Intel is initiating a C0 to D0 stepping conversion for Core i7 920

[onethreehill]

Intel also announced a C0 to D0 stepping change for Intel's Core i7 Model 920 only (low end, 8M L3 2.66 GHz 4.8 GT/s LGA1366). This update is fully electrically and mechanically compatible, but will also require a new BIOS update.


The readable ink swatch is now removed in D0 stepping Core i7 CPUs.

From the announcement PDF:

"Intel is initiating a C-0 to D-0 stepping conversion for the Intel® Core™ i7-920 processor where it will undergo the following changes:

o New S-spec and Material Master numbers for the converting products.
o CPUID will change from 0x000106A4 to 0x000106A5.

o The electrical, mechanical and thermal specifications remain within the current specifications. Intel anticipates no changes to customer platforms designed to previous Intel guidelines.

o Readable serial number will be removed from the package ink swatch to fully mitigate the potential risk of the IHS cosmetically overlapping a marked serial number. There is no change to the ULT matrix content which continues to contain the serial number."

Source: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/41273/139/]TGDaily[/url]

[zanzabar]

so are they removing ocability or do they have a bug fix that they are testing

[Zytek_Fan]

so are they removing ocability or do they have a bug fix that they are testing

I'm betting a bug fix, because early steppings are going to always have bugs. (with the severity of these bugs always varying)

[Warboy]

Hmm, I wanna keep tabs on how these develops because I have a 920.

[metro.cl]

*i hope for higher overclocks

[eva2000]

pretty happy with my current i7 920s but interesting to see what D0 brings

[mikeyakame]

By sound of PDF Intel's new stepping is more environmentally friendly than anything else exciting! Halide free

[safan80]

somebody needs to get their hands on one.

[Bo_Fox]

I heard that there will be a 925 that is rated at 75W, compared to 120W for the 920. Also heard that it would be much more expensive for a while.. Maybe I'm getting carried away by the rumors???

[azza21]

Interesting. So how long does it normally take for a new stepping to filter through into the market? Also would they start showing up on retail or OEM versions first?

Reason i'm asking is because i'm getting one in the next 2/3 weeks.

[Shintai]

I heard that there will be a 925 that is rated at 75W, compared to 120W for the 920. Also heard that it would be much more expensive for a while.. Maybe I'm getting carried away by the rumors???

Its just a regular stepping change plus halide removal from the package. There will be no change to numbering or anything else.

Interesting. So how long does it normally take for a new stepping to filter through into the market? Also would they start showing up on retail or OEM versions first?

Reason i'm asking is because i'm getting one in the next 2/3 weeks.

About 1-1½ month. Specially longer now when inventory moves slower due to recession.

[gOJDO]

It would be great if they can reduce power consumption. Current 920's are great OC-ers but once you boost them to 4GHz, they are warming up like a nuclear reactor.

[mikeyakame]

Intel has set date to customer ~ 2nd march 2009. What that probably means is when wholesale customers start receiving chip shipments.

[T_Flight]

This is a great news! New steppings! Let 'em fly Intel. Keep pumping those babies out they rock!

[BlueAqua]

They're probably making them not as overclockable. Seeing all the 920's overclocking as well as the 965's is probably irritating the people who spent 5 times more.

[sabermetrics]

They're probably making them not as overclockable. Seeing all the 920's overclocking as well as the 965's is probably irritating the people who spent 5 times more.

True, though its completely opposite to what Intel has done in the past couple years... a couple examples like

Q6600 B3 -> G0

Q9550 C1 -> E0

E8500 C0 -> E0

It would be strange for Intel to lower performance with a revision of a chip...

[T_Flight]

They're probably making them not as overclockable. Seeing all the 920's overclocking as well as the 965's is probably irritating the people who spent 5 times more.

Really? I've seen an awful lot of problems from people trying to get over 4GHz with 920's. Turbo mode and 20x Multi's are problematic with them. With the right cooling the 965's are much easier to OC...much much easier. See my sig, that was my last OC on stock air. System is currently down while I'm working on the watercooling.

The 965's do have their benefits. Being fully unlocked really makes it nice. I love mine. Wouldn't trade it for the best OC'ing 920.

[Frodin]

If it's a new stepping, why is it only for the 920 model?

[Ozzfest05]

True, though its completely opposite to what Intel has done in the past couple years... a couple examples like

Q6600 B3 -> G0

Q9550 C1 -> E0

E8500 C0 -> E0

It would be strange for Intel to lower performance with a revision of a chip...

Yeha thats true But remember one thing Intel made the Q6600 too good and when they released the 45NM quads they started to produce lesser quality Q6600 chips because they were outdoing the 45nm parts a q6600 last year smokes a q6600 from this year both GO steepings

[Zucker2k]

Yeha thats true But remember one thing Intel made the Q6600 too good and when they released the 45NM quads they started to produce lesser quality Q6600 chips because they were outdoing the 45nm parts a q6600 last year smokes a q6600 from this year both GO steepings

It's all about binning, lesser quality chips will always end up in lower parts.

[ColonelCain]

If this is simply a removal of halide from the package, then why does it require a BIOS update?

Also, you'd think that they wouldn't need to change the stepping, if it is the same die, just different package.

[Charles Wirth]

Core to core transactions and multithreaded applications will get the largest gain over C stepping, cores are equal clock for clock as C stepping.

These will show up as stepping 5.

D stepping runs at lower thermals, much lower from what I have seen.

920 is the first announced, not sure why but other models will also arrive as D stepping.

D stepping is capable of a much higher clock frequency, it will get easier to find a 5Ghz chip and we should see a lot more around 5.5Ghz on average.

[CmB]

Core to core transactions and multithreaded applications will get the largest gain over C stepping, cores are equal clock for clock as C stepping.

These will show up as stepping 5.

D stepping runs at lower thermals, much lower from what I have seen.

920 is the first announced, not sure why but other models will also arrive as D stepping.

D stepping is capable of a much higher clock frequency, it will get easier to find a 5Ghz chip and we should see a lot more around 5.5Ghz on average.

Thanks for the clarification, I'll definitley wait out for this one

[STEvil]

increase in bclock limit I hope.

[T_Flight]

If they come out with another 965 or 975 and get the temps down some I might do some horse trading. I want it fully unlocked though. Those multi's being unlocked sure help matters. 200 at 25 is 5.0GHz and I don't see that happening on water. hehe Maybe on Fuggers phase setup, but not for me. Heck if I got 4.5GHz I'd be counting my blessings. I got 160x25 on stock cooling with my 965 and I know the board is good for 200 BCLK. It's down right now because I'm installing my watercooling. We'll see what it gets on that. If the new ones were noticeably higher and cooler I would probably do some trading, or sell and buy a new one outright. We'll see. I've got some real good watercooling stuff now. It would have to be an Extreme though. No standard versions for me. I'm totally spoiled now.

I cannot empahsize enough how much I love these new chips. They really are awesome.