Thousands of cheap 64-core AMD EPYC CPUs have gone on sale on eBay, Aliexpress

[BreakingDad]

Thousands of cheap 64-core AMD EPYC CPUs have gone on sale on eBay, Aliexpress

Are Chinese hyperscalers having a fire sale, or is there something else happening?

www.techradar.com

Interesting, not for me, but interesting.

 

[sfx2000]

I see that - concern with EPYC chips is the vendor locking via the AMD PSB function...

AMD PSB - Google Suche

 

[BreakingDad]

I see that - concern with EPYC chips is the vendor locking via the AMD PSB function...

AMD PSB - Google Suche

This locking down everything, including windows TPM is off concern. The vendors are claiming "security" when we all know the reality is "walled garden".

Technically MS could lock you out should they take a dislike to you.

 

[sfx2000]

This locking down everything, including windows TPM is off concern. The vendors are claiming "security" when we all know the reality is "walled garden".

Yeah - I see things in a similar perspective.

That being said - Xeon's and Epyc's are very different in purpose compared to desktop processors, and there, in the server environment, some customers want (or need) supply chain security.

At least they're not locked to the actual board they are first installed on - that would be really bad, IMHO...

 

[RMerlin]

At least they're not locked to the actual board they are first installed on - that would be really bad, IMHO...

You mean like AMD and Lenovo did with the Threadripper Pro...

 

[sfx2000]

You mean like AMD and Lenovo did with the Threadripper Pro...

It's mostly Lenovo - AMD has the functionality, Lenovo is just making use of it - from everything I've read - one can swap within the vendor, even across platforms - but can't, for example, drop a lenovo Epyc/Threadripper/Ryzen into a Dell..

Yes - Lenovo is locking Ryzen in their corp desktops...

HP Enterprise and Dell-EMC are also locking - makes it a bit risky when buying a second hand chip off the marketplaces (eBay, Criagslist, Alibaba, etc)

 

[RMerlin]

It's mostly Lenovo - AMD has the functionality, Lenovo is just making use of it - from everything I've read - one can swap within the vendor, even across platforms - but can't, for example, drop a lenovo Epyc/Threadripper/Ryzen into a Dell..

Yes - Lenovo is locking Ryzen in their corp desktops...

HP Enterprise and Dell-EMC are also locking - makes it a bit risky when buying a second hand chip off the marketplaces (eBay, Criagslist, Alibaba, etc)

These anti-consummer practices are also resulting in more unnecessary e-waste. Not being able to reuse a $2000 CPU elsewhere if the motherboard hosting it dies is stupid and completely unnecessary.

 

[sfx2000]

These anti-consummer practices are also resulting in more unnecessary e-waste. Not being able to reuse a $2000 CPU elsewhere if the motherboard hosting it dies is stupid and completely unnecessary.

And those CPU's boomeranging back into the market to the next unsuspecting buyer...

 

[eightiescalling]

These anti-consummer practices are also resulting in more unnecessary e-waste. Not being able to reuse a $2000 CPU elsewhere if the motherboard hosting it dies is stupid and completely unnecessary.

While I agree with the sentiment, and think any company considering their ESG rating should be asking "how do I unlock these for reuse when I'm done" there is another reality that certain elements are simply destroyed at that point in theirblifeon the grounds of security. (It's a more obvious one to justify but I'm sure several of the regulars on this thread are familiar with what is basically a shredder for disks.)

Ultimately the longer a component can serve the better for everyone - I've mentioned a few times about the 10 year+ setup I have and have no plans to change it. New components means more environmental impact - extraction, refining, production. All consumes resources that don't need to be consumed.

 

[BreakingDad]

Talking of HP, they have started locking down their ink - again, apparently it's illegal and they got fined hugely last time.