The Bit-Boy’s-Blog

As you read this, the latest version of AMD Barcelona chips should be arriving at the Fry’s Electronics near you.  After reading an article about the delivery of these chips, I began to ponder whether they are really new chips at all.  Now, just so you don’t misinterpret me, I mean physically new.  As in, were they manufactured recently, or have they been sitting in a warehouse in inventory for some time.

Right about now, you are probably thinking the Bit Boy has gone nuts.  But seriously, think about these facts.

1.)  The new chips are the same stepping as the old ones.  The design has not physically changed.  This means they still contain the bug that has reportedly been reducing speeds.  See AMD’s website for the errata.

2.)  These chips are still 65nm process.

3.)  Phenom CPUs are notoriously bad for over-clocking.  Probably because they are already cooked from the factory.

In the semiconductor business, its common for a variety of processors of varying speeds to actually be the same exact chip.  In many cases manufacturers clock them down to service varying markets.  This is why overclocking has been popular among hardware hackers for years.  Usually the chips are tested after they are manufactured and the ones with better tolerances test better and are clocked higher.

Now why would AMD  wait before releasing these chips?  I mean, they are behind Intel right?  True.  I would guess that only a small number of these CPUs were testing out capable of the higher clock speeds.  So my assumption is that AMD released the lower clock chips while stockpiling the faster ones.  If the faster chips only accounted for 5% to 10% of production.  Then you would have to stockpile for a few months before you had adequate quantity to go to market.  Sure, you would eventually run out of inventory, but hopefully, you would fill demand while transferring to the 45nm process necessary to push forward to higher clock speeds.  This strategy might help you catch up with Intel a bit.

Now, if there are any AMD engineers out there, I would love to hear from you!