On Sat, Aug 25, 2001 at 11:13:00PM -0500, nick lidakis wrote: > What exactly is cpu stepping? I just realized that my dual cpu's have > different stepping, one is 6 and the other 10. These CPU's were > purchased on the same day. I can't seem to find any relevant info when I > tried a google search.
I typed 'CPU stepping' into google and this was the seventh link: http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=6 A stepping is a revision of silicon - to be more precise it refers to a change to the mask used to manufacture the chip. This change can for any number of different reasons: to improve bin split (frequency), to fix errata (ie. bugs), to improve yield, to solve an electrical issue and other misc. reasons. [...] The most important point to remember about steppings is that you shouldn't mix them in a SMP (multi-processor) system. If you have one 733MHz Pentium III cB0 CPU, and you want to add in another to make a dual-processor setup, then I strongly recommend getting another 733MHz Pentium III cB0, and not putting in a 733MHz Pentium III cA2 or a cC0 instead. Intel does, however, support mixed steppings for Dual Processing operation for certain Pentium IIIs. Full details, along with the Mixed Stepping Matrix, are contained in the Intel Pentium III Specification Update. -- Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
