Intel CPU Markings (ie. Malay vs. Costa Rica)

[RaynorWolfcastle]

The thread pm made a while ago about this is archived so I'm creating a new one. I've been seeing more and more people talk about this recently, so I thought I'd repost this as a public service

Just to clear something up, the markings on the back of the CPU refer to the packaging site - not the manufacturing site of the actual silicon chip itself. Intel has no fabs in either malaysia or Costa Rica, they are packaging facilities. The silicon die/chips are manufactured elsewhere in the world and are shipped to either of these two packaging sites. In addition, Intel manufacturing has a goal of running a "virtual fab" - meaning that, among other things, products from one fab are statistically indistinguishable from those manufactured at another fab. So even if, for example using fake names, malaysian packages used chips only from fab #1 and packages marked Costa Rica use chips from fab #2, there should be no difference statistically between these two.

I saw these discussions back in the Celeron days, and I commented back then, but this time around it seems a little different. I have started seeing some online retailers charging more for parts from a specific packaging site and this disturbs me. There is no difference between parts from these two packaging sites. Just as you can have 6 head/tails coin tosses come out heads, there may seem to be a correlation that heads is more likely than tails, but there isn't. In reality the odds are still approximately 50/50.

The silicon is what defines the speed of a CPU, not the package. And the silicon comes from multiple fabs scattered all over the place that are all supposed to be identical anyway.

If you are considering spending more, or buying from a shadier vendor, in order to get a specific package, I would urge you to reconsider. There is no difference and you are only wasting money, and or risking getting ripped off.

Patrick Mahoney
Microprocessor Design Engineer
Intel Corp.

I would, of course, like to thank pm for his always valuable input to the community

 

[jhites]

This being true, of course.

Would it also not be true that particular fabs may ship to these
packaging plants and thus might be the difference in performance.

I know that the fab should be the same but actual performances
that have been reported show that there is some faint differences.
It may only be 4-8fsb more or less between a L and Q but it still
seems to be there.

Edit: Not that anyone should spend a lot more for this so called guarantee

 

[pm]

Thanks for resurrecting this post, Raynor.

The fabs are all supposed to be the same. They use the same equipment. The employees are all trained the same. They use the same methods. They are actually even laid out identically, with all of the corridors, bathrooms, etc. all in the same places no matter where the building is in the world.

Of course, this does not always mean that they produce identical chips across sites. But it is a goal that they should and if one fab starts to deviate from any others, action is taken to bring them back in line. There are numerous economic reasons for the concept of a "virtual fab" and it is, in my opinion, one of Intel's strengths.

Here's an Intel article on "copy exactly" method for creating a worldwide "virtual fab".