There's a half confirmed rumor on the web that intel is about to supply its partners and distributors with a new batch of Core i7 920 processors and Nehalem based Xeons, that have their stepping updated from the current C-0 to D-0. Ready to ship on March 2nd, the new stepping will feature:
- New S-spec (from SLBCH to SLBEJ) and Material Master numbers for the converting products.
- CPUID will change from 0x000106A4 to 0x000106A5.
- The electrical, mechanical and thermal specifications remain within the current specifications. Intel anticipates no changes to customer platforms designed to previous Intel guidelines.
- Readable serial number will be removed from the package ink swatch to fully mitigate the potential risk of the IHS cosmetically overlapping a marked serial number. There is no change to the ULT matrix content which continues to contain the serial number.
It's said that the motherboard BIOS update will be required to identify the new stepping CPUs properly.
| Model | Core | Old stepping | New stepping | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xeon X5482 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 1279 dollar |
| Xeon X5460 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 1172 dollar |
| Xeon X5450 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 851 dollar |
| Xeon X5472 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 958 dollar |
| Xeon E5450 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 915 dollar |
| Xeon E5472 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 1022 dollar |
| Xeon E5440 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 690 dollar |
| Xeon E5462 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 797 dollar |
| Xeon E5430 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 455 dollar |
| Xeon E5420 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 316 dollar |
| Xeon E5410 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 256 dollar |
| Xeon E5405 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 209 dollar |
| Xeon L5420 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 380 dollar |
| Xeon L5410 | Harpertown quadcore | C0 | E0 | 320 dollar |
| Xeon X5272 | Wolfdale dualcore | C0 | E0 | 1172 dollar |
| Xeon X5260 | Wolfdale dualcore | C0 | E0 | 851 dollar |
| Xeon E5205 | Wolfdale dualcore | C0 | E0 | 177 dollar |
| Xeon L5240 | Wolfdale dualcore | C0 | E0 | 669 dollar |
| Core i7 920 | Core i7 | C0 | D0 | 284 dollar |
