Just got a P4 661 (Cedar Mill) Engineering Sample

[JerryRig]

I figured boards like this would be the best place to buy and sell items like this and maybe I can get a few answers from experienced users here.

I recently acquired an ES P4 661, 3.6GHz 2MB (65nm) CPU. All of my hardware is too old to take advantage of this, but I'm ready to upgrade. With Conroe out, it may seem sort of pointless to build a system around an architecture that's maxed out, but there's a chance this CPU could produce some nice overclocked numbers on air. Is it true that the multiplier is NOT locked on ES-spec CPUs?

Right now would probably be a good time to sell this thing though, especially if someone wants to upgrade their current rig. My money might be better spent going to Conroe, as I have to start from scratch anyhow.

Let me know if there's a market for something like this--I'd probably post it up for sale on this board.

 

[DrMrLordX]

You'd have to find someone interested in rare CPUs and/or engineering samples. Chances are that there won' be a huge market for it. Building a rig around such a CPU makes no sense at this time; you'd do better with a 9xx Pentium D or Conroe.

 

[JerryRig]

Well the real benefit with the ES processor is that it's not supposed to be multiplier-locked. So those with existing rigs with ample cooling could crank this thing out over 4GHz. I'll take some pics of it and post it up later.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Yeah, but you're still dealing with a single-core CPU. 9xx Pentium Ds (Preslers) have the equivalent of two Cedar Mill cores. In the case of the Pentium D 930 and higher, you can usually max the CPU out just by raising FSB, making the fixed multiplier a non-issue.

So, while the adjustable multiplier on a Cedar Mill engineering sample might be interesting, it won't translate into additional performance (or even equivalent performance) compared to a Pentium D. There isn't much use for the chip from a performance perspective.

Even still, you can always try the For Sale/For Trade forum and see if anyone wants it.

 

[GregGreen]

Why not build your system now around the 661? If you buy the right things, you should be able to plop a conroe in there later when they are more available or what not...

 

[n7]

eBay.

Then build a far superior C2D system