unusual, nonlisted stepping on intel chip?

[dustybyrd]

does anyone know what these markings mean?

intel '02 malay
Q221A754-xxxx QKF7 QS

RK80530PZ012512


it's supposed to be a 1.26ghz pentium 3 tualatin chip...

there are no other markings on the chip at all...

the 512 at the end of the second number probably means 512kb cache....but what does QKF7 QS mean?

it is not listed in the intel stepping codes....

is this some sort of "engineering" sample or some other weird sample?

[dustybyrd]

from what i can tell, i believe this is a "post qualification sample"

or a "B" stepping 1.26ghz processor that is a "qualification sample" that is a pre-final version of the "B" stepping 1.26ghz chip

anybody else have any ideas? or has anyone else seen something like this?

[NookieN]

QS does mean qualification sample, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's pre-final. Qual samples are the same as production chips. In some cases they have lower multipliers unlocked (this lets platform integrators validate several different speeds of the same part with one unit).

[dustybyrd]

do you think they might have also have higher multipliers unlocked?

lower doesn't do much good on these chips since that would mean running the pci bus's way out of spec...

is it worth it to check them out in my dual system?