DMA on a AMD DX4

[Neon_WA]

it has probably come up before, but i cant find any reference to why DMA would be printed on the base of a AMD DX4

any info would be great

thx

[hugo929]

it is a quality assurance mark

[Neon]

DMA stands for Direct Memory Access.

AMD has had an on-die memory controller in their processors for a long time; this may gave been one of the first batch to have the feature.

They had to mark which processors have the controller to avoid customer confusion

[Neon_WA]

[debs3759]

I thought it more likely to be a marking placed by a customer for their internal purpose. Surely if it was a marking from AMD they would ahve used a similar form of marking to what they use on all their other chips and markings? A hand-stamped marking like that does not seem as professional or verifiable as one marked mechanically using the same sorts of die and print as they normally use.

[Neon_WA]

you might not be able to read it in the pic, but next to the intial stamp LK in the top left corner of the base is hand written in lead pencil 8/31

the initials are in black ink while the DMA is in blue

[CPUShack]

this is simply a resellers marking, to ensure that if you return the CPU as dead, it truly is the same one you bought. Nothing more.

[Neon_WA]

We're out-voted Neon but thats ok cos all i want is to get an understanding of what, where & why

thx everyone

[Neon]

But wait! I may have found a more recent example. After the initial plunge, AMD introduced their next generation feature.

This appears to have an engineer's written designation BAD, which stands for Brisk Advanced DMA Controller.

Each of these processors was laboriously tuned by hand until just right, and then the engineer would sign it, BAD.

[Neon_WA]

[debs3759]

[donutty]

Just a dealer's stamp. They sometimes use stickers too.

DMA = Doesn't Mean Anything