If they existed (big if) they must have been very early ones. I don't think any you could ever buy were SECC 1. I suppose there might have been engineering or validation sample that used the old cartridge, or maybe the very first production batch going to OEMs. If they exist they must exceptionally rare.

I have never seen them either

Seems like Pentium III 450MHz SL38E and 500MHz SL38F were SECC. Never knew the existed myself, but I also think it's an OEM part.

Apparently they weren't even original; they flat out reused the Pentium II's cartridge without altering the name of the processor and just slapped the new specs and code on it.

I wonder why they didnt stuck to the original PII SECC package. SECC2 and its variants doesn't feel as sturdy and there are annoying incompatibilites between PIIIs and brackets

Because SECC2 was cheaper to produce and the heatsink had direct contact with the die, allowing better heat dissipation.

I've got one of these. It's an SL38F / 500 MHz version manufactured in week 6 of 1999. They are OEM-only and were never sold as boxed processors.

The general theory I've read is that they were made early in the PIII production run. The early date on mine, and the early date on the SL38F Kamerat posted would agree with that theory, since they were made in February 1999 about two weeks before the Pentium III launch date. The SL38E you posted was made in July of 1999, so that goes against the theory that they were only made early in the production run. Perhaps there was a specific OEM that had certain thermal or packaging requirements that ordered enough quantity to get intel to make special versions.

Intel did at least forgo the Pentium II markings on them.

Woah, they must really be rare. To go deeper, I hear there were also 400MHz OEM PIII's, but that seems a bit farfetched.

PKFreeZZy wrote:

Woah, they must really be rare. To go deeper, I hear there were also 400MHz OEM PIII's, but that seems a bit farfetched.

I've never heard of a 400 MHz production PIII. I have seen 400 MHz Pentium III engineering samples which were built in both SECC and SECC2 packages. Neither have any valid production S-Specs though. Interestingly, the SECC2 version (Q855) has a 133 MHz bus and 3x multiplier.