Santa Clara (CA) - Today, Intel announced nearly all Harpertown and Wolfdale-DP CPUs will move from the C0 stepping to E0. Excluded are X5272 and E5205 which will remain at C0. Core i7 Model 920 only will move from C0 to D0. The reasons for the change include a new halide-free packaging, as well as internal revisions allowing for lower power consumption on some models. The new steppings is also electrically and mechanically compatible for drop-in replacement, but will require BIOS updates.


Harpertown, Wolfdale-DP

From the announcement PDF:

"The Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor X5482, X5460, X5450, X5472, E5450, E5472, E5440, E5462, E5430, E5420, E5410, E5405, L5420, and L5410 (Harpertown), Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor X5272, X5260, E5205, and L5240 (Wolfdale-DP) Processors will undergo the following changes for the C-0 to E-0 stepping conversion:

o New SSPEC and MM numbers for the converting product.
o CPUID will change to: 0x1067A, IDCODE will change to: 0xA005b013.
o C-0 package is pin compatible with E-0 package.
o X5482 TDP specification changes from 150W to 120W.
o Package change to Halide free package.

Otherwise, there are no other changes to Electrical, Mechanical and Thermal processor Specifications. Intel anticipates no changes to customer platforms designed to Intel guidelines."

The LGA771 Xeon X5482 (12M L2 cache 3.20 GHz 1600 MHz FSB 45nm) CPUs have also had their TDP reduced to 120 watts from previous 150 watts, and maintain $1,279 price. The X5482 is the second fastest LGA771 Xeon, behind the X5492 which operates at 3.4 GHz in 150 watt TDP.


Core i7 920

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."

Mobile Chipsets

Intel also removed several mobile chipsets from stepping revision. GM45 and PM45 are taken off the revision milestone lists. Mobile GS45 Express will remain on its current stepping. Mobile GE45 Express will also remain on its current stepping.


Other recent stepping changes

Stepping changes are fairly common throughout a product's life cycle. They are introduced to fix errata, update packaging, internally revamp the CPU's wiring so it is more efficient, clocks faster, runs cooler or for any other advantageous reason. The BIOS updates are typically required to change internal settings within the CPU that the user or application software (including OS) might never see. These could include settings related to timing or usage based on the attached chipset.

Earlier this week, Intel changed stepping from B0 to G0 stepping on Core 2 Duo Mobile Processors T7400 & L7400 and Celeron-M Processor 530 (Merom - Napa Refresh). Late last week, boxed Core 2 Quad Q8200 Processors changed stepping from M1 to R0.


Price list

See Intel's price list for pricing and model information on all current Intel CPUs.