Mbp 2.4ghz t7700 stepping performance

[nick2u]

Hi fellas!

Just read from wiki that there are 2 steppings
of the 2.4ghz chip in the mbp.

Both are santa rosa (socket p) i believe.

Sla43 (e1) released on may 9 2007 and
Sladl (g0) released on sep 2 2007

Both are rated at 35 W and have the same cache and clock and fsb.

Now i purchased one of these shiny new mbps in june. Presumably with the e1 stepping and there would seem to be newer chips in currently sold mbps in stores.

Any idea of the differences between these 2 chips/steppings? Like in terms of performance/power consumption/battery life?

Thanks!

 

[asdfTT123]

If there is any difference it is neglegible. I terms of steppings, there's a huge thing going on over the internet about the Core 2 Quad Q6600 that's available in both the B3 and G0 stepping. G0, the new stepping is capable of hitting higher FSB speeds when overclocked and has a higher thermal threshold (heat tolerance) that's listed in Intel's processor index. Besides that, there is very little difference. I have a Q6600 in my desktop that I built a few weeks ago with the G0 stepping but since I run at stock speeds or very mild overclocks I wouldn't have cared if I got a B3 stepping. I think the same thing applies to Notebooks but it's even more negligible because I doubt many people overclock their Merom processors for fear of decreased battery life and heat output. It might be possible that the G0 stepping revision might consume SLIGHTLY less (1-2W) less power than the older one, but it makes little to no difference at all.

 

[nick2u]

If there is any difference it is neglegible. I terms of steppings, there's a huge thing going on over the internet about the Core 2 Quad Q6600 that's available in both the B3 and G0 stepping. G0, the new stepping is capable of hitting higher FSB speeds when overclocked and has a higher thermal threshold (heat tolerance) that's listed in Intel's processor index. Besides that, there is very little difference. I have a Q6600 in my desktop that I built a few weeks ago with the G0 stepping but since I run at stock speeds or very mild overclocks I wouldn't have cared if I got a B3 stepping. I think the same thing applies to Notebooks but it's even more negligible because I doubt many people overclock their Merom processors for fear of decreased battery life and heat output. It might be possible that the G0 stepping revision might consume SLIGHTLY less (1-2W) less power than the older one, but it makes little to no difference at all.

ok thanks dude...

does anyone know a definite answer though?

cause that way each stepping counts as a minor upgrade. which really isn't fair. sometimes i wish apple disn't use intel and stick to real proper upgrades ever once so often.

 

[Mindflux]

does anyone know a definite answer though?

Intel would know

 

[asdfTT123]

You should not even consider the steppings to be an update. It doesn't change anything that will affect performance in the mainsteam market. It only matters if you overclock to extremes and nobody does that with notebook processors. The two different steppings will perform identically...give or take .1-.2%.

 

[nick2u]

well then how about battery life?

as i know steppings to be more efficient revisions of processors...

 

[cmaier]

well then how about battery life?

as i know steppings to be more efficient revisions of processors...

I used to work at AMD, and "steppings" seldom made any difference to the end-user. Typically we would speed up critical paths through redesign (resizing or moving transistors or wires). The result being that while the old stepping might have 50% of the chips running faster than 2000MHz, the next stepping might have 50% of the chips running faster than 2100MHz.

Since a chip is sold at a particular speed, this difference matters only to overclockers.

Often steppings add bugfixes, as well, but when you're talking "e" vs "g," there probably aren't a lot of bugs left at that point.