I was checking out ebay for servers and came across several xeon listings for under $200 where the die shield is marked intel confidential. However, the cpu-z shows the specific model number which is basically a part that would retail for over $1000 (E5 2650 v3)
Would you buy?
Honestly, if you need to ask if its a good idea, then it isn't. There are generally weird problems that pop up with samples.
However if $200 isn't a crippling amount for you and you think $200 is worth the risk, then go for it and tell us how it turns out
Ed
I actually purchased a xeon e5 2670 v3 ES a couple weeks ago. It runs perfectly fine in my MSI x99 sli plus mobo. It gets cooled by a corsair h110i and never even hits 60 c.
I do not have any problems at all with this particular chip at least.
Running an E5-2660 V3 engineering sample in the ASRock X99E-ITX without any problems.
Most of these chips are just slightly off-spec of what they compare to, but they are still fine.
It's amusing to expand the Processors section in device manager and 16 entries pop up on the screen :)
Admittedly not very fast cores but for ~$150 I paid still a very versatile and frugal CPU. E5 2630 v3 @ 2.0GHz per core.
As above said just don't get angry if you see goofy issues and cannot use.