Intel CPU Upgrade : Engineering Sample?

Are you sure you're not mixing anything up here? Intel's fabs are located in the US and Israel which is where the CPUs are manufactured.

It is true, however that their assembly and test sites are located in the far east where also most of the OEMs' computers are built. This is likely where the leaks happen. In my opinion for as long as many of these ES or QS CPUs sell for more than the people there make in a month there's really nothing that can be done to stop the inflow of these products into the market.
Why Intel seemingly hasn't done anything to try and stop the free and open selling of these items for example on ebay is a different question.

To the OP. Looking anxiously forward to seeing your results as I'm considering upgrading the CPU on my machine for a quad core one myself.

 

Yeah you're right, just looked that up.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9127745/Intel_s_7_billion_Made_in_the_USA_investment

I'm glad this is happening, we need the manufacturing/production back in the homeland!

 

This is what disturbs me most. It reeks of something fishy.

Number one above obviously is the case, but why? I wonder if they are doing this to make more money selling to resellers in the local market, where you could get away with that? This would be easy to catch though.

Number two could be what happened also, and they forgot to take the ES tag off the die, maybe they had a small number of parts that accidently got ran that way.

Either way it would be interesting to know what actually is going on.

 

I'd like to know too.

My CPU doesn't look like anything has been modified/remarked on it. It looks exactly the same way as my i7-720QM OEM (except for, of course, different markings and numbers).

I have read here somewhere, that some people using 920XM ES/QS chips have come across CPU throttling after it reached 80*C. I haven't observed anything like this with my CPU though.

 

If the sellers were kicked off eBay, they'd just sell on eCRATER.com.

 

or amazon, craiglist, kijiji, ebsai, taobao, worldbestmarket, eachnet, ioffer...

 

you forgot kiosks by your local electronics stores

 

alibaba, aliexpress, the street...

 

Any updates Dspr? Did the cpu come in yet?

 

80*c does seem to be the magic number. get past this and chances are your cpu is good

 

No, not yet, it was probably shipped out today since I, being the idiot that I am, chose to pay via e-check instead of master card (both through PayPal of course) so the payment cleared today...hopefully in 3 - 6 business days it will be here...and I can sleep better at night knowing that I did in fact screw up or made the best purchase I could for my laptop (at the moment).

 

I see a couple of guys left positive feedback for the same CPU so it probably works. Can't wait for your review.

 

I suspect import/export rules for "engineering samples" are at least partial reason behind the whole situation with all these ES CPUs in webshops.

 

How many ES samples are being sold anyway?
Chances are if you're buying a mobile ES/QS CPU, you already bought a laptop with a CPU in it.. so intel already made money off you..
and comparing people who are willing to fiddle with their CPU with people who aren't.... we're like a grain of rice in a sack of rice
or Intel WANTS us to buy ES and HOPES that it ruins or reduces the lifespan of our laptop so we will buy a new one with a new chip =]

Who knows.. they make enough money regardless

 

I am interested on the review when the OP gets this chip.

 

Should be here tomorrow...I cannot wait...the Customs could have released it earlier (it was held for three days >:[ ) it was "released to Canada Post for processing" at 1:30 PM today.

 

Well I got it today but it would appear that the Q1TN stepping is not compatible with the GX640. I will try to sell this CPU and get another one...lol.

and now, for the rage:

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

Aww, damn that sucks dude. I was so hoping it would work. Thanks for taking one for the team though. I'm sure you can sell it on e-bay and make back some of your losses though.

 

I bought it for 139.99 US, sold it for 125 US 2 minutes after listing it...lol

 

K so I have i7-720qm coming in (release model, not E.S.) next, next week.

I decided to not go for another i7-820qm since I didn't feel like spending 320 US on a release model of it.

 

where did you get the 720qm retail from?

 

Update:

My 920XM QS CPU was only using RAM in a single channel mode. I tested it thoroughly with 2 x 2GB and 2 x 4GB DDR3 modules in all possible configurations (2+2, 4+2, 2+4, 4+4). No matter what I did, the CPU could only use 1st RAM module, second remaining inactive (8GB RAM, 4GB usable etc.). This problem did not occur with my OEM i7-720QM. I tried reseating the CPU, as well as RAM modules, nothing helped. Lucky me, seller agreed for a full refund. I am back to i7-720QM now.

 

Starting to feel happy that I got a 720qm OEM for my GX640. Faster would have been nicer, but looks like there's too much risk involved with these QS and ES models.

 

I got my i7-720qm from ebay, some guy in Ohio. Apparently pulled from a Toshiba laptop. This time with refund and a 30 day warranty.

 

i thought of purchasing the i7 940XM from shirleyfu1117, ebay...i have an m17x, running on i7 720Qm and 6gb 1333hz(4+2)...do u guys think its ok for me to purchase considering,Marecki_clf's problem with his cpu?

 

You can always send it back if its bad.

 

Closed as per OP request