What are your expectations using ES CPU?

[OldChap]

As title. If you purchased an ES CPU what would you expect in terms of issues?

I have one pair that seem to run well on WCG but another setup that does not.

The first pair in an ASUS MB using normal G-Skill ram the second pair in a Supermicro MB with ECC REG ram

As this is all new to me and I have yet to really get to the bottom of just what is happening when I have to reduce the ram speed to 1333 just to get it to do any work (boots fine but gives Kernel panic under load running at 1600) I wonder if anyone has previous experience that would help?

With so much of the mem subsystem on the cpu these days I am left wondering how to Identify whether this might be a cpu fault or a mem issue.

Any help and thoughts on this gratefully recieved

[i found nemo]

i would imagine some programs not running at all or even properly. yes, you could have a faulty memory channel on the cpu, or hopefully just a bad stick of ram. try different slots? if all else fails clear cmos for an hr or so. try testing your ecc reg ram in the asus and see if it goes bizerk on you again. if it does it is probably your ram. but as you say it is an es sample and something could be very wrong with the imc. best of luck.

[Buckeye]

As we have seen in the past and even present that some ES CPU versions are often better then retails, but the other way around is true also. Sometimes ES chips have features disabled or even some have been known to be unlocked where retails are locked up tight.

Generally imo ES chips are a mixed bag and you get what you get, don't expect more then that. If you are buying ES chips then you are usually getting a better price then retails so you save a bunch but they are illegal and could get some one in trouble, who by the way is pocketing good $'s for selling these.

I won't get into the whole illegal part of this as I think it's all a ruse and really only matters to pre-released chips.

Unless you are getting these as samples to OC with or test then jam them hard to find out what they can do. If you buy them take care with them as you cannot replace them and be happy you got them cheaper then retail.

[OldChap]

This year, with the new cpu's running on the same socket (2011) , there seems to be a glut of last years es cpu's becoming available on the likes of ebay. obviously it is better to get the latest stepping available but I wondered if B1 rather than C0 or C1 and C2 will have a high chance of failure to run properly.

I only run WCG on them so cheaper is good

[Buckeye]

Same socket but different chipsets ?

[yojimbo197]

This year, with the new cpu's running on the same socket (2011) , there seems to be a glut of last years es cpu's becoming available on the likes of ebay. obviously it is better to get the latest stepping available but I wondered if B1 rather than C0 or C1 and C2 will have a high chance of failure to run properly.

I only run WCG on them so cheaper is good

What about the ES CPU's with Q at the beginning of the step code that are supposed to be final revisions?

[i found nemo]

also the subtimings could be too tight on the imc for 1600mhz. they may not have had it sorted out at that time. have u tried to change anything with memset or cputweaker?

[OldChap]

memset or cputweaker?

I feel another learning curve coming on... Never used these before.

Put windows on it to get a better idea of what is happening. Found a few silly things like turning spread spectrum on in bios actually turns it off and vice versa.

Ran LinX with mems at 1600 and got a 124 bsod within 3 mins which seems to fit. managed 3 passes with mems at 1333

Thanks for the tip. I will give those a go after I visit mother for a day or two.

[tool_462]

What about the ES CPU's with Q at the beginning of the step code that are supposed to be final revisions?

Q isn't always final revision for Intel ES stuff.

I've run and dealt with a LOT of ES and never had any issues with any chip that actually had any markings on it. Some oddballs that were A0 or A1's and completely blank IHS (or handwritten in marker) had odd clockspeeds or half multipliers (previous generations with FSB) but none that I saw ever had any calculation issues.

[OldChap]

These have markings but are oddballs in that they are 2.3 speed with just a single step of turbo to 2.4 all cores or 2.5 with a single core (or maybe more cores I did not test)

[sin0822]

you also have to worry about microcode updates as they have to update the microcode for every stepping of the CPU, and maybe they might miss one of the older ES steppings to update, however you might be okay as manufacturers generally use ES for their testing and BIOS development, its not like they go out and buy retails for all the BIOS/hardware/FAE/RMA guys, they use ES that Intel provides them and might get a few retails just to test out. .

[tool_462]

These have markings but are oddballs in that they are 2.3 speed with just a single step of turbo to 2.4 all cores or 2.5 with a single core (or maybe more cores I did not test)

Yeah that is pretty common.

I always had fun with the trays of blank ones, that is where I got an E8700 and a couple QX9xxx chips that turned out to be really cool back in the LGA775 days.

[i found nemo]

try one stick at a time. if it passes with one stick at 1600 you have a bad stick or weak mem controller. with two sticks you are running 2t? speaking of which what are your timings for 1600 and 1333? i'm assuming stock ddr3 voltages.

[brenanh]

I just got an ES E5 Xeon and found similar issues with RAM, it just doesn't seem to like high clock speeds. The 2400 C10 XMP profile doesn't boot unless I reduce the divider to 1333, could probably squeeze 1600 with some tweaking but it automatically sets the timings to C6 1T @ 1333 with the increased voltages which seems pretty decent overall.

Most annoying thing is I have to take the bloody CMOS battery out every time it fails to boot, which happens when you change almost anything...

[OldChap]

Running OK for now at 1333 on WCG.

No settings tweakable. automatically sets 11,11,11 @1600 and 9,9,9 @1333

I will investigate further this weekend

[tool_462]

Running OK for now at 1333 on WCG.

No settings tweakable. automatically sets 11,11,11 @1600 and 9,9,9 @1333

I will investigate further this weekend

Odd but you might need a BIOS with a specific CPUID (or whatever they call it) I might've missed what board it is on but if it is a Supermicro they will gladly email you a custom BIOS with every CPUID (again, wording might be bad) ever for the socket, they have done it in the past especially during the Beckton era when ES chips had about 30 revisions.

[IFMU]

i've had 2. 1 would barely do stock speeds the other, OC'd pretty well for me and from the person i got it from, i could have expected more, but my personal OC'ing skills (read limitations) and other hardware prevented me from going further with it.

Generally imo ES chips are a mixed bag and you get what you get, don't expect more then that.

Buckeye covered that pretty well