What does "binning" mean?

[Jack the Stripper]

What does "binning" mean?

[PCGeek]

When semiconductors are produced there are manufacturing tolerances.  Generally it's related to frequency when it comes to CPUs and GPUs.  Features are all fine and cores all work but it may not overclock as well as another identical chip.  As long as it meets the specified frequencies and tolerances it will be released.

 

There are other parts to this as well.  Sometimes cores or cache is faulty and that is when it gets sold as a lower spec chip.  For example if a quad core has a faulty core it may get disabled and sold as a dual core.  Same thing happens with GPUs.  

 

Back in the days of the 486DX they had integrated FPUs where previously it was separate.  If the 486 had a faulty FPU it would be disabled and sold as a 486SX which was the same chip but with a broken FPU.

 

Memory also goes through this as some memory will be faster than others due to the binning process.  Another aspect of this is there are only a few memory chip manufacturers and the binning process also extends to who gets the better chips.  For example Micron who manufactures the chips may give Corsair first selection at the chips.

[vorticalbox]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=B14BiB-Bv3s

[Praxis]

Binning is the organising of a manufactured product into classes of quality. Some products will be better than others, despite all of them functioning correctly or to specification. 

Companies take advantage of this manufacturing trait by selling products as high quality at a higher price. 

In relation to PC parts, the marketing term of 'binning' means that these products are supposedly better than the others, even though they will all meet a quality standard. The binned ones are just the cream of the crop. 

[GDRRiley]

 

[Unimportant]

It might be informative to add that in some cases, when manufacturing of a certain part has been fully optimized, nearly all parts meet the highest specifications and could be binned as the top part.

 

But there is always market demand for cheaper, lower end parts. In this case manufacturers have no choice but to sell a top bin part as a lower spec cheaper part to satisfy demand. This has led to some instances where users could unlock their low end part to the full speed top end part.

 

The ATI X800LE/GTO/PRO to X800XT unlock comes to mind.

 

The feasibility of this of-course depends on the locking mechanism used and if it can be defeated or not. Sometimes it's as simple as a bios or firmware mod, other times it's a lasercut on the die that's nearly impossible to undo.