Newbie question - FPO/Batch significance?

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Hi there at overclockers.com, I'm new to this forum and want to ask some quick questions about the FPO/Batch number and try to determine how important it is.

My FPO/Batch number for my shiny new P4 1.8a: L151A622

From some info I got from a couple of old posts I know this proc was produced in the 51st week of 2001.

Many of the 1.8a CPUs listed in the database are mostly L14xxxxx. Can I safely hope that more L15xxxxx procs will show up on the list as more people buy the newer procs? Is there some sort of database of proc batch#s to avoid?

There is an L151A355 listed OCing to 2610. Is mine produced close enough to this chip to hope for similar results (aside from any mobo/chipet/memory limitations naturally) ?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

By the way, this is the rig I'm currently piecing together:

P4 1.8a, AVC Sunflower cooler, Gigabyte Ga-8srx (sis645), GF4 4400, 512meg OCZpc3000, Enermax 350w PS, Antec SX800 case.

 

[TASOS]

Hi & Welcome to the forums

The Northwood chips are still new to the market and there isnt any new stepping produced till now.

So, by only the different dates of packaging and production, you cannot really tell if some chips behave better than others.

At least till now....such thing isnt known to be.

You already know that a good overclocking depends on many things like...mobo,ram,temps,cooling method,voltages.....ech.

From your description of your system i can tell that it looks like a very good combo. (SiS 645 chipset mobo's are the best till now)

I believe you can hit 2.4ghz++++ easy.

P.S. The only thing i would have change is the mobo....
.......replacing it with an EPOX 4SDA+

Good Luck

 

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The Northwood chips are still new to the market and there isnt any new stepping produced till now.

So, by only the different dates of packaging and production, you cannot really tell if some chips behave better than others.

At least till now....such thing isnt known to be.

I'm sorry but don't really follow. What exactly is "stepping"? I've heard of it but having a hard time finding a definition.

 

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Never mind...found it http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=6

So going by the dates, the batches I mentioned earler, the chips are basically produced from the same "mask" just on different dates. And when a new stepping is done a new "mask" is used, and hopefully that new "mask" is a bit more refined.

Would dates that are earlier in the stepping be more preferrable or later? I would think earlier as the "mask" is newer and cleaner? - I'm comparing it to offset printing, which is what I do for a living.

How much time is there usually between steppings?

 

[TASOS]

Yes you got that correctly.

Well there arent specific time tables.....just when Intel decide there is room for improvement.