Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/246
An encore presentation...
I know, I know, I said that last week was my final report. What can I say; I think I might be a hardcore Geek.
I got so many reports in of success with the new "retail" SL2WM processor, that I had to take a look for myself. For those who haven't heard, Intel began packaging the former OEM version of the CPU for retail sale. It comes in exactly the same box, with exactly the same documentation and the same attached fan. The original retail had the sSPEC code SL32A.
I also had an awful lot of disappointed people who got to the party a bit late; after I stopped taking orders for the combo. So, with a Herculean effort, I went in to the market place, scoured the Earth and managed to scrape up 60 processors. Ain't I a great guy?:-)
Beyond all that, I have this pathological need to know, rather than just hear. Several large vendors, as well as a good size number of individuals contacted me and told me that these new retails were doing the 450 Tango just fine. This is all well and good, but without actually touching, testing, feeling, stroking... HeHe.
On the other hand, I heard from a very trustworthy smaller vendor that these chips were not doing well on his bench. This is a guy that I absolutely believe, so hopefully he just got his hands on a bad batch. He did, however, tell me that he's two for two with the 366A at 550Mhz, default voltage. HMM...
This week's report will be short and to the point with the results, but first, let me chow down on a little crow from my very first Celery report. In my first installment I said "the assertion that the Retail Boxed CPU's are better overclockers makes no sense", and "there is no difference in overclockability between Costa Rican CPUs and Malaysian CPU’s."
I wasn't just wrong, I was dead wrong. The Malay chips, on balance, are much more overclockable than the Costa's, especially in later production weeks. In the Retail form, these chips are as close to 100% as you can get, with nearly 90% dancing at 2v. They also run 6 to 8 degrees cooler than their Costa Rican counterparts. At least in OEM, the Costa Rican CPU's come nowhere near these results. YECH, I hate crow! :-)
One other thing. I am no longer selling the overclocked combo, so please don't e-mail and ask. The CPU supply is simply too spotty to provide consistent customer service, and the 60 I grabbed this week are all sold.
Now, a little about the Celery cooking process. Those of you have read previous Celery reports can feel free to skip this section, but I include it for complete and utter disclosure's sake.;-)
Cooking the Celery
I test each CPU under initial identical conditions prior to "burning in" my combos. I do an initial test run using the same Abit BH6, same RAM (single stick 64MB Micron, CAS3) and the same video card, a Trident 975, 4MB AGP. For those who are interested, this is a very fast 2D card that consistently scores better than 5 in Final Reality. Not very good in 3D, but for a business system, it’s a screaming bargain. I use an old 270MB Quantum hard drive (actually have 3 set up identically, so I can burn multiple combos at once). I use an old hard drive because I assume that these setups will be going in to a variety of situations with a variety of drives and that if it’ll work with this clunker, it’ll probably work anywhere.
I run a quick test at 450 using Business Winstone 97. Why such an old version, you might ask? Because I’m not testing for performance, only stability. This works perfectly for that purpose. If it fails, I bump the core voltage up a notch until it passes. If the CPU won’t do 450 or requires more than 2.2v core, I set it aside for later evaluation. After passing the first test on my evaluation board, I move the chip to the motherboard with which it will be mated.
I put each one through 6 full rounds of Winstone and 2 hours of Final Reality. By using these two tests, I’m covering both the 2D business users and the 3D gamers. As an aside, for those who haven’t used it, Final Reality is not only a great test, it is visually stunning. One glitch at current voltage, and it’s bumped up a notch, until it’s completely stable. Because I believe that stability means having a little breathing room, I don’t sell a chip at 450 if it requires more than 2.2v core to stabilize.
The report
I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that, at least in it's Malay incarnation, the "new" retail SL2WM appears to be as strong as ever. The bad news is, good luck finding them (especially after this report is published.;-)
I dug up 60 Celery sticks this week, but I had to scrounge from three different sources. I landed 40 from one source and 10 each from two others. Of these, 50 were the SL2WM boxed and 10 were the original retail SL32A in tray pack. All of these were Malay chips. As always, these are my results based on the opportunity to test on multiple boards with multiple memory modules, as needed. Your results may vary.
To the point: All 50 of the SL2WM Malay new "retail" had no difficulty at all with 450Mhz and only three even required a goose in the core, and then only to 2.1v. This level of success is consistent with past results testing the original retail version. I didn't get around to testing the 10 SL32A's, but I'm not particularly concerned about these.
All the chips were from later production, with 40 from week 49 and 10 from week 51. So, at least thru week 51, the fears of "bus locking" have not yet been realized.
To-date, I've now tested a total of 432 300A's. Not all of these are included in the table because, prior to writing these reports, I didn't track the information at this level of detail. Of these, 140 were OEM, SL2WM. These processors have overclocked successfully to 450Mhz at about 86%, with a majority requiring an increase in core voltage.
I've tested 242 retail SL32A, Malay CPUs, and now 50 of the new retail SL2WM, also Malay. Of these, only one chip refused to dance at 450Mhz, and the overwhelming majority required no increase in core voltage. I've concluded that the retail Malay SL32A CPU is definitely superior to the OEM Costa SL2WM. Remember that crow I had for dinner earlier?
And now, for your Celery shopping pleasure, the table:
| Label Code | # tested | PCB week | Symbol | Version | 2.0v | 2.1v | 2.2v | 2.3v | No Go |
| 08451303 | 27 | 9839 | Clover | OEM | 24/89% | 2/7% | 1/4% | 0 | 0 |
| 08450076 | 6 | 9838 | COMPEQ | OEM | 1/17% | 3/50% | 2/33% | 0 | 0 |
| 08450076 | 6 | 9838 | COMPEQ | OEM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2/33% | 4/67% |
| 08461541 | 20 | 9841 | Clover | OEM | 6/30% | 5/25% | 5/25% | 2/10% | 2/10% |
| 08461541 | 10 | 9841 | Clover | OEM | 2/20% | 6/60% | 1/10% | 1/10% | 0 |
| 98391399 | 10 | 9823 | COMPEQ | Retail | 10/100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98410558 | 3 | 9837 | Clover | Retail | 3/100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98410558 | 2 | 9835 | Clover | Retail | 2/100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98471558 | 15 | 9843 | COMPEQ | Retail | 14/93% | 1/7% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98480238 | 60 | 9844 | Clover | Retail | 54/90% | 6/10% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98430629 | 40 | 9836 | Clover | Retail | 35/88% | 4/10% | 1/2% | 0 | 0 |
| 98450025 | 50 | 9836 | Clover | Retail | 50/100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98450028 | 20 | 9836 | Clover | Retail | 19/95% | 0 | 1/5% | 0 | 0 |
| 98450027 | 40 | 9836 | Clover | Retail | 37/93% | 2/5% | 1/3% | 0 | 0 |
| 08471240 | 3 | 9843 | Clover | OEM | 0 | 3/100% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 08471498 | 15 | 9842 | Clover | OEM | 0 | 4/27% | 4/27% | 4/27% | 3/20% |
| 98491319 | 15 | 9843 | Clover | *Retail | 13/87% | 2/13% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98491350 | 15 | 9841 | Clover | *Retail | 14/93% | 1/7% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98491349 | 10 | 9841 | Clover | *Retail | 10/100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 98510975 | 10 | 9843 | Clover | *Retail | 10/100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 387 | 304/79% | 39/10% | 16/5% | 9/3% | 9/3% |
NOTE: Label codes beginning with
"98" are Malay ,
codes beginning with "08" are Costa Rica.
* Denotes new "retail" SL2WM CPUs.
Well, happy hunting!
Russ Stringham, Owner
CompuCheap
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
