this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025
192 points (97.1% liked)

Selfhosted

61544 readers
747 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

Detailed Rules Post

  1. Be civil.

  2. No spam.

  3. Posts are to be related to self-hosting.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or readme if you're providing a link.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title.

  6. No trolling.

  7. Promotion posts require active participation, with an account that is at least 30 days old. F/LOSS without a paywall has exceptions, with requirements. See the rules link for details. Tags [CBH] or [AIP] are required, see the links in Rule 8 for details.

  8. AI-related discussions and AI-involved promotional posts have additional requirements for tagging, as noted in Rule 7 and the AI & Promotional Post Expanded Rules post, and find example disclosures here.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
ruud@lemmy.world
Loki@lemmy.world
CannaVet@lemmy.world
devve@lemmy.world
ayyy@sh.itjust.works
curbstickle@anarchist.nexus
curbstickle_lw@lemmy.world
192
Intel Confidential CPU? (slrpnk.net)
submitted 1 year ago by Sunny@slrpnk.net to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hiya, hope this is a fitting qustion for this community.

So recently made a purchase from a second hand market. I just wanted the case that the computer I bought used, but got the full computer with all its parts However when I removed the cooler and cleaned off the remaining paste I saw this CPU was marked as Intel Confidential.

Frankly I've got no idea what this means, was this CPU used for Intel Internal only and somehow ended up in the wild? Did it belong to some third party company? How do I know what generation the CPU is? (Guessing some software will be able to tell me this). Are these normal to find second hand?

If anyone knows anything regarding this strange occurrence - please let me know πŸ˜…

all 18 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] AbidingOhmsLaw@lemmy.ml 59 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It’s a i5-8600 3.1 Ghz 6-core.

as others have said it’s a pre release sample for testing and might have bugs but the QP4W tells you the processor type

https://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/QP/QP4W.html

[–] elDalvini@discuss.tchncs.de 39 points 1 year ago

This seems to be an engineering sample CPU. Since these are pre-production, that could mean it's basically a fully functional CPU. It could also have serious issues.

[–] TedZanzibar@feddit.uk 24 points 1 year ago

I used to work at a games studio that would get these delivered fairly regularly, usually paired with a particular motherboard and presumably a custom BIOS.

I think we were technically supposed to return them but the manufacturers never enforced it, so once the chip was actually released to the public - and assuming the sample was stable enough for general use - the PC would rotate into normal stock and eventually get sold for cheap to staff or end up in the spare parts bin.

While it was cool at first to get pre-production chips before anyone else, it became pretty mundane and I'm not at all surprised to see them out in the wild decades later. Interesting piece of history though!

[–] Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

confidential cpus are typically engineering samples, usually given to motherboard companies to work on bioses for the cpu generation and meant to be returned to the company after done. engeering sample cpus can be missing features, lower clocks and such that the retail varient may have.

as for geneeation of cpu, its easier to find out via what motherboard socket it is

on thecontext of finding second hand, i wouldnt say its common, but can happen. some chinese companies sell dirt cheap ES cpus for basic computing.

the ilm says lga 115x, so its either 1156(1st gen), 1155(2nd or 3rd gen), 1150(4th and 5th gen) or 1151(6th to 8th gen)

[–] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 17 points 1 year ago

Confidential Lake

[–] const_void@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

Very likely stolen from an Intel dev partner.

[–] vikingtons@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Could be a prod ready engineering sample. They get around more than you may think.

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 9 points 1 year ago

Frame it. Neato.

[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago

Neat. What does your OS tell you it is?

[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

I've ended up with a different one before. only worked with the included motherboard but the guy I gave it to claims to have gotten it running with a modded bios in an overclocker board.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

This is a special chip, salt and vinegar flavour