I'll make this short and sweet...
On Wed, 24 Apr 2002, Frank Gruendel wrote:
> As you correctly pointed out, processors from the same die
> are tested and labeled with the highest frequency at which
> they work reliably. This means of course that many processors
> were originally designed for a higher frequency and will
> work within their initial specification even if overclocked
> (up to a certain point).
The dies themselves maybe all the same and just Qual at one speed or
another, but they are not all put in the same packaging. In fact, metal
migration is a very serious issue that can occur if proper sizing is not
done on the bond wires and I/O pads, etc.
So just because the processor dies are the same doesn't mean it will live
a happy life in a different package which is being used out of spec.
> But (please be gentle and correct me if I'm wrong) this does
> also mean that there are *some* components that *do* work
> at the frequency they were initially designed for. If the
> production line is working as it should, I'd expect *most*
> of the components to fall into the latter category.
> Although assuming
The other thing that all people who overlock the Newton do not recognize
is that crystal that they are changing actually clocks the Voyager chipset
and the Voyager chips provides a clock for the StrongARM. That means
anytime you overclock "the Newton" you are running the chipset at a higher
speed as well. The chipset of course interfaces to the memory, PCMCIA
port, etc, so you are not just running the processor out of spec
anymore...
And as for power consumption it is *DIRECTLY* affected by the switching
frequency. That means both the Voyager and StrongARM are consuming
proportionally more power at a higher frequency.
Keep it all in mind.
Speedy2.
-- Read the List FAQ/Etiquette: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html Read the Newton FAQ: http://www.guns-media.com/mirrors/newton/faq/ This is the NewtonTalk mailing list - http://www.newtontalk.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Sun May 05 2002 - 14:05:01 EDT