Leo reached for the power cord. But his hand stopped mid-air. On the tab, a new processor feature had appeared: Thermal Monitor 3 (TM3) - Enabled . That feature didn’t exist on this chip.

Just the quiet hum of fans, the flow of voltage, and the watchful green columns of a utility that sees more than it should.

The HWMonitor window flickered. Then, a new value appeared under the section—not a sensor reading, but a processor identification field: Family 6 Model 85 Stepping 4 . Standard Intel Xeon.

Leo yanked the plug.