CPU collecting

[DOSGuy]

Does anyone else collect CPUs? I now have 225 unique desktop CPUs (207 socket, 18 slot) and 7 variants. This list includes the Core i7 3770 in my current computer.

Desktop

Intel (128 unique, 7 variants)

DIP-18	?	10,000 nm	8008 (500 KHz), 8008-1 (800 KHz)
DIP-40	?	3000 nm	8085AH-2 (5 MHz)
	?		8086 (5 MHz), 8086-2 (8 MHz)
	?		8088 (5 MHz), 8088-2 (8 MHz)
286 socket	?	1500 nm	80286 10
386 socket	?	1500 nm	80386 16, 20
		1000 nm	80386 DX 25, 33
486 socket	P4	1000 nm	80486 DX 33
	P23	1000 nm	80486 SX 25, 33
	P24	600 nm?	80486 DX2 50, 66
	P4T	600 nm	486 OverDrive ODPR486DX-33, DX2ODPR66, DX4ODPR100
Socket 3	P24C	600 nm?	80486 DX4 100
Socket 4	P5	800 nm	Pentium 60, 66
Socket 5	P54C	600 nm	Pentium 75, 90 (ceramic and metal cap), 100
	P54CQS	350 nm	Pentium 120 (iComp 1 and 2)
	P54CS	350 nm	Pentium 133 (iComp 1 and 2), 150, 166 (ceramic and plastic)
Socket 7	P55C	280 nm	Pentium MMX 166 (ceramic and plastic), 200 (ceramic and plastic), 233 (w/ and w/o heatsink and fan)
Slot 1	Klamath	350 nm	Pentium II 233, 266, 300
	Deschutes	250 nm	Pentium II 300, 333, 350, 400
	Mendocino	250 nm	Celeron 300A, 333, 366
	Katmai	250 nm	Pentium III 450, 500, 550
	Coppermine	180 nm	Pentium III 667, 800EB, 850, 866
Socket 370	Coppermine	180 nm	Pentium III 550E, 650, 700, 733, 800, 800EB, 866, 933, 1000, 1000EB
	Tualatin	130 nm	Pentium III 1133S, 1400S
	Mendocino	250 nm	Celeron 366, 400, 433, 466, 500, 533
	Coppermine-128	180 nm	Celeron 600, 667, 700, 766, 800, 850, 950, 1000
	Tualatin-256	130 nm	Celeron 1000A, 1200
Socket 423	Williamette	180 nm	Pentium 4 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.7
Socket 478	Williamette	180 nm	Pentium 4 1.4, 1.5, 1.7, 1.8
	Northwood	130 nm	Pentium 4 1.6A, 1.8A, 2.0A, 2.4, 2.4B, 2.53, 2.66
			Pentium 4 HT 2.8C, 3.0
	Prescott	90 nm	Pentium 4 2.40A
			Pentium 4 HT 3.0E
	Northwood-128	130 nm	Celeron 2.2, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6
	Prescott-256	90 nm	Celeron D 315, 320, 325, 335, 340
LGA 775	Prescott	90 nm	Pentium 4 HT 524, 530, 530J
	Prescott 2M	90 nm	Pentium 4 HT 630
	Cedar Mill	65 nm	Pentium 4 HT 641
	Smithfield	90 nm	Pentium D 805, 820
	Presler	65 nm	Pentium D 915, 930
	Cedar Mill-512	65 nm	Celeron D 356, 360
	Conroe (800)	65 nm	Core 2 Duo E4500
	Conroe (1066)	65 nm	Core 2 Duo E6600
	Conroe (1333)	65 nm	Core 2 Duo E6550
	Allendale	65 nm	Celeron Dual-Core E1400
			Pentium Dual-Core E2180, E2200
	Kentsfield	65 nm	Core 2 Quad Q6600
	Wolfdale-3M	45 nm	Pentium E5700
LGA 1155	Ivy Bridge	22 nm	Core i7 3770

AMD (76)

DIP-40	?	3000 nm	P8086-1
386 socket	?	1000 nm?	Am386 DX 33
486 socket	?	? nm	Am486 DX 33, 40, DX2 66
	?	? nm	Am486 SX2 66
Socket 3	?	? nm	Am4x86 DX2 80 (8T), DX4 100 (8T), DX4 100 (8B)
	X5	350 nm	Am5x86 P75
Socket 5	SSA/5	500 or 350 nm	K5 PR90, PR100
	5k86	350 nm	K5 PR120, PR133, PR166
Socket 7	K6	350 nm	K6 166, 200, 233
Super Socket 7	Little Foot	250 nm	K6 266, 300
	Chomper	250 nm	K6-2 266 (printed and etched), 300, 333
	Chomper XT	250 nm	K6-2 350, 400, 450
Slot A	Orion	180 nm	Athlon 950
Socket 462	Thunderbird	180 nm	Athlon 750, 800, 850, 900, 1000B, 1000C, 1200C, 1266, 1333, 1400C
	Palomino	180 nm	Athlon XP 1600+, 1700+, 1800+, 1900+, 2000+
	Thoroughbred	130 nm	Athlon XP 1700+, 1800+, 2000+, 2200+, 2400+, 2600+ (C), 2600+ (D)
	Barton	130 nm	Athlon XP 2500+ (D), 2600+ (D)
	Spitfire	180 nm	Duron 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, 900
	Morgan	180 nm	Duron 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300
	Applebred	130 nm	Duron 1400, 1600, 1800
	Thoroughbred-B	130 nm	Sempron 2200+, 2500+, 2600+, 2800+
Socket 754	Newcastle	130 nm	Athlon 64 2800+
	Palermo	90 nm	Sempron 2800+, 3000+, 3100+
Socket 939	Venice	90 nm	Athlon 64 3200+
	San Diego	90 nm	Athlon 64 3700+
	Palermo	90 nm	Sempron 3200+
Socket AM2	Brisbane	65 nm	Athlon X2 4850e

Kingston Technology (1)

Socket 3	TurboChip 133

Cyrix/Via (11)

486 socket	?	?	Cx486 DX2 80, DX4 100
Socket 3	M1sc	?	5x86 100GP
Socket 7	M1R	650 nm	6x86 P150+, P166+
	M1L	350 nm	6x86L P166+, 200+
	MII	350 nm	6x86MX PR200 (75x2), MX PR233
		300 nm	6x86MX PR200 (66x2.5)
		350/300 nm	MII 300
Socket 370	Samuel 2	150 nm	1GigaPro (Via C3 650 MHz)

IBM (7)

Socket 7	M1R	650 nm	6x86 P150+
	M1L	350 nm	6x86L PR166+, PR200+
	MII	350/300 nm	6x86MX PR166, PR200, PR233
		250 nm	6x86MX PR300 (66x3.5)

SGS-Thomson (1)

Socket 7	M1	650 nm	6x86 P166+

IDT (1)

Socket 5	WinChip 2A 233

Additionally, I have a few server and mobile processors, and math co-processors.

Server processors

Socket 8	P6	350 nm	Pentium Pro 200 256K
Slot 2	Drake	250 nm	Pentium II Xeon 450
Socket 604	Nocona	90 nm	Xeon 3.0D

x87 Math Co-processors

DIP-40	80287-6, 80287-8, 80287-10
387	80387-16B, 80387-20, 80387DX 16-33

[Malvineous]

The real question is whether you have the motherboards and memory to turn them into working PCs

I can't say I collect them, but I have a fair few Slot 1 CPUs and everything needed to turn them into working DOS machines (down to network and SoundBlaster cards), if only I had the space to set them up...

I actually pulled apart an old server last weekend and took the four CPUs out of it, only to realise later they were Slot 2 (PII Xeon) so I don't have a motherboard for them (junked the rest of the server, all the parts were custom and couldn't be reused in a standard PC.) But it looks like that's one of the few variants missing from your quite extensive collection!

[leilei]

I don't collect, but I "hang onto them".

I have mostly Socket 7 and Slot 1. I have a few Socket 3's as well

[DOSGuy]

The real question is whether you have the motherboards and memory to turn them into working PCs

I have 30-pin, 72-pin, SDRAM, RDRAM, DDR1, DDR2, and DDR3 RAM.
I have ISA, VLB, PCI, AGP and PCI-E graphics cards.
I have ISA and PCI sound cards.
I have AT and ATX power supplies.
I don't have a Socket 4 motherboard, but I have dang near everything else. I have:

Intel:
8088 motherboard (in my original IBM PC)
286 QFP socket
386 socket
386 & 486 socket
486 socket
Socket 2
Socket 3
Dual Socket 5
Socket 7
Dual Socket 8
Slot 1
Socket 370
Socket 423
Socket 478
Socket 775
Socket 1155

AMD:
Super Socket 7
Socket 462
Socket 754
Socket 939
Socket AM2

So I can make a working computer using almost every CPU I have.

[DOSGuy]

Had a good haul today at Computer Care Centre in Ottawa. I picked up a Pentium III 800 (Socket 370), Pentium 4 1.8A, Am486 DX4 100, Athlon 1000, Athlon XP 2000+, IBM 6x86 P150+, IBM 6x86 L PR200+, Kingston TurboChip, a Socket 3 motherboard populated with an Am486 DX 40 (already had one) and eight sticks of 30-pin RAM, a Socket 423 motherboard with Pentium 4 1.5 and 2x256 MB RDRAM, a Socket 754 motherboard, a Socket AM2 motherboard, a Sound Blaster Audigy 2, a Diamond Speedstar Pro VLB, and a 30-pin to 72-pin RAM adapter populated with four 30-pin SIMMs. I don't plan to collect them, but I also picked up a Celeron M 370 (1.5 GHz, Socket 479).

So basically, 11 CPUs, 4 motherboards, 2 sets of RAM, a sound card, a graphics card, and a RAM adapter for $105.99. I lost track of the price when he went through it all, but the idea was that everything was $5 except for the Pentium 4 1.8A, which was $10 because it had been tested, and I'm not sure where the $0.99 came from. I got my first Socket 754 motherboard, my first Socket AM2 motherboard, my first Socket 423 motherboard and CPU, my first set of RDRAM, and my first mobile CPU. Unfortunately I also ran out of money and had to borrow $25 to complete the sale, so I'm broke until Wednesday. Ah well, it was still fun a birthday present to myself. I only go to CCC about once a year.

[Malvineous]

Wow, quite a haul! I didn't know you could adapt 30-pin RAM to 72-pin slots!

[DOSGuy]

It's pretty cool, actually. It's a riser card with four 30-pin SIMM slots. I've seen motherboards that took two types of RAM (30/72 and 72/168), but I've never seen a card that lets you put one type of RAM in the slot for another type. 30 and 72-pin RAM are both asynchronous, so I think the major difference between the two RAM types is the number of SIMMs to a bank, which the adapter satisfies by putting four 30-pin SIMMs in one 72-pin package.

[Malvineous]

Interesting. I've seen 72-pin EDO RAM, as well as 168-pin EDO RAM (as opposed to 168-pin SDRAM) so it might be possible to do the same again. Heh, it would be quite a sight to see a Pentium II running with a mass of 30-pin sticks of memory through various adapters...

[DOSGuy]

Had another good haul today. A fellow on Kijiji was selling a lot of six motherboards that he wasn't willing to break up, and he threw in eight loose CPUs when he found out that I was a collector.

CUV4X Socket 370 motherboard w/ Pentium III 1000 (133)
Asus P4BPE2-X Socket 478 motherboard
Asus P4B266-C Socket 478 motherboard w/ Pentium 4 1.7
Asus P4B533 Socket 478 motherboard w/ Pentium 4 2.53
Asus P4B800-X Socket 478 motherboard w/ Pentium 4 2.80
Abit KT7A-RAID Socket 462 motherboard w/ Athlon 1333
Loose CPUs: Am486 DX2-66, Am486 DX4-100, Athlon 900, Pentium 75, Pentium 100, Pentium III 650, Pentium III 733, Celeron 1000

So, despite a few doubles, I picked up 13 CPUs and 6 motherboards for $30. People can be quite generous when they find out how much care I put into my collection. I got my first Socket 370 motherboard and six new CPUs.

I tried to get the CUV4X running with AGP 1x, AGP 2x and PCI graphics cards, but I couldn't get any video from any of them. Then I grabbed a 1992 Trident SVGA graphics card with 1MB DRAM and put it in the ISA slot and everything was happy. I successfully used the board to test all of my SDRAM.

[Malvineous]

Nice! I have just recently gotten hold of a CompactFlash card and an IDE adapter so I can set up a couple of my old motherboards as DOS machines without having to worry about old hard drives for them. (I did have them booting over the network as diskless PCs in the past but unfortunately many real-mode games had issues with the amount of conventional memory used up by the network driver.)

Did you see the CPU database mentioned on Slashdot recently? That'll give you a long list to work your way through collecting

[DOSGuy]

I picked up 29 CPUs for $150 last weekend from a computer store in my home town. I usually pay no more than $5 per CPU, and expect a considerable bulk discount for a lot this large, but a large number of the CPUs were newer, so it seemed worth it. There was one Socket 7, three Socket 370, one Socket 423, eight Socket 478, nine Socket 462, three Socket 754, three Socket 939, and one Socket AM2 CPU. The AM2 CPU was a complete accident; I didn't notice the 940th pin and thought it was Socket 939.

[DOSGuy]

I had an ad listed online looking for people to trade my duplicate CPUs with, and a fellow answered that he had some unusual CPUs that he would be willing to trade for non-CPU parts. We agreed to
trade his "8087, 8087-3, 8088, 80387SX, PIII 600 slot, PIII 900 slot, Celeron 533 socket, Celeron 566 socket, PIII 600 socket, Celeron D 2.5GHz, P4 3.06 GHz, Athlon 900" for two sticks of 512 MB PC3200 and 200 GB PATA hard drive.

By the time the exchange took place, I was unable to find my 200 GB PATA hard drive and offered a 160 GB instead, and he revealed the the P3 900 slot CPU was actually a P3 800. The 8087 turned out to be an 8087-2, and the Athlon 900 turned out to be an Athlon XP 2600+. He decided to keep the P4 3.06 and asked me if I could find a motherboard for it, which I intend to do. Here's where it gets interesting.

He had dozens of CPUs in his car, which he offered me if I was interested. There were Pentiums, Pentium IIIs and Celerons, but instead of the familiar "SLxxx" and "SYxxx" sSpec numbers, they had codes starting with Q. Almost all of the chips he had brought had "ES" written on them. I'm used to seeing that acronym on photos from review sites. ES = Engineering Sample! Sure enough, a few of the chips also said "Confidential" after the copyright date. He told me that most of the CPUs were engineering samples, and where I asked where he had gotten them, he said that he used to work for Intel!

Below is a list of the engineering samples he gave me.

40-pin DIP	?	C8087-2 (ES)
		C8087-3 (ES)
Socket 5	P54C	Pentium "60-90" (Q0542) Confidential
	P54CQS	Pentium "60-120" (Q0732) Confidential
	P54CS	Pentium "66-133" (Q0772) x2
		Pentium "66-133" (Q0773) Confidential
		Pentium 166 SY016 (no "ES", but blank line where iComp 2 rating should be)
		Pentium 200 (Q0951F ES)
Socket 7	P55C	Pentium 166 MMX (Q019 ES)
		Pentium 200 MMX (Q124 ES)
Socket 8	P6	Pentium Pro 200 256K ("ES" on the bottom)
Slot 1	Katmai	Intel Confidential (Q818ES) 80525PY500512 = Pentium III 500
		Intel Confidential (QD62ES) 80525PY600512 = Pentium III 600
	Coppermine	Intel Confidential (QT97ES) 80526PY800256 = Pentium III 800
Socket 370	Coppermine	Pentium III 600E (QF13ES)
		Pentium III 733 (QS21ES)
	Mendocino	Celeron 366 (Q921ES)
		Celeron 466 (QB11ES) x6
		Celeron 500 (QD27ES) x2
		Celeron 533 (QG11ES)
	Coppermine-128	Celeron 566 (QR02ES) x2
Socket 478	Prescott-256	Intel Confidential (Q611 ES) 80546RE072256 = Celeron D 335 @ 2800 MHz

The 8087-2 and 8087-3 have "(ES)" on them, while all of the other CPUs have "ES" (without brackets) somewhere on them, usually after the Qxxx number. The Pentium Pro 200 only has "ES" written on the bottom after "MALAY", and the Pentium 166 doesn't say "ES" anywhere on it, but there's a blank line where the iComp 2 rating should be, so I think it's an engineering sample. The oddest one was the CPU that he told me would be a Celeron D 2.5. Instead of "Celeron", it just says "Intel Confidential". Like all of the other CPUs, it still has the normal part number, which allowed me to identify it as a Celeron D 335 running at 2800 MHz. Both of the Slot 1 CPUs just said "Intel Confidential", but at least the clock speed was easy to identify in the part number. In total, he gave me 28 engineering samples. Some of the CPUs came in plastic cases with anti-static foam. One says "intel" "Peripherals" "Sample Kit" on it, and another says "Genuine Intel 32-bit microprocessor inside" "Delivered with pride from the Silicon Forest Especially for You" "Workgroup Computing Division - Portland".

In addition to the engineering samples, he also gave me 4 non-engineering samples: the 8088, 80387SX-20 and "Barton" Athlon XP 2600+ (1917 MHz) as we agreed, and he threw in a "Banias" Pentium M 1.3. So 32 CPUs in all, all but one of them rare or unusual (if you consider a mobile CPU unusual). Not bad for two sticks of RAM, a hard drive, a future motherboard, and anything else he ever wants in the future!

[MrFlibble]

He told me that most of the CPUs were engineering samples, and where I asked where he had gotten them, he said that he used to work for Intel!

This is certainly very cool, nice to hear you've met such a guy, with your interest in collecting hardware parts

[DOSGuy]

For those of you who were into CPUs in the mid-1990s, you may remember the OverDrive processors. Intel sold 486, Pentium and Pentium II OverDrive processors as upgrades for older CPUs.

486 OverDrive processors used a write-back cache instead of the write-through cache of normal 486s, and came in two varieties: ODPR for normal 168 pin 486 sockets, and ODP 169 pin versions that required a Socket 1/2/3 ZIF socket. There were DX2 50, DX2 66, DX4 75 and DX4 100 models of both types. My former high school allowed me to remove and keep twelve DX2ODPR66 486 OverDrive processors from computers they were throwing out many years ago.

Pentium OverDrive processors were available for 486 sockets, which basically gave you a Pentium that ran at either 63 (25 x 2.5) or 83 (33 x 2.5) MHz. There was a Pentium OverDrive for the original Socket 4 motherboards that had a clock multiplier of 2, allowing users of the obsolete Pentium 60 and 66 CPUs to upgrade to 120/133 MHz. There were also Pentium OverDrive processors for the more common Socket 5/7 motherboards running at 125 (50 x 2.5), 150 (60 x 2.5) and 166 (66 x 2.5) MHz, and MMX versions running at 150 (60 x 2.5), 166 (66 x 2.5), 180 (60 x 3) and 200 (66 x 3) MHz. I'm not sure how they improved performance versus non-OverDrive Pentiums, but the most likely answer is that they used write-back cache instead of write-through.

Finally, there was a Pentium II OverDrive for Socket 8 to upgrade Pentium Pro computers. Whereas the Pentium Pro had topped out at 200 MHz, the Pentium II OverDrive used a 5x multiplier to run at 300/333 MHz, and added support for MMX instructions which had been missing from the Pentium Pro. It only came with 512 KB of L2 cache, but I'd wager that a 333 MHz Pentium II with 512 KB of L2 cache would whup a 200 MHz Pentium Pro with 1 MB of L2 cache, even in applications that didn't support MMX.


I mention all of this because, while cleaning, I found a boxed Intel Pentium OverDrive PODP5V83! That's the one that turns a 486 into a Pentium 83, and might be the most powerful CPU to ever run in a 486 socket! I'm pretty sure that I bought it at a garage sale, but I had never opened the (previously opened) box. It has a Compucentre price tag, covered by another price tag for $399.00, which is partially covered by a "SPECIAL" price tag reducing the price to $299.99. I was really thrilled to rediscover this item, and I decided to remove the CPU and add it to my collection. Inside I found a CPU with a heat sink already attached, and there was no writing on the bottom of the CPU. The heat sink slid off quite easily, being held in place only by thermal paste. Upon removing the heat sink, I could make "AMD" and "X2-66". It was a freaking Am486 DX2-66!

I was crushed. The presumably super rare CPU that I had paid for was an ultra-common Am486 DX2-66. It would get added to the pile of duplicate AMD 486s that I already can't rid of on Craigslist, Kijiji and UsedEverywhere. I then cleaned off the thermal paste and... WTF? It was an Am486 SX2-66! Are you kidding me? I've never even seen an SX2 processor before, even from Intel! I even questioned their existence until I found photos of them online.

So, it was not the rare CPU that I thought it was, but at least it was another rare CPU. I don't know which one is harder to find, but either one is better than a freaking DX2 66. What a weird morning.

[leilei]

I thought the Cyrix5x86-133 was the most powerful CPU available for Socket3?