Athlon: Copper or Aluminum

[ianmills]

A month or so ago stable was telling everbody that OEM CPU's sucked and that the only way to assure getting a copper athlon was to buy a retail boxed version. he also said that processors made at Fab 25 in Austin were aluminum and that only coppers were produced at Fab 30 in Dresden...

Well anyways... here is what AMD's site says:
_____________________________
Question:
Where are AMD Athlon processors manufactured?
Answer:
All 1GHz AMD Athlon processors and above are currently made in Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany. Some lower frequency AMD Athlon processors are still being produced at Fab 25 in Austin due to extra capacity at that Fab.
_______________________________

Anyways, it seems safe to say now that if you buy an athlon 1GHz or above OEM or not, you will get a copper processor

HAHA, i can't be sure but it looks like that Q&A is at least a few months old as this is also listed on the same page:
____________________________________
Question:
At what clock speeds is the AMD Athlon™ processor offered? How much do the AMD Athlon processors cost?
Answer:
Current AMD Athlon processor price (in 1,000-unit quantities)
1.33GHz AMD Athlon (266 FSB) $350
1.3GHz AMD Athlon (200 FSB) $318
1.2GHz AMD Athlon (266 FSB) $294
1.2GHz AMD Athlon (200 FSB) $268
1.13GHz AMD Athlon (266 FSB) $265
1.1GHz AMD Athlon (200 FSB) $241
1GHz AMD Athlon (266 FSB) $224
1GHz AMD Athlon (200 FSB) $204
950MHz AMD Athlon (200 FSB) $182
_____________________________________



luvs and hugs ian

 

[rd382]

I would think that if you buy um in 1000 unit amounts they would be cheaper. I just bought a retail 1.2 (266fsb) for $203 shiping included

<font color=green>I can draw tyte give me the damn crayon!</font color=green>

 

[noko]

I bought a OEM 1.2gh T-Bird for $150 and it turned out to be a AXIA stepping. I am running it at 1.33ghz without a hitch at stock voltage 1.78volts. Have an Alpha cooler and the temp runs from 41-45c fully loaded. Havn't tested higher but pretty sure it will go much higher, especially if I raised up the voltage a tad.

 

[Edison]

I noticed my 1300 TBird (retail) says AXIA. What is the significance of the marking? Are these easier to overclock compared to non-AXIA marked chips? Thanks!


"It's a hobby, not a religion. Zealots and evangelists need not apply!"

 

[Oni]

Yes AXIA is supposedly more stable when you overclock. It could be from many reasons though:
Where it was made
The materials its made from
what main chip it really is (a 1 GHz can be the same chip that clocks at 1.2 GHz as well)
and something else I'm probably forgetting.

 

[ianmills]

As above: 'All 1GHz AMD Athlon processors and above are currently made in Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany. '

What you said doesn't make any sense. All processors in the same fab are produced by the same process. When a factory gets upgraded, there's no going back.
Copper is CHEAPER and BETTER than aluminum....... It just simply took longer for the techy guys to figure out how to utilize properly

luvs and hugs ian

 

[bhc]

Actually there are companies like Intel can still do quite well without copper metalization. For the 0.18 micron technology the performance difference between copper and aluminum is trivial. In fact, aluminum metalization is cheaper since it is just an extension from previous generations while you need a whole set of new tools/processes for copper. For the 0.13 and beyond, everyone is committed to copper, and we may start to see some performance differences.

Having said that, I do agree it's wise for AMD to go with copper early. Once they go up the learning curve, they should reap the benefit of copper sooner than Intel can do.

**Spin all you want, but we the paying consumers will have the final word**