Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Skip Ahead Build 17639 - April 4 Insider

johngalt said:

But the other side of it is that the pre-mitigation microcode that was originally shipped did not actually fix the problem, hence the roll back on it. Furthermore, the Intel compliance PDF shows that my CPUID and yours both contain the Core i7 920s - so which is which?

Either way, I don't see why the 965 EEs have a different CPU ID from the 975 and 980, which are grouped with the majority of the rest of the original generation Core i7s. So, I really don't understand what is going on here.

I know it is not the architecture, because the motherboard I have , which has the LGA1366 socket, can also accommodate that 975 and 980 - in fact, IIRC, that entire family of Bloomfield CPUs were all LGA1366 CPUs, and set up for triple channel memory (again, if memory serves me). So, I don't see why the 965 was partitioned off with a different CPUID, but then when the 975 (and then 980) were developed, that Intel would dump them back onto the older CPUID.

That, in fact, is what made me begin to doubt the veracity of the April compliance PDF in the first place.

Here is a comparison of the three: Intel Product Specification Comparison

I've taken closer look at the Intel microcode revision guidance for April and I think I've found the answer to this puzzle.

I see the CPUID (106A5) for my i7-920 is the same as the Nehalem EP/WS family and these have "production" microcode listed in April. I think this explains why Build 17639 is loading microcode version IC for my i7-920 because the CPUID match with newly release microcode for the Nehalem family?

Looking further at these processor, including your i7-965, on Intel Ark it show our two as "discontinued" but the two of Nehalem, with same CPUID as my i7-920, are still marked at "launched" which means Intel is still supporting these and hence new microcode! See https://ark.intel.com/compare/37149,37113,37147,37092

This looks like a commercial decision by Intel, there must be a large number of Nehalem-family machines still in use or a very important customer/group (e.g. Government) so new microcode for CPUID 106A5 has been released. The April document has been hastily marked up with "stopped" against the ALL Bloomfield family processors but it seems some have already received a microcode update.

The key question is what is the CPUID for your i7-965 as family names in the Intel guide seem misleading?

never could get my soundblaster x-fi platinum to recognize my Logitech 5.1 speakers, had to disable x fi in device manager and use the onboard Realtek sound drivers on the mother board, they recognized the speakers right off the start. Even did a clean install of 17xx39 build and no go.

17644! Wow...it's a build a week.

CountMike said:

Yes:

Anyone seen a new build beyond 17639 yet?