If you're like me you have stared at the bottom of your MediaGX and asked
"What the heck does that code mean?"
Well through hours of research, sifting through press releases and images
as well as fab announcements and earnings reports The CPU Shack has been able
to determine mostly what they mean. :)
Basically the MediaGX was made by IBM and by Nationalal Semiconductor. National
had an overun contract with TSMC which I don't have any idea whether it was
actually used. National DID use TSMC technology in their plant in South Portland,
Maine.
Here are the basic release dates:
 |
| Date |
Speed (MHz) |
| February 20, 1997 |
133 (Original Release) |
| June 6, 1997 |
150 |
| June 30, 1997 |
166, 180 |
| March 18, 1998 |
233 |
| August 25, 1998 |
266 |
|
|
After the sale of Cyrix to VIA in 1999 National continued to make the MediaGX
(or Geode by that time) in speeds of up to 333MHz. ANY MediaGX, GX1, GXm or
GXLV with a speed over 333 is a fake. I have several of these and they are
listed in my raw data table at the bottom of this page.
IBM made MediaGX parts at least through April of 1999. They began production
no later then March 1997 (which fits perfectly with the release date). National
began production of the MediaGX in August of 1998. It was a pilot project
at their Santa Clara facility and rapidly expanded to their other plants.
The latest known made part that I have seen was in Spetember 2000. The Geode
division was sold to AMD in 2003 so there areundoubtably later ones made.
The GX Processor is clocked in a rather strange way. It's internal clock
is based on the PCI bus. The PCI bus can be either 30MHz (150 or 180MHz) or
33MHz for all others. The jumpers (2 or 3 depending on revision) determine
what to multiply this by. The maximum is 10, or 333MHz which is why there
are no Geodes over 333MHz. The memory bus (you can call it the FSB if you
like) is clocked at 1/3 the core clock. This means the memory can actually
vary between 55MHz and 111MHz depending on what CPU is used.
Clocks speeds** |
| CLKMODE[2:0]^^ |
Multiplier |
Core (MHz) |
Memory (MHz) |
| 001 |
10 |
333 |
111 |
| 010 |
9 |
300 |
100 |
| 011 |
5 |
166 |
55 |
100 and 000++
|
4 |
133 |
44 |
| 101 |
6 |
200 |
66 |
| 110 |
7 |
233 |
77 |
| 111 |
8 |
266 |
88 |
| **Assuming 33MHz bus - 150 and 180MHz chips
use a 30MHz Bus |
| ++Test Mode Only |
| ^^Older Systems only have CLKMODE[1:0]
which uses different decoding. Maintains compatibility by assuming CLKMODE[2]
= 1 on legacy sytems |
National also created the GXLV which is the low voltage version of the GXm.
Released December 1999
| Speed (MHz) |
Voltage (V) |
| 166-200 |
2.2 |
| 233 |
2.5 |
| 266 |
2.9 |
National's design team in Herzlia, Israel reworked the GXm into the GX1 which
is a lower power version with more features. It was available in speeds of
200-333MHz with voltages of 1.6-2.2V (scaled with speed) It is made specifically
for Internet Appliances. It has a different graphics subsystem and an updated
I/O companion chip. Relesed in April of 2000 (preliminary silicon was made
one year previous to that) it also was the first integrated Pentium class
processor to operate at less then 1 Watt (0.8-1.4 Typical). This was obtained
by shrinking the die to 0.18u. These CPUs are used in hundreds of different
Single Board Computers as well as Internet Appliances.
| Speed (MHz) |
Voltage (V) |
| 200 |
1.6 |
| 233-266 |
1.8 |
| 300 |
2.0 |
| 333 |
2.2 |
Identification of Manufacturing Codes
IBM Produced |
National Produced |
 |
 |
| GRFDDYWW** |
FRAxxYWWDD |
| G = IBM |
F = Fab that the Wafer was Produced in
| R |
Santa Clara, CA (R&D Fab) |
| T |
South Portland, ME (TSMC Equipment?) |
| V |
South Portland, ME |
|
R = Die Revision
| B |
0.x (Beta revision) |
| A |
1.x |
| G |
2.x |
| J |
3.x |
|
R = Die Revision
| 3 |
3.x |
| 5 |
5.0-5.4 |
| J |
2.x |
| |
This is odd with the date code so high. (possibly TSMC pilot) |
| 8 |
8.x (GX1 ) |
|
F = Factory
| D |
Burlington, Vt |
| K |
Bromont, Quebec |
| Q |
Shiga, Japan |
| |
|
|
A = Assembly Plant
| A |
Santa Clara, CA |
| B |
South Portland, ME |
| C |
South Portland, ME |
| S |
Singapore |
|
| DD = Die Run Code |
xx = Lot number |
Y = Year
|
Y = Year
|
| WW = Week |
WW = Week |
| ** = Lot Code (1 or 2 characters) |
DD = Die Run Code (AB - ZZ) |
| |
|
RAW DATA - If You have a MediaGX or Geode
please e-mail me the data as there may be more variations
What we learn from the data:
National began production using a 3.0 die mask.
National had transitioned all Geodes to die revision 5.x by November of 1999.
National had transitioned to die revision 8.x by May of 2000
| Front |
Back |
| GXm-200GP 85C |
R5SK5918AB |
| GXm-200GP 85C |
R5SK5913AH |
| Cyrix 200 85C |
R5Sk5913AH |
| Cyrix 233 |
R5S5E901AD |
| Cyrix 233 |
R5SK6919AB |
| GXm-233GP |
R5SK6919AB |
| GXm-233GP 2.9V |
V5SG3847AB |
| GXm-266GP 2.9V |
V5SG3844AD |
| Cyrix 266 |
V3SE3842AB |
| GXm-266GP 2.9V |
V3SE3836AG |
| GXm-266GP 2.9V ES |
V3SE3834AD |
| |
|
| |
|
| NS GXM 366 (fake) |
TJSBC945BA |
| Cyrix 366 (fake) |
TJSBC945AT |
| Cyrix 433 (fake) |
V5SG3845AJ |
| |
|
| NS GX1 300 ES |
VS0029129 |
| NS GX1 300 |
V8SKA034AF |
| NS GX1 200 |
V5SKA019AD |
| |
|
B is a Beta die revision. Production dies started at A.
Japanese made MediaGX devices are rather uncommon
| 120BP 3.6V |
G8KA5649Q CANADA |
| 120BP 3.3V or 3.52 |
G8KA5707B CANADA |
| 133BP 3.6V |
GBKD8707N CANADA |
| Cyrix GX133 BGA |
GBKD9711H CANADA |
| GXI-200BP BGA |
GAKC4734F BGA CANADA |
| |
|
| Cyrix GXI180 BGA 2.9V |
GAKC4738K CANADA |
| 150BP 5X 3.6V |
GBKJ9738W CANADA |
| GXI 166BP 2.9V |
GAKC4741B CANADA |
| 180BP 2.9V |
GAKC4743F |
| GXm-200GP 2.9V 60C |
GGDC6747A |
| 166BP 2.9V |
GAKC5747H CANADA |
| Cyrix 200 60C |
GGDC6748H USA |
| Cyrix 300 60C (Fake) |
GGDA6749U USA |
| 180BP 2.9V |
GAKC5751x CANDA |
| Cyrix 180 |
GGKC6751AC -Canada |
| 200 60C |
GGKC6805F Canada |
| GXI 180BP 2.9V |
GAKC5806F CANADA |
| Cyrix 180 80C |
GGDC6809A USA |
| 180BP |
GAKC5813A CANADA |
| Cyrix 233 |
GJDAB814C USA |
| Cyrix 233 |
GJDBC817E USA |
| 180 2.9V |
GJKCC822C CANDA |
| GXm-180GP |
GJKCC822F CANADA |
| 180BP 2.9V silver |
GAKC6829U |
| 133BP 3.6V |
G8KA5845G CANADA Gx86 |
| 180 |
GJQBC923A Japan |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
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