68040 Engineering Sample CPU

Here's a few pictures of an early 25Mhz 68040 Cube motherboard that I recently acquired that shipped from the NeXT factory with an engineering sample CPU.  I noticed the odd markings on the CPU and decided to look into what it meant.  According to CPU World (http://www.cpu-world.com/info/id/Motorola-identification.html#68020__68030__68040__68060__68881_and_68882) the "PC" prefix of the part number indicates a Motorola engineering sample.  I also noticed that the part number is missing the CPU speed rating.  I've seen pictures of another cube that had a sample CPU, so the NeXT technicians must have used engineering samples occasionally for production units.

Nice pics!  Thanks for sharing.

Using up engineering samples was probably one of the few cost-saving measures that NeXT ever implemented. :)

Is a cube with an engineering sample "worth" more then a regular cube?  Are they pretty rare and sought after?   Reason I ask is because I found one but they are asking quite alot for it...  Wanted to know if they are RARE

Quote from: "sdinet"Is a cube with an engineering sample "worth" more then a regular cube?  Are they pretty rare and sought after?   Reason I ask is because I found one but they are asking quite alot for it...  Wanted to know if they are RARE

I would doubt it - I think I have a couple, although I'd have to check to make sure.  The cubes tend to be expensive no matter what CPU is in them...

I was going through my cubes and I found something similar, though the mounting is unusual because it has a clip-on heatsink that actually rubs on the power supply when installed.