Scammed on ebay... Testing the 56 CORE system!
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2018-05-06
·
2,924 words · ~14 min read
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Okay, I've got my dual socket motherboard and I'm sure you guys have all gone through
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this at some point in the past where you're like building a new system and like the first
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part arrives and you're like, oh wow, this is so cool to look at because I have nothing
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else that goes with it.
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But then, okay, it got real and two of my eBay CPUs arrived.
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Basically these are 28 core 8176s or whatever they are, something along those lines.
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I got those, then I got these, yeah, these.
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These are 32 gig modules.
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These modules have more RAM than what I would consider to be a high end gaming system in
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one module.
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And I was like, no way, now I can test it.
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I wasn't sure if either of them would be real or working.
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So I actually ordered two sets of what claimed to be 28 core CPUs on eBay.
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And look at this.
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It's even marked on the spreaders.
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This is a P8136 that the seller says is a 28 core.
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But then I was like, hey, can you send me a CPU?
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Zed screenshot?
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And they're like, sorry, I can't.
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And I was like, well, can you double check with someone that it's 28 core?
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They're like, I can't.
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So let's hold on first.
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Let's double check this.
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So absolutely nothing Intel Xeon 8136.
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You can see I've Googled it before, but other than an eBay listing, oh, oh, and there's
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a thread discussing that eBay listing and other people saying that this is really sketch.
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So this takes up a lot more space on the bench than most motherboards.
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Okay.
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Step number one.
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Does this fit?
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Yeah.
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Cool.
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Um, if it turns on, I'm going to be turned on.
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Okay.
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So we've got dedicated eight pins, dedicated eight pins for each CPU.
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That fresh eBay smell, that thermal compound all over it.
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Okay.
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So here's problem number.
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I've lost track.
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But this is a problem.
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The LGA 3647 socket has no CPU retention ARM.
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The way it's meant to be held in is by the cooling solution, but almost nobody is supporting
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this socket because this is an enterprise Xeon socket.
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Intel's workstation chips are actually using LGA 2066, but with a different chip set.
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So ASUS went off the rails with this thing and there's like no coolers to support it.
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And it's got this bizarro land mounting system here with like threaded stuff here and here,
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and then these posts that are different size here.
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So I'm hoping to just kind of wing it by literally holding the CPU in place or like the unknown
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side, the random side, no one, no one knows what the hell's going on side, including the
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seller.
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But who knows?
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How did you put 28 core in the listing?
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You're the only people on earth with this CPU, as far as I can tell, where did these
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come from?
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Where did they go?
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Where did they come from?
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Cotton eye Joe?
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Oh, this is really dumb what I'm doing right now.
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Okay.
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Wait.
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Okay.
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This is bad.
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CPU just lifted up.
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Okay.
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I got it.
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Jake.
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I may need your hands at some point here.
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Okay.
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What do you think?
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Is it going to boot?
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Maybe.
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Yeah, I'm going with a definite maybe on this one too.
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Here we go.
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Oh wow.
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That was a whole lot of nothing.
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Pretty anticlimactic.
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Oh boy.
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Um, now most dual socket boards, oh, uh, okay.
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Postcode zero zero.
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That's not generally a good sign.
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Let's think.
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Do you want to try the other one of these first or do you want to try the other chips?
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Uh, I think you should try two.
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Oh, I mean, that's even more janky.
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It's more jank than I was kind of hoping to get, but.
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Wait, hold up.
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I got an idea.
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Whoa.
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That's heavy.
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What's that?
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Holy .
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Oh yeah.
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This is a titanium.
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I think.
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Holy crap.
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Here we go.
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Oh, that weren't a good sign.
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Wow.
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Crap.
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Okay.
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Well, hold on a second.
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There could still be something else.
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Uh, let's try the other chips.
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Okay.
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There's some action.
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Um, they're warming up this time, so that's going to limit how long I can hold these in.
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Okay.
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Okay.
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Go ahead and hit the, uh, power.
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My thumb's burning.
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Okay.
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It's time to consult the manual.
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So it occurs to me we have actually seen this socket before in our Xeon Phi video.
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This is that bizarro cooler that it used.
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So this gives us a few more exciting options.
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I don't actually know if this board is Xeon Phi compatible, but it's the same socket.
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So maybe we could try this chip to see if it fires up.
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Then we could try this cooler on one socket to see if maybe it is a mounting pressure
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issue.
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Still got options.
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Oh, and of course it's torques.
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Okay.
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This looks like it may not actually be quite the same because there's like a, a thing here.
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And what, what is this mounting system?
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This is a narrow ILM.
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This is a square ILM.
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Okay.
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So we're going for hopefully enough mounting pressure.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
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Whoa.
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Hello.
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Hello.
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Okay.
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That's fine.
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That's fine.
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We've got a postcode this time though.
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That's a better sign.
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And also this is less likely to be CPU one anyway, so I'm going to put it back where
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it was.
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All right.
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Okay.
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One long, two short.
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Great.
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Reserved for future AMI codes.
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Perfect.
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Okay.
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Let's try a different, uh, let's try a different chip.
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Let's try the other one.
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Yeah.
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Well, it could be good as f**k, like leet as f**k.
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Okay.
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It's completely different, which is maybe good and maybe bad.
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Okay.
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So the manual says one long beep and two short means no memory detected.
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So we put those CPUs back in and we're trying the higher mounting pressure on them.
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Okay.
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Okay.
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So kill it.
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Okay.
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So let's just put some more memory in because one of the, uh, classic symptoms of a bad
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mount in the socket is that some of your dim slots won't work properly.
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So, I mean, this is, if nothing else, a bad mounting system.
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Okay.
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So the working theory right now is that it's probably a mounting pressure issue.
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So last attempt before I just patiently wait for a cooler.
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I need to get up higher so I can put more weight on it.
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Oh, wow.
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That is terrifying.
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Why did it just turn on?
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I just put more pressure on the CPUs and the system turned on.
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Do you want to turn it off for now?
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Okay.
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I'm going to put more pressure on.
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Okay.
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Let's try the other ones.
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Okay.
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Center down there.
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Let's center down there.
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Okay.
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More weight.
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And I'm good.
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Have you tried clearing the CMOS?
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No, actually.
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Yeah.
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It's the same as before.
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Okay.
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It's been like another week, two weeks.
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I don't know.
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The point is today was basically Christmas because first, and yes, it's only the 19th,
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but it's still Christmas because first, check this out.
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So I've got those engineering sample processors that I ordered when I thought that Intel wasn't
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going to work with us on this.
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But today, I also got, oh, look at this.
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Oh, it's beautiful.
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So these are Intel Confidentials.
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I don't remember what SKU these are, but they're 3.2 gigahertz base, so they're a lower core
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count.
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And these ones, Xeon Platinum 8180s.
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These are the top of the line.
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But it was the kind of, I ordered new computer hardware Christmas where, get a little cricket
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there, where I didn't have a piece that I needed still.
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But then today again.
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These are Intel thermal solution box coolers for the Xeon processor scalable family.
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This is the one active cooler that I could find on the market for the square ILM socket.
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I finally have everything.
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We're still going to try that eBay processor first.
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I really want to know if I got ripped off.
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With how hard this is clamping down.
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Honestly, I do not feel like I wasn't putting enough force on it before.
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I really don't think that was the problem.
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So theoretically, if these work, then I have two sets of 28 core processors.
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If they don't, then I still have one because sometimes it's nice to be Linus Tech Tips
11:02
and have Intel send stuff over to you sometimes.
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Do you get sweaty when you're working on expensive stuff?
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A little bit.
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Yeah, me too.
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I need a graphics card.
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Wow.
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So the 8136 doesn't work.
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Now I'm wondering if maybe there's a problem with our board at this point.
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So let's try, let's try a retail chip.
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So each of these Xeon 8180s is I think 8 or 10 grand.
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Something like that retail.
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No pressure though, you know.
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I mean, don't they know that people drop things?
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Okay, so this is with a very probably known good chip this time.
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If this doesn't boot up, then I have my doubts about something.
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Oh, did that just change?
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Yeah, it did.
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Does it just have a really, really long post?
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How interesting would that be?
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What if it has some kind of first boot process
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where it has to go through some kind of detection thing
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before it can then boot up properly the next time
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and it's really long?
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Okay, we are attempting a USB BIOS flashback
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with their crash-free BIOS thing.
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We have a problem though,
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and that's that if you look at the BIOS revisions here,
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the one with the higher revision number
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is dated earlier than the one with the lower one.
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So let's pull that out and try again.
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I wouldn't have thought we could make it
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worse, but we did.
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00 postcode.
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This is 2666 megahertz, 32 gig sticks.
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I wonder if it's been a RAM compatibility thing
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this whole time,
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because I've never actually tried different RAM.
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Okay, new plan.
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We're going to try the 32 gig sticks
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from 7Gamers1CPU instead.
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So these are older, slower memory modules.
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These guys are 2133 instead of 2400 megahertz,
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which is like bleeding edge for servers right now.
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Maybe we'll see better compatibility
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if we try something a little bit older.
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97, B2, 98, 99.
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It was just RAM compatibility.
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No!
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Oh, come on.
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Oh, it's up.
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Oh, sick.
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Overclocking.
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Yeah, yeah, I want to overclock.
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I mean, not now.
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I want to get it like working reliably first,
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but wow, you just key them in.
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Look at this.
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5 billion volts.
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No.
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Do I just type in auto?
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Wow, that is jank.
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Oh, there they are.
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56 cores.
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Let's boot it up.
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Okay, it still won't boot into Windows.
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Just a little more troubleshooting.
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It's finally booted.
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So these are the retail chips.
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And check this out.
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Take that, mother .
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I still haven't tried firing it up
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with all of the RAM in it.
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This is the RAM strategy, okay?
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Two sticks here, 10 on the table,
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and I haven't tried any of the eBay chips
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because I wanted you guys to come along for the ride.
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Let's find out if anything works.
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I'm like half excited and half terrified.
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I really hope these work
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because I am almost definitely past
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any kind of buyer assurance deadline
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through eBay at this point or PayPal.
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I really, really hope this thing works.
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Now that I've had the board booted up,
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if this doesn't work,
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then I'm pretty sure that I got scammed.
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One thing I did find out
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is that some of my posting issues
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may have simply been related to memory training,
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and if I had just waited longer,
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which wasn't something that was easy to do
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when I was holding CPUs into the sockets,
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this is not a solid indication right now
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that things are going to go well, though.
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I actually hate that this TV
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has, like, such a pretty screen saver.
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Like, when I see a thing change,
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I'm like,
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Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, okay.
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Hold on a minute here.
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Whoa, okay.
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They booted.
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Genuine Intel CPU.
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Zero thousand percent at.
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All right, let's fire this baby up.
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So our last CPU
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got a score of about 7,000 in Cinebench,
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and that was with retail 8180 chips.
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I've seen engineering samples
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that have more information than this,
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but what we do know
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is the base speed of 2.1 gigahertz.
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We know that there are 28 cores.
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That's really exciting.
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So these are probably what they said
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they were, which is 8176s.
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Yep.
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Xeon Platinum 8176s.
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The eBay Gambit worked.
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Nice.
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And these are qualifying samples,
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which I believe means,
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generally, they are pretty close
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to retail chips.
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So this is not the be-all and end-all
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of benchmarks, certainly.
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But we can get an idea
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of whether we're here
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close to what we have
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with the retail 8180.
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I want to see what it turbos to.
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Not bad.
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Not bad at all.
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Okay.
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So that's a significantly lower turbo speed.
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We were turboing up around 3 gigahertz
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with the other one,
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and our lower score does reflect that.
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But
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that's a hell of a chip
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for what we paid for it.
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Now let's try the mystery meat.
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Platinum 8136 time.
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Is this a straight-up scam?
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Remember, this is the one
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where the eBay seller
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was unable to confirm
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anything about it. Unable.
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Okay.
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Yeah, this is not looking promising so far.
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It's just been on AF the whole time.
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You might say it would be
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disappointing AF.
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Damn.
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I wonder if I can still file a dispute.
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Ah, here it is.
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Ah, shoot.
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The item is not there anymore.
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Oh, that's not good.
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Can I even leave feedback?
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No, I can't. I can't even leave feedback anymore.
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Wait. Hold on.
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No.
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View similar items.
18:35
2600 US dollars plus shipping. Brilliant.
18:37
So I guess the lesson we learned
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then is
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buying engineering sample processors
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off eBay can work
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or it can super not.
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But if you order
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a part number that doesn't exist
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at all, then the odds of it super not working
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from our sample size of one
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seem to be pretty good.
18:57
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