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Old 04 October 2018, 18:11   #59
Daedalus
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Dublin, then Glasgow
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CPU speeds are (or perhaps were) often determined based on testing and market demand. So (assuming the same package) all 68020s start off the same, and during testing it's found that some work fine at 33MHz, others not. Those that work are labelled 33MHz, others are labelled 16MHz, even though they're basically the same part. But if there's a batch where all the chips work at 33MHz, and an order for 16MHz parts is waiting, a certain number of the parts will be marked 16MHz anyway, just to fill the order. These parts will happily "overclock" to 33MHz, and so depending on your luck you could end up with something like that. Relabelling chips is probably fairly common (I once saw an 030 accelerator where they didn't even bother, just ground away the frequency designator so you couldn't see it was overclocked), and the selling of reject or "beta" test parts through side markets is definitely a big thing with semiconductors valued at more than a few quid each.


Yeah, that's a work-around I guess. It all gets a bit hazy, but kits are exempt, and charging just for labour is entirely out of the scope of CE marking. I've even heard of fully built boards that just need one connector soldered to it being sold as "kits", which is probably a bit of a stretch, but seems to be a used work-around.
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