How does HWINFO decide whether a CPU is an engineering sample or a production unit?

[111alan]

I've been having this question a long time. An ES cpu has a QDF starting with Q and a production unit has an SSPEC starting with S. This shows correctly in HWINFO. But it does not seem to match up with the "Prod. Unit" or "Eng. Sample" after it.

For example, the E5-2698B v3 in picture 2 has an SSPEC but it's still recognized as an ES CPU. I also remember that there are CPUs with QDF but recognized as a production unit as well.

I wonder in HWINFO, what is this"prod unit" or "Eng sample" listing decided by? I know that there's a MM# list for intel to manage its skus, but I have no proof of any program using this as a recognition method. Or is there another method that HWINFO actually used for this listing?

Thanks.

 

[Martin]

The Eng. Sample is a flag the CPU provides, but QDF/SSPEC is shown by matching the CPU parameters against a (large) database. In some cases this might not be accurate. For example if the QDF for an ES is not known, the SSPEC will be shown.

 

[111alan]

The Eng. Sample is a flag the CPU provides, but QDF/SSPEC is shown by matching the CPU parameters against a (large) database. In some cases this might not be accurate. For example if the QDF for an ES is not known, the SSPEC will be shown.

Thank you for your reply. BTW, another question, where is the data of "Stepping" came from? Is it directly read from the CPU or is it something microcode decides, or it's also looked up from the database you mentioned?

Thanks

 

[Martin]

It's a combination of CPU ID, database and sometimes some other flags are involved.

 

[111alan]

It's a combination of CPU ID, database and sometimes some other flags are involved.

Thank you for your patience. Wonder what's that database came from? Especially for those bizzare OEM models.