Engineering Sample Rare Intel 486SXSF33 CPU

That's cool but not that cool. This is coming from someone with a nice display case of a bunch of different vendors versions of 486 chips.
 
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I'm a bit of a processor collector, but I wouldn't spend any real money on ancient CPUs.
 
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Is that really an engineering sample or just a marketing sample?

Edit: Google fa80486sx33

If you look at the pictures, there are quite a few with the same exact markings, even mounted to boards.

Looks to me like it is just a marketing sample.
 
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I'm not sure. I didn't really deal with engineering sample CPU's prior to the Pentium 4 era where they started marking them as "ES" chips.
 
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this seems to be just a "sample" in general... marketing sample
 
This is either a marketing sample or a sample for 3rd party board vendors using integrated chips. I'm pretty sure it's the finalized product you can get for pennies otherwise, ignoring the box. I used to have a non-working 486DX 33 engineering sample that I stupidly parted with for just a few bucks, it had "internal use only" etched right into the lid.

You can get any 486SX and it will have that same model number on it.

Note: I'm no expert, just somebody who has been through tons of 486 era hardware.
 
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erek said:
this seems to be just a "sample" in general... marketing sample
Click to expand...

I have never heard of a "marketing sample." Technically, review CPU's come from a companies marketing / PR department. These chips are always marked "ES" if they are from Intel. This is the case whether they are for QVL testing, PR demos or reviews. This has been the case for more than the 14 years I have been reviewing hardware. However, I am not certain this was always the case.
 
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p24-66

20_front.jpg


Here is a picture of one like I'm talking about. My DX 33 had the same internal samples only along with a few short markings, nothing like the finalized product. The one on ebay has the same exact "fa80486sx33" that's on the final product.

Actually, the part where it just says "SF" is a bit unusual, mine has a number on it. "SX673"

This is all I can find about s-spec numbers:
https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/intel/s-spec
 
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They stopped doing that by the Pentium IV era. Everything from that point onward was marked "ES". I think Intel marks CPU's as "Engineering Samples or ES" for any CPU not meant for resale aside from those used in the Intel Retail Edge program. Those had "Not for Resale" printed on the box labels, but were actually retail products otherwise.
 
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Mode13 said:
p24-66

View attachment 158064

Here is a picture of one like I'm talking about. My DX 33 had the same internal samples only along with a few short markings, nothing like the finalized product. The one on ebay has the same exact "fa80486sx33" that's on the final product.

Actually, the part where it just says "SF" is a bit unusual, mine has a number on it. "SX673"

This is all I can find about s-spec numbers:
https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/intel/s-spec
Click to expand...

OMG that chip is so 80s looking.. Like it's all kung fury'ed out. XD
 
Flexion said:
OMG that chip is so 80s looking.. Like it's all kung fury'ed out. XD
Click to expand...

haha try not to have too many flashbacks involving big hair, make up, and ceramic processors :p


oh and loud MFM hard drives and 5.25" floppys werrrr werrrr werrrr werrrrrr :::failed to read from drive A: (A)bort (R)etry (F)ail!!:::
 
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