH]

6 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Engineering samples can be bargains, but are even more risky and need a lot of skill to use. Nearly all of them run much slower than the production models, so locked ones are not for gaming. Unlocked ones still require careful pick, earlier problems, as you would expect, get more problems than new one. I did hear some users saying that golden samples overclock better than the best production models, though crap samples do terribly.

Intel generally don't produce locked ES chips, and this to allow integrators and hardware manufacturers to complete system testing and compatibility testing.