Old CPUs in retail packaging \ VOGONS

Old CPUs in retail packaging

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First post, by seanneko

Posted on 2016-09-05, 08:20

seanneko Offline

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I've taken up collecting old CPUs which are still in their original retail box, for example, this 486 overdrive:

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTuRX-kI-IL21X1OOwZQ5e6N2ZV28n-OBZaznDqsneOmjdgBoT4Nk5ZkmWoyg

Did standard (non overdrive) CPUs come in retail boxes back then, or were they only delivered to OEMs? What's the oldest Intel CPU that came in this sort of packaging?

From what I can gather, everything from Pentium onwards came in retail boxes, although which Pentium specifically I'm not sure (socket 4, etc).

Reply 1 of 6, by Trank

Posted on 2016-09-05, 08:39

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I don't think regular 486s came in retail boxes. I have never seen one, or a picture of one ever.

Reply 2 of 6, by Logistics

Posted on 2016-09-05, 13:22

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Sure enough; I looked on cpu-world, and all the 486's come up as OEM/tray, no boxed versions.

Reply 3 of 6, by debs3759

Posted on 2016-09-05, 13:58

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Some 387s and 386 overdrives (Cyrix 486 SLC/DLC clones) came in retail packaging.

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

Reply 4 of 6, by squareguy

Posted on 2016-09-05, 15:19

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Well I know for a fact that Intel Pentium 200 MMX CPUs came in a retail box with heat sink, fan, power cable, sticker and literature. I know because I have one. That is the earliest non-overdrive, non-math co-processor in a retail box that I can say with 100% certainty.

Gateway 2000 Case and 200-Watt PSU
Intel SE440BX-2 Motherboard
Intel Pentium III 450 CPU
Micron 384MB SDRAM (3x128)
Compaq Voodoo3 3500 TV Graphics Card
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card
Western Digital 7200-RPM, 8MB-Cache, 160GB Hard Drive
Windows 98 SE

Reply 5 of 6, by seanneko

Posted on 2016-09-06, 00:36

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There's someone on ebay selling brand new Pentium 133s in the retail box. Pity they want US$95 for them (+ $140 shipping to Australia?!). Good luck with that.

Reply 6 of 6, by leileilol

Posted on 2016-09-06, 01:03

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IIRC i've seen a 486 in a tight plastic blisterpack with a floppy disk, though can't remember if it was AMD or Cyrix. That's the only non-Intel old CPu packaging beyond plain cardboard boxes I can recall right now

long live PCem