Help identifying an Intel CPU

[rgold28]

I work at a Scrap yard in BC and we came across something i have never seen. We were going to send it to China to extract the gold. But not before i figure out what it is. https://www.dropbox.com/s/4o3fthhr4nt0g53/cpu-2.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/sqqrppzs4vlpslv/cpu.jpg

Any idea?

Inline images apparently aren't working with Dropbox right now, so de-inlining them
-ViRGE

 

[Harvey]

If you're talking about the CPU chip, itself, look for part numbers on the top, and search Intel's site and Google for that part number.

 

[VirtualLarry]

pics?

 

[tracerbullet]

If you quote the thread you can highlight them and go to them.

Intel Confidential and ES tell me "Engineering Sample". QC tells me Quad Core. 2.2GHz of course.

If that helps.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you quote the thread you can highlight them and go to them.

Intel Confidential and ES tell me "Engineering Sample". QC tells me Quad Core. 2.2GHz of course.

If that helps.

Intel "ES" (Engineering Sample) chip codes are four-letter, and start with Q.
Intel normal part codes have five letters, and start with S.

"QC" does not necessarily mean "Quad-Core" here. Just that the first two letters of the "Q-code" are Q and C.

 

[Matt1970]

The only chip I know of that has 4 alignment cutouts, or whatever they are called, is the E5 Xeon but that looks different.

 

[tracerbullet]

It was QCHC, I was just taking a stab at the first part of it. I guess you still didn't look at the picture.

When I say "tells me" I mean that as a guess, as opposed to saying "it is for sure", in case that isn't clear.

 

[Maximilian]

Unusual for sure, looks a bit like an SB-E from the underside but the top looks completely different.

Looks like its socket 2011, if the batch code number thingy is the same for ES CPU's as regular it was made in 2012 week 31.

 

[Cerb]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4o3fthhr4nt0g53/cpu-2.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sqqrppzs4vlpslv/cpu.jpg

Links to pics, for anyone else coming in.

 

[ViRGE]

Boy that is an interesting chip.

I agree that it looks like SNB-E. But what throws me for a loop in particular is that the pin pads don't precisely match up with an E5-Xeon.

e.g. http://assets.vr-zone.net/15122/sandy_ep_4(1).jpg

If the geniuses here can't figure it out, it might be worth hitting up Anand or Johan.

 

[SocketF]

There is a label on the substrate in the left corner "R1", thus I'd say *it is* Socket 2011 not only that it looks like it. (Socket 2011 is know internally as socket R1). The different pin pads are not that interesting, probably only some debugging contacts, not needed for the final product.

I guess the "A4" print is the revision, but I am not sure, could be anything else, too.

Anyways, it is an early SandyBridge-E sample. If it is an 8 core part then the ebay prices are around ~$200, depends on the revision.

Can I upload your picture at cpu-world.com? That is normally the 1st address for weired chips, but yours is not in the database, yet.

Edit:
Checked the Sandy ES at ebay. All of them are labeled as "'10" in the first line, meaning 2010. But you have an 11 there, which is a bit strange. If you are lucky that could be an Ivy Bridge-E ES, i.e. 22nm, they are not launched yet. For more information you should try to get it running in a mainboard and get a CPUID screenshot.
Oh and "A4" probably means nothing, all of the other ES at ebay have it, too.

 

[Maximilian]

I asked the chaps at CPU-world:

http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=166859#166859

Looks like it may be an E5 xeon, 8 cores 16 threads.

 

[SocketF]

I asked the chaps at CPU-world:

http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=166859#166859

Looks like it may be an E5 xeon, 8 cores 16 threads.

Hmm nothing new.

The problem is again the ES-code. We know most of coded for the Sandy ES, they all start with QB.. that and the 2011 label of rgold28's chip let me guess that it is something newer and that can only be either IvyBridgeE or some newer Sandy stepping. However, that Sandy-Stepping should be out already now, thus we should also know the ES-stepping codes.

All in all, I would say it is probably an IvyBridge ES, I'll give it a ~55% chance imo.

Edit:
In case that the CPU is already damaged I would try to remove the heat-spreader .. then we could see the die. But it might be soldered on .. so it is not an easy task.

 

[Maximilian]

Hmm nothing new.

The problem is again the ES-code. We know most of coded for the Sandy ES, they all start with QB.. that and the 2011 label of rgold28's chip let me guess that it is something newer and that can only be either IvyBridgeE or some newer Sandy stepping. However, that Sandy-Stepping should be out already now, thus we should also know the ES-stepping codes.

All in all, I would say it is probably an IvyBridge ES, I'll give it a ~55% chance imo.

Edit:
In case that the CPU is already damaged I would try to remove the heat-spreader .. then we could see the die. But it might be soldered on .. so it is not an easy task.

Hmm yeah, if im right about the manufacture date (big if!) then it would have been manufactured after all the SB-E xeons were released, they all came out march-may timeframe, this was made in late july early august 2012.

 

[NTMBK]

Don't suppose you've got a socket 2011 board to try it out on?

 

[SocketF]

Don't suppose you've got a socket 2011 board to try it out on?

Even then he would need BIOS support. ES chips wont work in all 2011 boards, because they are not recognized (any more) in the BIOS.

If it would be an IvyE indeed, then the problem is that it woulnt recognized yet. Similar that a socket 1155 IvyB chip wont works in an older Z68 board without bios update.

The best chance would be the mainboard where the chip came from. But most often, BIOS chips are removed from these kind of mainboards ... to make it unusable.

@Maximilian:
Hmm yes 2012 would fit, too, just wonder then why they printed then "11" in the first line :hmm:

 

[Matt1970]

Whatever you do I would not send it to scrap.

 

[jcniest5]

You may want to hang on to that CPU. It's probably worth more than the gold you can extract out of it. I would keep it if I were you.