Since 1994, c't reports about counterfeit processors being sold in ever changing varieties. The current wave mainly consists of Pentium-II-233 or Pentium-II-266, sold with forged Casing as 300-MHz-versions. In this case, there's the unique chance to expose the Frauds through software.
Andreas Stiller, editor at c't, developed a test program which makes you able to examine your computer by yourself. ctP2infw determines the internal configuration of the Pentium II and shows, whether error correction (ECC) exists and whether it's enabled. This way, over clocked and potentially forged Pentium-II-300 can be exposed.
Trues 300-MHz-processors always have ECC, according to the Intel specification (Intel Pentium II Specification Update, Intel #243337), 266's and 233's do not. There are (seldom) cases where 266-MHz-processors are equipped with ECC. But they are much too expensive and therefore are not lucrative for the forgers. When the program detects a Pentium II without ECC, running at 300 MHz, it displays a warning message.
Pentium-II-Deschutes-processors running at 333 MHz and more always work with ECC. Therefore, there's no possibility to distinguish a counterfeit 350-MHz-processor from a Cheaper 333-MHz-version.
Download it:
Ctp2infw.exe
