Reliability of ES Chips

[Von Matrices]

Hi everyone. I've searched the forums and have not yet found an answer to a question I have. I want to upgrade my dual Xeon workstation with better processors. I currently am running a Tyan S2696 motherboard with two Xeon 5130s (2.0/1333 Wolfdales). I mainly do video editing using Sony Vegas which can definitely take advantage of eight cores, and I am looking to upgrade to dual quads for as little money as possible.

I know that my board does not support 45nm processors, so I have been looking for 65nm quads and stumbled across an eBay auction of two Xeon "5330" ES chips (2.13/1066 Clovertown) - auction Auction 160295611196. I have two questions about this. First, since this is not an official model from Intel (there were officially no 2.13 GHz Clovertown chips), would they even work in my board? Also, the more important question, is how reliable are ES chips? Can I trust them to work reliably for two or three years?

Thanks and I appreciate your assistance in advance.

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[hans007]

they usually are built to the same spec as the retail one. most ES chips are "qualification samples" so they are exactly the same as whatever equivalent would be.

 

[Von Matrices]

Thanks for the help so far hans007. That's what I thought about ES chips but I wanted to confirm with someone else. Am I right in assuming that the chip probably was never overclocked and thus its life span shortened because of the rarity of Xeon boards that allow you to change the FSB? Also, do you have any ideas about whether or not my board will be compatible with an unofficial chip? Thanks for the help!

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Von Matrices
Also, do you have any ideas about whether or not my board will be compatible with an unofficial chip?

You basically have to try it to find out. I have some ES chips and am about 50/50 on board support.