Any new stepping G0 Q6600s in UK? (In stock)

[Dorza]

What is speed binning if you don't mind me asking.


@n00dey lower power = less heat = less fancy cooling required when overlocking. I am going on an assumtion but a newer stepping probably also equates to a more refined and finely tuned product with fewer bugs.

[n00dey]

Cheers guys. Hmm interesting. I was gonna just go ahead and get any old Q6600. Might wait for a bit. Not sure if I'm that patient though.

[James Thorburn]

What is speed binning if you don't mind me asking.

Speed binning is the process of separating the dice by speed grade achievable stablely (and by that I mean PERFECTLY stable, not the overclockers definition) and within the TDP rating.

Therefore a die might be stable at 3GHz, but outside the TDP rating. If it can do 2.66GHz at under 65w it can instead become an E6750.

Generally the highest quality dice come from the centre of the wafer, with achieveable speeds reducing as you move out towards the edges. While not totally true you can roughly assume those in the centre will become your Extreme Editions, where as those at the edges of the wafer will become the E6320's.

Of course demand will also affect this, if your yields are strong and you have a surplus of Extreme Edition quality dice then these could start to make their way down into the Q6700 and E6750's.

The Q6700 appears to be a sweet spot as it fits a pair of 2.66GHz dice into 95w package, so roughly 47.5w per die. Because the Kentsfield is an MCM then Intel may pair one stronger die (say 45w) with a weaker one (50w in this example) in order to best utilise the available dice, but in general it should result in a chip with decent overclocking potential.

It's also worth noting that Intel have increased the Thermal Specification for the G0 stepping (for the Kentsfield at least) from 62.2c to 71c.

The thermal specification shown is the maximum case temperature at the maximum Thermal Design Power (TDP) value for that processor.

Essentially this means the G0 stepping will have a TDP of 95w at 71c, compared to 105w at 62.2c.
I believe that static leakage (power leaking through closed gates) roughly doubles with every 10c increase in temperature. This means, assuming my understanding is correct, that the G0 is achieving a double whammy of lowering the TDP (for the Q6600, and the Q6700 compared to the QX6700) and increasing the temperature it can be met at.

Of course the Q6600 still represents better value, and is probably where the sensible money would go. I'm just not that sensible

[Dorza]

Thank you for that thorough and thought out reply it was much appreciated .

[bigpun69]

off topic i know, but how do you 'officially' thank someone?

[Dorza]

There is a button next to the quote button at the bottom of the users post saying "Thank User", I have no idea if this button is post restricted though - You might need a certain amount of posts to use it.

[bigpun69]

Yeah I cant see it so I guess you need to post a certain amount of posts to qualify? Which is strange as a lot of people join forums like this when they need some advice so it seems bizarre that they cant then thank the person who's helped them!

[EarlGrey]

Here's hoping that by the time I get the cash to buy my quad core I shouldn't have to worry about the stepping

To those of you that are buying now - it is worth taking time over. The limitation for quads is heat, and the new stepping does appear to be cooler running, meaning better longevity and overclocking

[master811]

Supposedly better overclockers, although because of speed binning this may show itself more in the higher end models (E6850 and QX6850).

The lower TDP for the Q6600 and Q6700 suggests they could also benefit from this, a Q6700 would have to be able to reach 2.66GHz with an average TDP of 47.5w per die, where as a E6700/6750's die would only have to be within the 65w TDP.

For the Core 2 Duo's you get the C2E state enabled, and the C1E power usage is down from 12w to 8w. The specifications on http://processorfinder.intel.com do not mention these for the Kentsfield based parts however.

From what I have read elsewhere only the Q6600 EE is a 95W part, the Q6700 is still 105W even though it is a G0 stepping, unless you can confirm otherwise?

[James Thorburn]

From what I have read elsewhere only the Q6600 EE is a 95W part, the Q6700 is still 105W even though it is a G0 stepping, unless you can confirm otherwise?

http://processorfinder.intel.com/det...px?sSpec=SLACQ

[master811]

http://processorfinder.intel.com/det...px?sSpec=SLACQ

ok right, well thats a good enough confirmation