Intel CPU steppings

[tgxiii]

This is probly stupid, but I've never heard of steppings before. I was reading through the Traders Forum and saw a thread about P4 processors and someone wanted a specific stepping. What is that all about, exactly?

[VHockey86]

I think it refers to like the revision of the intel chip

[tgxiii]

I kinda guessed that much, but I was wondering what the difference was between each stepping.

From what I can gather, certain steppings can OC better than others. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Overclocked412]

lol. I was just reading that thread and was gonna make a new one about what it is. Try emailign that guy and asking?

[Overclocked412]

I emailed that guy in that other thread. Heres his response: Nice to know.
----------------------------------------
Well sure why not . Basically this new 2.4c w/ SL6Z3 stepping was most
likely a flawed chip from the 3.2 Extreme Edition Chip ($1000). Not sure if
that is true, but I think they were just like testing chips. These therefor
are in short supply because they don't make 2.4 chips anymore. The stepping
before that was SL6WF I am pretty sure. You could get that one to OC to
about 3.0ghz on air I think. With the new stepping and the right setup, for
example a SP-94 Heatsink and a Thermaltake SmartFanII w/ Articsilver5
thermal paste you could probably get to 3.6 - 3.7 at least on air with no
voltage change! It is amazing! Anyways you can get some places to actually
hand pick them for you, and you can also get one by luck. All 2.4c sale at
the same price, you could just be one of the lucky ones that gets one. Now
at newegg there has been a lot of people get this stepping lately, or you
can be garruanteed one at pcavailable for about $170 shipped 2 day air. Now
since this may be a flawed 3.2 Extreme Edition chips, then just maybe there
is some way in making this $150 chip into a $1000 chip. I am sure there are
people out there trying to figure it out, but there is no telling. There are
a few reviews in some forums about this. Here is a good one that I found
pretty interesting. Check it out:
http://www.tweaknews.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1264 There is some good
information here. To check your stepping look at the product code on the box
and at the end, should be the last five letters and numbers, it should say
what stepping your processor has. The difference in stepping is just
basically a way of telling if there was a big revision or small revision in
that chip. I hope you found this information useful.

-Seth

ORIGINAL MESSAGE
>From: "Overclocked412" <Overclocked412@NOSPAM-aol.com>
>To: SilentButDeadly31@NOSPAM-hotmail.com
>Subject: SL6Z3 stepping
>Date: 6 Jan 2004 18:09:19 -0000
>
>Hi, I was reading your fourm, and you said SL6Z3 stepping gives better
>oc'ing. Could you explain steppings and how SL6Z3 is better? :-)

[tgxiii]

Aah... nice to know. Thanks!

[Xtreeme]

The stepping changes as they tweak the fab to get more mhz. Its like chapters to a book.