Post by Jeff GainesI have a problem with a new build based round the Asus Z170-P motherboard.
I am struggling to get a working used Intel i7 6700 via eBay but there are
Chinese ones advertised as new, Amazon carries them as well.
I'm in the market for an i7-6700k. They crop up every day on ebay.
(taking my time because the going rate is 50 quid and I'm not in a hurry)
Were you buying them and finding they don't work, or something else?
Post by Jeff GainesAnybody know if these are likely to be real, one of the pictures looks
exactly the same as an Intel one but it doesn't have "Intel" printed on it.
I think they're likely to be real (ie not just a lump of ceramic), but they
could be re-marks of other parts or 'engineering samples' that are shipped
to manufacturers in advance of production silicon being available. ES can
have bugs or not be clocked as high as production silicon, and not be
supported by Intel/etc.
I think some cloud vendors and supercomputers tend to use parts under a
special deal with the manufacturer and they get samples, early production
silicon, special SKUs or something like that. When the supercomputer is
decommissioned those parts end up on the used market. They still work, but
they're a bit different from production parts.
For current production parts I'd be worried about fakes, but for boring
parts from 8 years ago it's likely from some kind of decommissioned system -
maybe e-waste, maybe ex-cloud. Could also be a reject of some kind. But it
seems if you're going to 'fake' CPUs you'd do it on recent parts, not 8 year
old ones. It's quite possible they're genuine but are just recycled from
scrapped corporate boxes.
Check Youtube for 'aliexpress CPU' and see what people have got.
Theo