What is stepping?

[ImaNihilist]

I understand most of the O/C lingo and what not, aside from all you voltage nuts. But I guess this is a stupid question, but what exactly do you mean by stepping? I tend to think this has something to do with where on the wafer the chip comes from? How much of an impact does this make?

[xelaeel]

Stepping determines how well your chip OC. Depending on the wafer number, week of manufacturing and some codes.

You can go here to check out more details

[Seoulstriker]

this is what sandra says about my intel chip:


revision/stepping 2 / 7 (9)

generation g7

sandra also says my maximum FSB is 4 x 100. what happens if i go above that?

[xelaeel]

It's always bad to go beyond default settings. It shortens the life of the chip. If you plan to use that rig for more than 10 years then I wouldn't recommend overclocking. If not go for it. You will be replacing ur PC long before it dies.

[speedyaxon]

stepping refers to what order the chip came off the wafer, what date is was produced, how new their manufacturing process is, what voltage it uses for stock, what model number it is, and some other things...and a lot of times, it does seem to correlate with how well a chip oc's.