Aquca??

AQUCA??

I was reading up on 2500+ steppings last night when I decided to see what mine is. I opened up the case and took off the HSF and saw this.

AXDA 2500 KV4D 9589288260073
AQUCA 0306 UPDW

I have searched the AQUCA stepping and came up with two possibilities. Good or bad??

Some posts on this forum say this is the best stepping some say it's the worst. Which is it??

And what kinda overclock can I expect from it when I get an SK-7??

ppl have on and off results with them.. no one can really tell you how high you go till you give it a whirl

bump

The AQUCA was one of the first steppings, this is why you might've got mixed results as there are newer steppings available now, so in the begining it was best, now its not. With good cooling and enough voltage I guess you can hit about 2.2-2.3GHz

AQUCA is a pretty good chip overall. ive seen many hit 2.5GHz, but on higher voltage. mine did 2415MHz @ 1.875V. i still got it...just on my trusty keychain....cant OC on a chipped die.

bump

yea but the AQXEA are mroe consistant than the AQUCA

I think I got a good one because. I can reach 1.16 GHz stable on a crap OVERCLOCKING board with crap memory (value corsair PC2700) and a crap HSF. I think it is safe to expect 2.3-2.4 stable if I get a new motherboard, memory, and HSF.

Weeks, sSpecs and steppings are practically useless. This is because not every CPU from every stepping and week is overclocked, so it's impossible to know the best overall. People only know which ones seem to overclock the best. Overclocking is unpredictable because a CPU from a popular stepping/sSpec/week might overclock poorly, and likewise a CPU from an unpopular stepping/sSpec/week might do very well.

Another factor is user error. A certain CPU might be capable of 3.3GHz on air-cooling, but if the user isn't a very knowledgeable overclocker, or one or more of his components are sub-standard, he may only reach 3GHz. This user then decides to go on some forum and write about his "crappy stepping that only reaches 3GHz," when the fact is that the CPU is capable of more. This is why no stepping will guarantee a good overclock, or indicate the speed you will get. Every CPU is different, so the only way to find out how far you can overclock is to try it and see.