Fake Pentium PPGA 200 MHz processors

[gshv]

I found two Pentium processors that looked strange to me, you see both of the on the left:

http://www.cpu-world.com/images/forum/FakeP200f.jpg

Both processors had polished top, and bad quality of hologram, "Intel Pentium" and "i200" markings. The processor on the right is real Pentium 200, and you can see the top is not polished, and markings have much better quality. Well, this alone does not prove that processors are fakes, so take a look at the bottom:

http://www.cpu-world.com/images/forum/FakeP200b.jpg

The left processor had a sticker on the bottom, and after removing it - surprise, surprise! - some paint was removed as well revealing part of original "Intel Pentium" logo. I removed more paint manually, but decided not to remove all of it. It's already clear how the processor was remarked. The old markings with "i166" on the lid were sanded off, then the lid was polished and new "i200" and other markings were engraved. The markings on the bottom were painted over with black paint, and then new fake markings were printed. The second processor doesn't have paint on the bottom, but the central bottom part is much thicker than on real Pentium. It looks like the old markings are hidden under thin layer of plastic or material similar to one used in real processor. Hologram on the bottom of both fake processors has much lower quality the the hologram on real Pentium.

Gennadiy

[fRaSsL]

Very interesting! I only have a relabeled i386DX.

[gshv]

This weekend I sorted out a lot of Pentium chips, and found two strange looking Pentium processors. Their surface felt more like paint or some kind of coating than real ceramic, so I used a knife to see if it was a paint or not. The result you see below:



Both processors had real markings hidden under the coating, and in both cases it looks like somebody used similar technology and font to remark the chips. As you can see from the picture, even though I removed the coating, new markings are still visible as well as old ones. Quality of "Intel Pentium" logo is slightly worse than on the real Pentium chip.

Genna

[Trogdor]

Why would someone take the time to do this?

[fRaSsL]

Because you can earn much money with this Pentium 120 -> 500$ and Pentium 133 -> 1000$. (just an example).

[gshv]

I found these prices for Pentium chips in 1995:

Jun Sep
Pentium 133 - $935 $685
Pentium 120 - $685 $545
Pentium 100 - $470 $370
Pentium 90 - $375 $272
Pentium 75 - $255 $150

This information was in advanced Intel pricing document published in April 1995, so it may be incorrect. Also, these prices are for 1000 unit orders, in many cases street prices were lower than that.

Now, back to the fake processors. Using a knife and acetone I removed most of the new markings except the part number on the Pentium 120 chip:



Well, the real processor had iComp index 610 and sSpec number SX969, i.e it's a Pentium 75! Now, look at the pricing information above and you'll see that somebody pocketed $400 by remarking this chip. It'd be interesting to see what is the real speed of "Pentium 133". I'll do it tonight and post here.

Genna

[gshv]

This time I decided not to clear new markings completely, so you can see both old and new markings:



This processor was remarked from Pentium 120 (SY062) to Pentium 133 (SY022).

Genna

[Guest]

[quote="gshv"]I found these prices for Pentium chips in 1995:

Jun Sep
Pentium 133 - $935 $685
Pentium 120 - $685 $545
Pentium 100 - $470 $370
Pentium 90 - $375 $272
Pentium 75 - $255 $150

This information was in advanced Intel pricing document published in April 1995, so it may be incorrect. Also, these prices are for 1000 unit orders, in many cases street prices were lower than that.

Now, back to the fake processors. Using a knife and acetone I removed most of the new markings except the part number on the Pentium 120 chip:

[JAC]

My fake ceramic pentium is nearly 1mm thinner than a genuine ceramic pentium. It looks like they used a sander, removed the markings, and applied the new one. It looks very professional.

[jd]

Wow man.......should'nt someone get sued here? !!!










Glin

[jd]

This IS very interesting, because I just observed my 4 P133 and notice that one is very different from the others.


All 4 P133 are SY022 A80502133

But, instead of all 4 having the Icomp (circle r) 2 #=111
, One chip has this Icomp Index=1100 and is like Jac said mising about 1mm of thickness + is faded compared to others....






Glin

[sammyc]

This is very interesting part of collecting I think.

[jd]

Yup, I do have to agree there !
Wonder who has the oldest fake?










Glin

[JAC]

[Marcin]

Very interesting topic. I suspect most remarked models were on 60 MHz FSB - that was easy to install and gave 100% sure to cheater - 100% stabil system.