On 09.01.2012 14:03, Dan wrote:
<snip>
And then there's the "new" technique of selling partially burned out
chips. eg: Fabricate a 4 core processor then, during testing,
discover that only 2 or 3 cores run at a particular speed.
Intentionally burn the other cores (disable 'em), and sell the thing
as a double or triple core... Disgusting practice, IMO. Gives a
whole new meaning to "crippleware".
- Dan.
This is hardly new. A 486SX was originally a 486 with a bad FPU section
(though later I'm told they intentionally made some once the market was
established). A 68LC040 was originally the same way, a 68040 with a bad
FPU unit (and bugs to make the traps not work for emulated ones, even).
I also seem to recall that 16mhz 486s were never supposed to exist, but
Intel ended up with a batch of them and sold 'em to low-end computer
makers.
I'm kind of split on the practices myself. If they're selling them for
an appropriate discount, I don't see the harm in squeezing out as much
as they can from a yield. So long as they can assure that the remaining
working cores are fully functional and there isn't an increased failure
rate, more power to them. It'd be a lot more shady if they were selling
genuinely marginal chips, like Intel did with 386s marked "16-bit S/W
Only" because of bugs in 32 bit modes.
Scott
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