Different Stepping Codes

[Buzioid]

I an about to purchase 2 Pentium 3 500/512/100 CPUS.
According to this site:
http://2cpu.com/FAQ/2cpusmpfaq.html
The steppings don't matter if they are different.
Would this work? I need to confirm this, I can't find much anywhere else online.
The cpus are listed below:
CPU 1
500/512/100/2.0V s1
99250895-0328 sl35e

CPU 2
500/512/100/2.0V s1
99160261-0436 sl365

[Mntsnow]

If your planning on running them in a DUAL cpu configuration you are always better off getting the same stepping. ...now that having been said I will say I've had slightly missed matched procs in the past run just fine.

But these two are quite different in their arcitecture from my understanding. The SL35E is a KC0 & is an OEM version SECC2 unit

and the SL365 is a KB0 and could be either OEM or Retail SECC2 unit

I got this info Straight from Intel (http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=25&CorSpd=5033&ordType=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&PkgType=ALL&btnFOS=Filter+on+selections)

[Xaotic]

Let me check when I get home. I may have a pair of matched 500Mhz SECC2 processors.

[Buzioid]

Do you mean you have some to sell?

[Xaotic]

Sure. I've got a bunch of SECC-2 stuff. It'd be cheap. I think the 500s I have are matched, but can't remember for sure. They have mounted HSF and I can inspect and test tonight.

[Buzioid]

Awesome, this will be my first DUAL CPU system, so I want to make sure it's all correct and I know what I am doing.:D

[Xaotic]

What board will you be using?

[Buzioid]

I don't have a motherboard yet, maybe you can help me in that direction. I won't have very much money to spend on it though. Most depends on what your cpus will cost if you have them, or if i get them from another person.

[Xaotic]

YGPM

[a Bill]

I haven't bothered to "match" CPUs since the PII came out. I just make sure they are both the same speed. They were run 24/7 at 100% CPU load for a few years problem free. I only just retired them this year since they are kind of old.

This stepping stuff was only important in the Pentium Pro days.

[dunbar]

I'm curious - did this work out, Buzioid?

[mondobyte]

Actually, Intel stepping continues to be very significant right up through the P IV XEONs.

I've found this site to be a useful place - http://users.erols.com/chare/main.htm . There are lots of links that make sense of mixing and matching processors in SMP configurations.

What is not so obvious is that when one mixes Steppings, one may not notice some anomalies that may lead to data corruption or performance issues. I know I ran into that on an SMP PIII server that was shipped with unmatched steppings - the processors were continuously disabling and enabling the L2 Cache of each other ... Needless to say ... it was a very interesting situation.

I find it interesting that AMD processors, when used in smp configurations, do not have the stepping type of issues. In fact, as I understand it, one may even mix and match processors with different speeds as long as both processors have the same bus speed!

[NDC]

Nowadays, motherboards will not let you mix and match processors like the BP6 did since they don't have independent core voltage settings. I think the last board that allowed this was the BP6?