I purchased a "NEW" CPU from Ebay.
It was listed as:
Condition: Open box:
Seller Notes:
“Bulk new. Cosmetic blemish, such as scratches and damaged on the PCB. Not used. Not repaired. 100% functional.”
So I took a chance at around 80% off retail price (5.5 years old of course).
It arrived 18 days later exactly as described in the listing. It had scratches on the IHS and a very subtle scratch (More like a scuff) on the Grid array.
Never the less I installed it and it is performing perfectly well as if it were new.
I have only been using it for 2 days as of this writing running test after test, and benchmarks with no issues.
Upgrade Notes:
6-core/12-thread to 10-core/20-thread
22nm to 14nm
15MB L3 cache to 25MB L3 Cache
Turbo Boost 2.0 (3.7GHZ) to Turbo Boost Max 3.0 (4.0GHZ)
Q3'14 to Q2'16
MSRP: $594.00 to MSRP: $1723.00
Cinebench R20:
5960x - 3776
5930k - 3054
CPUz Benchmark:
5960x - 449/5230
5930k - 480/3670
This should hold me over until Intel's Sapphire Rapids HEDT CPU - Raptor Lake, Fishhawk Falls HEDT Platform Q3 of 2022
Tiny scratches on i7-5960x IHS has not affected performance max temp at load 40c, idle 30c
Scuff Marks on LGA Grid i7-5960x, no issues to report with performance.