[cathode]

I purchased a PC from a gentleman on craigslist today with an unknown configuration. For $50, i got a power supply, a nice aluminum chieftec case with a side window, an intel motherboard, two intel cpus, two copper-fin cpu coolers, and two memory modules. Not a bad deal...

Here's where things get wonky. The memory is installed on riser cards:


The motherboard appears to be some sort of prototype or engineering sample. It's marked "NOT FOR RESALE", and "NOT FCC APPROVED", and at the bottom it says (click to view full size to read text):


Here's a shot of the BIOS:


I booted the system using a HDD that already had XBMCbuntu installed on it, and the system shows up as having eight cores, so there are two quad-core chips @ 3.2ghz. Here's the output of 'cat /proc/cpuinfo':



Does anyone know what the heck this is?

 

[richie_2010]

Is that boot codes in the corner ive never seen them on older boards.

 

[cathode]

Quote:

Originally Posted by richie_2010

Is that boot codes in the corner ive never seen them on older boards.

It appears to be a POST code indicator that changes to a display of CPU temperature, similar to other enthusiast boards.

Regarding the CPUs, they are completely blank, no laser etchings at all, and had handwritten "Clover G1", "3.2", and "1600" on them, referring to the 3.2ghz and 1600mhz FSB most likely. Clover G1 is probably the core / stepping.

Also i forgot to mention... this board boots to an EFI command line shell by default.

 

[richie_2010]

Clover is atom processors and intel pearlcity is in hawyi. So I think thers es of atom processors

 

[cathode]

I'm going to do a horrible thing and necro this thread because I still have yet to find any information (even through a friend of mine who is interning at intel). I'm debating putting it up on ebay for auction but I have no idea of it's value. Although spec-wise it's still very keep-able, eight cores @ 3.2ghz even though it's older core-2 era (i think), still nothing to scoff at.

EDIT: It's definitely *NOT* an Atom processor.

 

[BiG StroOnZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cathode

I'm going to do a horrible thing and necro this thread because I still have yet to find any information (even through a friend of mine who is interning at intel). I'm debating putting it up on ebay for auction but I have no idea of it's value. Although spec-wise it's still very keep-able, eight cores @ 3.2ghz even though it's older core-2 era (i think), still nothing to scoff at.

EDIT: It's definitely *NOT* an Atom processor.

Why dont you run some Cinebench 11.5 and R15 runs to see where it stacks up. Post the results too.

 

[jimhall100]

I had stopped looking for info on the Pearl city workstation, but today I decided to search again, and found your post. I actually have 2 of them, but according to your specs mine must be a little bit older. Mine only have 1 cpu per board (2.83 each but I can put dual cpu's), and I also have riser boards for the memory (only 1 gig each, but can put a lot more). I've thought about putting Linux on one just to see what happens, but I had to move, and with working full time and going to school i just haven't had time to get back to experimenting. Post again if you are still looking, or if you found some info please. Maybe we can figure it out. Thanks, jim

 

[cathode]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimhall100

I had stopped looking for info on the Pearl city workstation, but today I decided to search again, and found your post. I actually have 2 of them, but according to your specs mine must be a little bit older. Mine only have 1 cpu per board (2.83 each but I can put dual cpu's), and I also have riser boards for the memory (only 1 gig each, but can put a lot more). I've thought about putting Linux on one just to see what happens, but I had to move, and with working full time and going to school i just haven't had time to get back to experimenting. Post again if you are still looking, or if you found some info please. Maybe we can figure it out. Thanks, jim

Nice! where did you get yours if i may ask? My board has been sitting in storage, basically since the last post i made in April... I just now decided to get it out and try and use it for something. Right now i've got freebsd 10 installed on it but I can't seem to get the CPU fans to reduce their speed. Have you had any luck with that?

Also, where do you think I should look if i wanted to get additional riser boards for memory?

 

[jimhall100]

I bought mine from a refurbishing company here in San Diego named MCT, but since then they have closed their doors (except for there corporate customers). I did try to obtain more information from them about the P/C workstations, but they had nothing. As for the riser boards, I haven't found anything online about them, but I did come across a source for more memory once (I'm not sure if it's still available or not?). I haven't tried to do anything with the fans (white noise), but yes they do sound like a box fan on high. I would take a closer look in the BIOS to see if there is a setting that maybe auto-adjusts the fans, but it is a 700W power supply so I don't know how much it would help. Like you, I purchased mine, checked them out, and since then they've been gathering dust (too busy). If you want you can email me directly at [email protected] (put Pearlcity workstation in the subject).

 

[Tjj226 Angel]

Found it.

http://server.it168.com/server2008/intelvedio/SP08_VIRS002_100r_chi.pdf

Hit control+f then type in pearlcity

It is a development kit.

It looks to me like you have some really nice Xeon 5400 cpus.

 

[GoDucks2014]

First the CPU, Family 6 (06H), Model 15 (0FH), stepping 11 (0BH) = Core 2 Quad Q6700 which makes the frequency reported. BUT Clovertown is the Xeon family that came out opposite Core 2 Quad. The one that matches 2.66GHz (which it reports on your screen under "CPU MHz" (which doesn't jive with the "@ 3.2GHZ". And looking at those heatsinks, they scream LGA 771 server heatsinks to me. BUT The Xeon X5355 (Xeon Equivelent to the Q6700) is Family 6, Model 15, stepping 7. Either that's an unusual dual LGA 775 setup and the CPUID info that the program is reporting is correct, OR the program is reporting incorrect info and those are two Clovertown X5355's. Interesting though, there is no "G1" stepping for either.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/Intel-Core%202%20Quad%20Q6700%20HH80562PH0678MK%20(BX80562Q6700).html

That motherboard on the other hand, the mem riser looks like an FB DIMM riser which you can check by looking at the pins. The notch on FB DIMM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fully_Buffered_DIMM) is right after trace 68 instead of 64 on DDR2.


This again points to a server motherboard and more likely a LGA 771 than a 775 socket.

It would be great if we could get more info like bus speed etc. to help narrow it down. Is it reporting 8 cores? or 4?

Edit - There is another possible suspect. Which might fit if you're reading some of the writing a little off or the person who wrote it was close but incorrect. The Xeon 5060 is a netburst based dual core Xeon running at 3.2GHz. The C1 stepping consists of QKIC and QMOP which are listed as engineering/qualification samples as well as SL96A. They have 4MB L2 Cache (fits what's reported in your screen) operate at 3.2GHz (fits what's listed on your screen) and the two of them will give you 4 cores (fits what's listed on your screen). The FSB for the 5060 is 1066 though not 1600. It would fit if the person wrote 1600 instead of 1066 and G1 instead of C1.

 

[Tjj226 Angel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoDucks2014

First the CPU, Family 6 (06H), Model 15 (0FH), stepping 11 (0BH) = Core 2 Quad Q6700 which makes the frequency reported. BUT Clovertown is the Xeon family that came out opposite Core 2 Quad. The one that matches 2.66GHz (which it reports on your screen under "CPU MHz" (which doesn't jive with the "@ 3.2GHZ". And looking at those heatsinks, they scream LGA 771 server heatsinks to me. BUT The Xeon X5355 (Xeon Equivelent to the Q6700) is Family 6, Model 15, stepping 7. Either that's an unusual dual LGA 775 setup and the CPUID info that the program is reporting is correct, OR the program is reporting incorrect info and those are two Clovertown X5355's. Interesting though, there is no "G1" stepping for either.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/Intel-Core%202%20Quad%20Q6700%20HH80562PH0678MK%20(BX80562Q6700).html

That motherboard on the other hand, the mem riser looks like an FB DIMM riser which you can check by looking at the pins. The notch on FB DIMM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fully_Buffered_DIMM) is right after trace 68 instead of 64 on DDR2.


This again points to a server motherboard and more likely a LGA 771 than a 775 socket.

It would be great if we could get more info like bus speed etc. to help narrow it down. Is it reporting 8 cores? or 4?

You are close.

They are Harpertown chips.

Here is a whole thing about them.

http://techreport.com/review/13224/intel-stoakley-platform-and-45nm-xeons

If I am reading this right, it is like a clovertown refresh.

 

[GoDucks2014]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tjj226 Angel

You are close.

They are Harpertown chips.

Here is a whole thing about them.

http://techreport.com/review/13224/intel-stoakley-platform-and-45nm-xeons

If I am reading this right, it is like a clovertown refresh.

Good catch. Everything fits, except the cache reported. It's showing as 4MB in his screenshot. Harpertown is 2x6MB. Misreported?

 

[iinversion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoDucks2014

Good catch. Everything fits, except the cache reported. It's showing as 4MB in his screenshot. Harpertown is 2x6MB. Misreported?

It only makes sense that it would be 2x 4MB not only 4MB since the Clovertown chips have 2x 4MB L2 cache and the Harpertown has 2x 6MB as you pointed out.. so I guess it would have to be misreported.

The chips seem to be X5355's. In the screenshot it says the CPU is running at 2.66GHz and not 3.2GHz as it is labeled.

 

[GoDucks2014]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iinversion

It only makes sense that it would be 2x 4MB not only 4MB since the Clovertown chips have 2x 4MB L2 cache and the Harpertown has 2x 6MB as you pointed out.. so I guess it would have to be misreported.

The chips seem to be X5355's. In the screenshot it says the CPU is running at 2.66GHz and not 3.2GHz as it is labeled.

They might just be underclocked x5482's because they're in Idle. Harpertown does support "Intel Demand Based Switching" and EIST. Doesn't explain the 4MB instead of 12MB though

 

[iinversion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoDucks2014

They might just be underclocked x5482's because they're in Idle. Harpertown does support "Intel Demand Based Switching" and EIST. Doesn't explain the 4MB instead of 12MB though

If that's the case then I guess we're back to why it only reports 4MB of cache. Hmmmmmmm

You also gotta wonder why they had Clover written on them if they are Harper chips..

 

[GoDucks2014]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iinversion

If that's the case then I guess we're back to why it only reports 4MB of cache. Hmmmmmmm

You also gotta wonder why they had Clover written on them if they are Harper chips..

Possible they wrote that because Harpertown is supposed to be a Clovertown "refresh". But then again, why do the family, model and stepping match up with a Core 2 Quad?

 

[martingal]

Hi there,

I happen to have a very similar Intel motherboard also labelled 'Pearl CIty Advanced Development Platform'.
I have a riser card with 2 x 2GB RAM.

I have no use for this hardware. Let me know if you'd be interested to buy parts and/or trade it for something else.

Thanks,

Martin