jmke

All in all, it is generally not a good idea to buy an Intel Core 2 Duo engineering sample. Obviously, it is cheaper than an OEM processor, and certainly much cheaper than a retail-packed processor. Even with the recent price cuts by Intel, these ES units are still being sold cheaply enough to make them really enticing.

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.a...tno=407&pgno=1

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Rutar

lol, are there even ES for normal people and not people who are hot on the unlocked multi?

thorgal

What a load of BS

I've owned so many ES samples by now and haven't had a single problem with them. This article is pure Intel companyspeak

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Massman

You're right Thorgal ... I guess Intel just doesn't like so many ES samples on the market

Kougar

You cannot deny his points regarding poorer overclocking and usually higher heat generation due to higher voltages. Not to mention the lack of any warranty I presume.

jmke

I agree

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thorgal

Honestly, I do deny that.

it's a bit of hit and miss of course, the same as with retail/OEM cpu's. For example, I'm still holding on to my step 5 Conroe ES which is far superior to most of the step 6 retail CPU's (exceptions notwithstanding). The only valid point concerns some of the B0 offerings : they are indeed early samples, and can run rather hot (Kentsfield B0 was a hot MF indeed )

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Kougar

I'll grant there are plenty of exceptions yes, but I have only seen the majority of ES chips to overclock poorly, or require higher voltages to reach the same levels. This is also true for those people I somewhat know that acquired one themselves.

I'll grant I never bothered to distinguish between which kind of ES chip, so I do hold that view of them in general. I consider my E6300 to have be of somewhat middle to poor stock but it runs at 3.6ghz stable, almost but not quite 3.73ghz stable at 1.5v. Considering most X6800's and lower chips tend to use a 1.25vcore and the lower bins tend to ship with 1.325vcore despite the much lower speeds, which mine falls under, I know my own chip should fall only within the middle-range as far as overclocking goes.

Rutar

if thats 3.6 on air, then it isn't a bad chip at all

thorgal

Indeed, a 6300 @ 3.6 stable is very good indeed

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