Leaked Intel Core i9 chip makes its way to eBay?

Would you pay $1,200 for an as-of-yet unreleased Intel Core i9 chip? Hard to say if the transaction actually occurred, but an auction recently ended from a Taiwanese eBay user who claims to be selling a six-core, 2.4GHz Xeon Westmere Gulftown processor. We can't vouch for the validity of the listing, but those are some pretty convincing pictures being tossed around -- ones that aren't blurred, which might give Intel an advantage in snooping out the leak. That's not all, though -- Nordic Hardware (via Tom's Hardware) also reports that the OCTeamDenmark forums had it listed for on sale for $850. The 32nm fella had some promising benchmarks released recently, although its release isn't slated until at best sometime early 2010. Sure, it's great to be first, but with early adopter prices like that, we don't mind waiting until it goes official.

Intel Core i9 eBay listing

[questionexclamation Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:07PM]

bow chicka wow wow

[shadowj0 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:35PM]

I'll see to it that my long lost relative who died in Africa and left me a large sum of money (to the tune of billions) will not die in vain... he would want me to have that.

8D

[mikmik111 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:12PM]

I'm quite happy with my Core 2, and people who buys this with this price must might been needing some intense gazilion pixel gaming platform.

[One Love Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:21PM]

@mikmik111 : let me guess, you are drunk again.

[bolezhinkov Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:23PM]

@mikmik111 hey some people are happy with a Geo Metro too . . . other people are looking for an F-350 truck or something.

[kojo87 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:27PM]

@(Unverified) i have to say that is the first PC/Truck comparison i have ever heard. usually people go with Ferrari not F-350. to each his own i suppose.

[shadowj0 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:36PM]

@kojo87

bet he's never heard of Ferrari where he comes from... down in the heart of America. Right around Nowheresville, USA.

[max1001 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:39PM]

@mikmik111
No. They are just rich. Like my COO, dude get a new laptop/computer every 6 months. He just sell his old one.

[pika2000 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:58PM]

@mikmik111 For most people, even the Pentium dual core is more than enough. But then try encoding H.264 video, then you'll realize you would want something faster.

[harkening Posted Dec 4th 2009 2:37AM]

@kojo87

Not just about speed. An F-350 can do some pretty heavy lifting relative to the Metro AND the Ferrari.

[Amnesia87 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:17PM]

Ummm... Maybe I'm missing something, but it was my understanding that it was going to launch with a price of $999 anyways O_o... So there really isn't much of an "early adopter" premium. The bigger issue could be getting a motherboard with compatible hardware and bios.

[KupoCheer Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:42PM]

@Amnesia87 Exactly my thoughts.

[MJGAMER 1991 XBL Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:40PM]

@Amnesia87 I just found another listing for $1000 on eBay, but there's no picture. http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-6-Core-Xeon-Westmere-2-4GHZ-LGA1366-CPU_W0QQitemZ150394036622QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCPUs?hash=item23042ee18e

[FitFan Posted Dec 4th 2009 12:25AM]

@Amnesia87

I dunno. A used chip with no warranty for 20% more than a new CPU still sounds like a hefty premium to me.

[va jj Posted Dec 4th 2009 12:37AM]

@Amnesia87 if it is an engineering sample then is a different story and worth the price.

[Jacob1 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:21PM]

Well technically Engadget, it's not an i9, it's a Xeon Gulftown.

[bahoo Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:22PM]

Man, i wish I had one of these... or any of the recent i7 or similar chips...

They're just so fast!

[Colin S Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:22PM]

Cheaper Core i7's gets me excited.

[thors1982 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:33PM]

@Colin S
Yeah... im trying to figure out why core i7 prices haven't really dropped at all in the past 12 months :-/ thats just not right....

[cloud858rk Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:36PM]

@thors1982 It's because AMD has the market covered for cheap processors. :P

[jon Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:22PM]

My biggest concern is that it's an underclocked engineering sample.

[truthbeacon Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:23PM]

I don't get why the system resources screen is showing 24 processors instead of 6... I smell something foul...

[Robert Harrold Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:33PM]

@truthbeacon it is because it is xeon processor. which means server processor and server typically have more than one processor on the motherboard. so by my math he was running 2 of these chips on a board with hyper threading enabled.

[celebbbb Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:55PM]

@Robert Harrold
I assume it would indeed be hyper threading. A typical i5 or i7 quad core shows as an 8-core because each individual processor core bears 2 threads. These Nehalem architecture processors would support more threads per processor (4). I'm unsure, but a i9 might support 4 threads per core (6x4=24)

[truthbeacon Posted Dec 4th 2009 2:48AM]

@truthbeacon

Problem is for either of those descriptions: assuming that CPU-Z screencap is on the same system (which you would expect) then there's only one proc (notice how the proc selection in the lower left is greyed out) and it verifies that there are only 12 threads (2 per core).

Also, hyperthreading would only support two as it is merely turning the reset clock into a reverse-computation clock.

[webmastir Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:26PM]

http://digg.com/hardware/Leaked_Intel_Core_i9_chip_makes_its_way_to_eBay

[Special Agent Steve Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:29PM]

Perfectly happy with my i7. Think I'll wait at least another year or two before my next upgrade.

[LoganSmith Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:31PM]

It's probably a KIRF, beter make sure it's not a WIntel..

[TomTom2010 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:36PM]

$1200.00 .... *shivers*...

[theovalich Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:40PM]

This article was originally posted four days ago at Bright Side of News* and is currently our #2 story.

http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2009/11/29/do-you-want-to-buy-an-intels-32nm-sexa-core-cpu-today.aspx

Sorry, but THG was not the original source.

Theo
Ed-in-Chief
Bright Side of News*

[Special Agent Steve Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:50PM]

Your site isn't well known. Engadget is allowed to make the general assumption that Toms Hardware is the original source, when in fact, Tom's Hardware discovered the i9 on Ebay. If you wanted to let Engadget know, send in a tip. Not a comment.

[theovalich Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:02PM]

@Special Agent Steve Hi Steve, over million visitors in 199 days since the launch beg to differ about the "unknown" and we were already linked on the Engadget. Yeah, I should have send in a tip.

[DanMcQ Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:20PM]

Be wary of anyone named Theo...

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:42PM]

@theovalich
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/engadget.com
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/brightsideofnews.com

[skaterdude Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:53PM]

@theovalich I wouldnt have bothered with a comment. You'll just receive a ton of shit from people who think they know everything. People on this website are internet tough guys and always have some stupid shit to say. I believe you though.

[skaterdude Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:55PM]

@theovalich and hey, also I like your website. Looks alot better than engadget, looks like it has more to offer. You should do game reviews and beat engadget to that.

[jon Posted Dec 4th 2009 3:50AM]

@theovalich

I'd be one of the first to suggest that Demerjian's a useless douche bag, but are you really going to complain about lack of attribution? Really?

[aznofazns Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:41PM]

I like how Intel asked PCLab to remove the article with the i9's performance benchmarks.

[leg Posted Dec 3rd 2009 10:47PM]

probably a fake. theres always a chance tho.

[theovalich Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:03PM]

@leg Trust me, it's not a fake. It is something that happens every once a while, and that is selling engineering samples to general public. I learned that even some boutique PC vendors lap their ES CPUs and sell them in their configurations, but that's not the point here.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 4th 2009 1:29AM]

@leg

Almost certainly not a fake. I have personally seen and used Intel CPUs (specifically Nehalem-based Xeons) 6+ months before they were released. Pretty much any OEM of any consequence gets their hands on ES (engineering sample) Intel CPUs way early, and they look just like the photo.

Note that "any OEM" includes motherboard manufacturers, many system integrators (not just HP and Dell), software vendors like Microsoft/RedHat/VMWare, and a lot of other people.

Basically, there are a lot of these things floating around, so there's no reason to believe that this is a fake.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 4th 2009 1:36AM]

@theovalich
Absolutely right. I have personally seen and used ES Intel CPUs (Nehalem-based DP Xeons) 6 months before the CPU was actually released. There are a LOT of ES Intel CPUs (large companies like motherboard manufacturers have hundreds or thousands), they look exactly like this ("Intel Confidential"), and a surprising range of companies get them.

There are two things you need to know about ES Intel CPUs:
- NEVER sell one if you have one (or even release benchmarks). Intel tracks these things pretty well, and your employer knows that they risk not getting ES CPUs if they let them leak out.
- NEVER buy one if you're offered one. ES CPUs are usually buggy as hell, with performance issues and glitches.

The bottom line is, you don't want this, and the seller is going to get screwed.

[BigD145 Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:11PM]

I wouldn't say this was news, unless Intel spanked the seller. As it is, it's just an overpriced CPU. You might as well frame it and sell it for $300 in 6 months.

[Mikeo Posted Dec 4th 2009 1:43AM]

@(Unverified)

It's actually pretty good value for the money.

Setting aside the risk factor, a 2.4Ghz multiprocessor capable 6-core Xeon should be costing you about 700-1500USD, depending on how aggressive Intel wants to sell these.

The cheaper single-socket Core i_(9) chips should not even start selling at this frequency, and I guess will debut at ~3Ghz at 500USD.

[camroncake Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:16PM]

Wow, if I wanted to be ripped off this hard, I'd just buy a computer from Harvey Norman

[skaterdude Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:51PM]

i call bullshit!

[d3sc3nd3ncy Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:57PM]

It's an ES chip (Engineering Sample). They get released to testers for a variety of reasons and they get out (it happens every time there is a new model coming out).

Not really news worthy.

[AuDioFreaK39 Posted Dec 4th 2009 12:08AM]

Looks like Oliver from XtremeSystems doesn't know what an NDA actually protects the consumer public from. Well, what can you say, the kid's 19. I'm sure Intel is all over the case at this point, considering that Theo wrote the story over 4 days ago on BSN.

[Andurilan Posted Dec 4th 2009 12:58AM]

@AuDioFreaK39
Yeah the corporate lawyers write up the NDA's to released clients and prospects to protect little ole me. When I sign NDA's or get them drafted for my RIA concepts, the last person being protected is the end-user. It's to protect the Parties involved to any party from stealing, reverse-engineering, or otherwise malicious activity that would harm the company/firm etc. The last thing being protected are the consumers.

[jsmrekar Posted Dec 4th 2009 2:19AM]

someone go to newegg.com and search for xeon processors. 1200 is not astronimical.

quit whining about the price. its not bad for a server proc.