Center of wafer?

tangoseal

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
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Okay I am curious... is there some number listing, batch ID, crop #, roll mark, etc... That Intel places on the box of the processor you get that will give the consumer an idea of what place in the wafer the CPU came from?

To my understanding the closer the center of the wafer the chip is cut out of the better the quality and higher the OC you can get. I am shooting for 4.8-5.0 range on an I7-2600K with a Corsair H70 or better cooling solution. I am going to hope to do so on an Asus Max IV Ext mobo. when I can land my grubby fingers on one.

Anyone happen to know what to look for. I will cherry pick if this is the case.

Thanks!
 
As far as I know CPUs aren't marked in any way to indicate which part of the wafer they came from. Markings basically indicate revision (stepping), speed and when and where it was made. Chip OC ability is luck of the draw pretty much.
 
As far as I know CPUs aren't marked in any way to indicate which part of the wafer they came from. Markings basically indicate revision (stepping), speed and when and where it was made. Chip OC ability is luck of the draw pretty much.

Yeah that is what I was afraid of... I guess I could always try and see what I get and if it dont measure up take it back and swap for another when the next batch arrives.

Microcenter + 30 days no question asked exchange policy = I gotta get a good one at some point.
 
You will have the batch number on the box, and once a bunch of people buy these chips and makes lists of their OC results, then you can have a reference for good batch numbers. At this point its just luck of the draw. (who knows, maybe every chip will be 5ghz+ capable)
 
As far as I know CPUs aren't marked in any way to indicate which part of the wafer they came from. Markings basically indicate revision (stepping), speed and when and where it was made. Chip OC ability is luck of the draw pretty much.
I remember when AMD did list those codes on K7 chips.
 
This whole theory that the chips at the center clock better is perfect nonsense. I work in the industry. I would agree the the dies at the very edge are more likely to have defects but the center ones are second worse for some of the manufacturing process steps. The best compromise would be to get the mid radius chips.
 
Intel is not going to put any effort towards identifying what part of the wafer your CPU came from. Just buy a chip and crank it up. You are going to get in the low 4.xxx without any issues. Very few are going to hit 5.0ghz, I think about half or a little more than, will hit 4.5 easily.
 
Yeah that is what I was afraid of... I guess I could always try and see what I get and if it dont measure up take it back and swap for another when the next batch arrives.

Microcenter + 30 days no question asked exchange policy = I gotta get a good one at some point.

i think you mean frys. Cause at microcenter we'd only give you one exchange max (and only if you said it was defective. and we'd probably make you switch out your board for a new one first before we exchanged your cpu.
 
Yes I meant frys I don't do that to mcenter wheremy friends work. I am not going to do that anyways. I never have. It was just more of a joke! Stores buy the chips by the batch anyways so I would have to wait until a whole new batch arrived and I would probably get a worse off chip anyways.

Plus apparently the wafer inside/outside theory appears to be bogus anyway.
 
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Which is exactly why I don't buy very much at Frys. I'm a newegg customer through and through.

Well frys have screwed me hard in the past when I lived in San Diego at the Mission Valley store. So now I am getting payback inch by inch over the last few years. Anyways just look at the box, they are good at marking what was returned for sure. That I know.

I dont really abuse it but I am not afraid to because of the past they have with me.
 
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