Running dual CPUs

[Dan Nelson]

In the last episode (Dec 24), Gerard Samuel said:
> I acquired a pair of Slot 1 CPUs that is supposedly a matched pair.
> I've heard, that they must be of the same stepping, and Im not sure
> of what Im looking for. CPU specs are at ->
> http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/
> details.asp?sSpec=SL3XL&ProcFam=25&PkgType=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&CorSpd=5775
> Just trying to be careful before I fry the thing, so any pointers are
> welcome. Thanks

Most of the time, stepping doesn't matter.  You can look at Intel's
processor errata pages to see exactly what got fixed in each stepping,
and determine whether the bugs would interfere with SMP or not. I've
run dual-CPU systems with different steppings with no problems. I
haven't heard of anyone damaging their CPUs or motherboard with
mismatched CPUs.

-- 
	Dan Nelson
	dnelson at allantgroup.com