Other Problems

As mentioned earlier, ES processors that are not based on the B0 stepping are not free from problems. Many are plagued with hidden problems that may or may not be apparent when you run them. Let's go through some of them.

Poor Overclockability

Although they have a reputation for being fearsome overclockers, that is really a fallacy. It may have been true for Pentium 4 ES processors but it's no longer true for Core 2 ES processors. Experience overclockers will tell you that most ES processors have poor overclocking potential. This is very likely due to the fact that some parts of the processor may be damaged as a result of the strenuous test processes they underwent. It is also possible that they were selected from poorer silicon examples.

While retail and OEM Core 2 processors have no problem scaling past 150% of their official clock speeds, this is a problem for the ES units. Take for example, this Core 2 Duo E6600 ES processor. It runs at the standard clock speed of 2.4 GHz just fine, which is great if you do not want to overclock. But if you are an overclocker, you will be greatly disappointed to find that it will not even hit 2.7 GHz.

It's no use changing coolers. Heat is not the problem. We tried using even the vaunted Zalman CNPS9700LED heatpipe cooler but the processor just wouldn't run any faster. So, if you are an overclocker, an ES processor may not be quite the bargain you expected it to be.

Even if you have great success overclocking your ES processor, it is possible that the processor may be unstable at certain times, or with certain usage patterns. It is therefore important for you to stress-test the ES processor using software utilities like ORTHOS or OCCT. We usually run the Small FFT test in ORTHOS for 12 hours, which is more than enough to confirm the stability of the processor at a particular clock speed.

Substandard Clock Speed

Although we cannot be sure how many of such processors are out there in circulation, we have a Core 2 Duo E6300 ES processor that runs at just 600 MHz! No matter what we did, it just wouldn't clock up to the correct clock speed of 1.866 GHz.

As you can imagine, running at about a third of the actual clock speed was not fun at all. But a novice might not notice the performance lag, especially if s/he is only running simple office applications and games that do not require a lot of processing power.

It is also hard for the novice to detect such a processor because it is recognized as a Core 2 Duo E6300 when it boots up. The BIOS screen did state that the processor was only running at 600 MHz, but most novices will not notice it or even understand the significance.

Single Core

Believe it or not, the same E6300 processor mentioned above also had its second processing core disabled. Instead of running both of its processing cores at 600 MHz, it actually has a single core running at 600 MHz. Imagine just how much slower the processor is running not only at a slower clock speed, but also with only one processing core active.

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