Fake or worn top.

All mine have the speed

rmay635703 wrote on 2020-09-08, 21:57:

Fake or worn top.

All mine have the speed

What position would have the marking? Up, down, left or right ect?

You need to specify which type of package you have. There are ceramic and plastic Pentium MMX.

This one

look at the bottom, all my 233MMX aren't marked on top

as a matter of fact most I can find online aren't, only a few 166 and 200Mhz ones.

Looking it up...

that's 200Mhz

Only the non-MMX PPGA Pentiums have the speed marking on the top. MMX models only have it on the bottom.

Katmai500 wrote on 2020-09-09, 02:10:

Only the non-MMX PPGA Pentiums have the speed marking on the top. MMX models only have it on the bottom.

I'm actually more surprised he didn't even bother to take the CPU out of the socket and flip it around, or to google the CPU. I mean flipping a CPU around literally takes less time than to write on a forum about it.

And I mean it, I am baffled.

But then again, we all make stupid mistakes sooner or later I guess. I sure made my fair share of them.

Inconvenient decision Intel made with this packaging style. It's the same on PPGA Celerons.
It's a little more confusing on the MMX chips because they do have some writing on the top to tell you it's a Pentium MMX, but the rest is on the other side.
Maybe the rationale was that you can check the markings without needing to clean off the thermal pad/compound. But once you've exposed the CPU you're probably going to do that anyway.

I wish all cpus were clearly marked on the bottom though, it's a pain having to clean off all the thermal paste every time to find out which CPU it is ^^

imi wrote on 2020-09-11, 01:03:

I wish all cpus were clearly marked on the bottom though, it's a pain having to clean off all the thermal paste every time to find out which CPU it is ^^

Agree ! Intel was not so smart, they could have put the Sspec on the bottom of all cpu (like my Intel P75 has)
edit: most of my ceramic MMX do have the Spec on bottom so is easy to figure out the speed.
I do not think all P.Pro had it on the bottom.......

added: Ignore my ramblings. Am worried about the forest fire within 5 miles of nephews house and about 15 from mine....

shamino wrote on 2020-09-11, 01:02:

Inconvenient decision Intel made with this packaging style. It's the same on PPGA Celerons.
It's a little more confusing on the MMX chips because they do have some writing on the top to tell you it's a Pentium MMX, but the rest is on the other side.
Maybe the rationale was that you can check the markings without needing to clean off the thermal pad/compound. But once you've exposed the CPU you're probably going to do that anyway.

One other reason I can think of is to make manufacturing easier of the retail MMX and MMX Overdrive chips by both the Overdrive and standard chips by having the data on the (always exposed and easy to read regardless of the type of packaging used) bottom side?

Indeed PPGA Celeron uses a similar packaging with the codes on the bottom side as well. I actually find this type of CPU packaging visually quite pleasing (actually thought about making a defective chip into a keychain at one time), but I digress.

It is a little more confusing, but right now there are so many different hardware items out there that it's kinda mandatory to really have a good look at what one has in hands. I already found it quite complex back when P4 and Athlon XP were brand new and Pentium 2/3 rigs were mostly merely dated, but still usable.

To me flipping a CPU around to look for any markings (as well as damages) is as trivial as to go to visit someone and then go to his toilet, and after having taken a dump looking to the left to see and find the roll of toilet paper. And if it isn't there I won't go into confuse mode and ASAP call my mum or whoever to ask what is up and why there isn't a roll of toilet paper where I expected it to be?
No, then go look to the right to see if the roll of toilet paper is over there (and maybe check the floor or whether there is some shelf I hadn't noticed before etc).
If I look at a letter I got in the mail (and I mean a physical one made of (sometimes slightly plastified) paper), I always check the back side as well. I mean, isn't this just basic stuff that everybody does?

But I digress. As I mentioned before, we've all made stupid mistakes so there's totally no reason to blow things out of proportions. But come on...if the print isn't on the front side, then just go check the back side. This backsidechecking comes in very handy for PCBs as well when looking for things like broken traces and date codes and such.

Hmmm....maybe I should see how to make that keychain 🤣

Horun wrote on 2020-09-11, 01:46:

imi wrote on 2020-09-11, 01:03:

I wish all cpus were clearly marked on the bottom though, it's a pain having to clean off all the thermal paste every time to find out which CPU it is ^^

added: Ignore my ramblings. Am worried about the forest fire within 5 miles of nephews house and about 15 from mine....

^At the end of the day, this is the stuff that really matters.

Horun wrote on 2020-09-11, 01:46:

added: Ignore my ramblings. Am worried about the forest fire within 5 miles of nephews house and about 15 from mine....

Sorry to hear that. I hope everything is/will be alright.

I did not think to take the CPU out of the socket because in my mind the entire back was just pins which is not the case. When I received the motherboard the CPU was already installed and I wanted to prevent wear and tear and had no other reason to remove the chip. Also installing the head sink was nerve racking, felt like I was going to break something trying to get those clips on.

utahraptor wrote on 2020-09-11, 15:18:

I did not think to take the CPU out of the socket because in my mind the entire back was just pins which is not the case. When I received the motherboard the CPU was already installed and I wanted to prevent wear and tear and had no other reason to remove the chip. Also installing the head sink was nerve racking, felt like I was going to break something trying to get those clips on.

When it comes to retro computing, there seem to always be a new surprise around every next corner 😜

Could you make a pic of your CPU HSF? Usually Pentium 1 CPU HSFs had only a single metal clip to clamp around 2x1 CPU socket tabs, instead of ones that clamp onto several per side which only became more common during the Coppermine and Socket A Athlon eras.
But the older Socket 7 HSFs shouldn't need as much force to mount, especially not when mounting to a lower CPU like the MMX chip you have. Cyrix and Tualatin tend to be somewhat higher/taller (especially the Tualatin-like chips with ISH), which causes the HSF to sit higher above the socket, which in turn causes the metal clamp to require more force to mount with the clamp putting more stress onto the socket tabs.
This can cause them to break, but if you're really worried, you can bend the metal clamp a bit so it stresses the tabs a bit less.

Wolfus wrote on 2020-09-11, 14:58:

Sorry to hear that. I hope everything is/will be alright.

Tetrium wrote on 2020-09-11, 10:58:

^At the end of the day, this is the stuff that really matters.

Thanks ! The wind shifted so fire is burning away from us now. Still have heavy smoke but better than burning more things up.
Here is a live stream from a few miles away that shows the smoke, it is not fog ! (not my CAM, just one of the few in the east part of the city):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBG_JyyVw0U&f … ature=emb_title
Heard we are #1 for worst air quality in the world for a major city..a few weeks ago were not even on the charts. Shows what nature can do....