AMD's Phenom II X4 TWKR 42 processor is indeed a desirable piece. For even twice the price of commercial Phenom II X4 chips, it has the potential to create demand, given the market segment it would be catering to, but picture this: one of these chips went under the hammer for a whopping US $11,600! That's right, enough money to buy a gold bar over twice its size and weight, a decent sedan, or pretty much anything you can do with 11 grand. Xbit Labs notes that this is probably the highest price ever paid for a commercially-available microprocessor. The Phenom II X4 TWKR 42 is an enthusiast-oriented part. Only 100 of these are made till date, out of which, only two went on sale.

This TWKR part went for auction on Ebay at a starting price of $1. What soon followed was that 37 bidders placed 80 bids, sky-rocketing its price to $11,600 before being sold. The auction was conducted by members of AMD's facility in Austin USA, which had a charity angle to it. 100% of its sale amount would be donated to Family Eldercare, an organisation that provides essential services for elders, adults with disabilities and those who care for them. Phenom II X4 TWKR is derived from binning of AMD's high-performance Phenom II X4 processor, which facilitates record-setting overclocking. There's another chip open for bidding on Ebay, at the time of posting this article, it was poised at $1,050.