Questions About Preordering

[Consequence_9]

They just changed the rating on the chip being used, it is still the same chip & TI won't be dropping/changing the chip itself in any way. There will not be any hardware changes between batches, it's been discussed to death.

Read again, mate. Possibly check the thread on the chip in this forum too - there is no guarantee that any given Pandora will be able to achieve 900MHz, much less 720MHz, but for batch 2 it is even less guaranteed. We don't know what TI will be doing with the chips in the fuiture. Not even you do. That time having not passed yet. We don't even KNOW what they are doing with the chips now, tho OP appear to be trying to find out. For example, will chips sold to OP as "600MHz" ones in future be ones that were not tested at 720MHz, or ones that failed to run at 720MHz? The former means no difference, the latter means Pandoras that may run slower than SOME (most? All?) batch 1 Pandoras.

what are you on about? they just did more testing & decided to change the rating for safe operating range. Of course no one knows what they'll be doing in the future, but that argument can be made with anything. All the chips at very least should be able to handle 720mhz or they wouldn't have bumped it.

Its relevance is that the hardware managed to change after ordering and before delivery. So during the first batch's manufacturing period. This to me only highlights that "stuff happens". There are no PLANNED changes by OpenPandora. They have made changes in the past. They or others could make changes in the future. Heck, last time I checked they hadn't even made up their minds what PSU to ship with the Pandora, despite apparently knowing what they were providing when I originally preordered nearly a year ago - and they HAVE stated that the PSU going out with the first Pandoras might not be the PSU that ships with later ones.

Changes before shipping any would have no effect on anything. They changed the specs before they had even ordered the chips, I really don't understand your point. Sure they haven't made up their minds on which PSU to ship, but that doesn't matter in the least because it's a standard, widely available piece of equipment that has no bearing whatsoever on the hardware itself.

Changes happen with the passage of time. It has been stated over and over that there are no changes planned for the Pandora.

Sure, but any changes would only be made out of necessity & would merely be providing the same functionality as the original.

 

[pelrun]

what are you on about? they just did more testing & decided to change the rating for safe operating range. Of course no one knows what they'll be doing in the future, but that argument can be made with anything. All the chips at very least should be able to handle 720mhz or they wouldn't have bumped it.

Wrong - individual variation means that the maximum stable clock rating varies *per chip*. They test every chip and discard any that don't make the minimum of 600MHz, but now they also test and separate out some/all of the chips that are stable at 720MHz and *sell them separately* for a premium. Since OP bought and received their chips before any of this occurred/was made public, we don't know whether the Pandora chips span the whole range or if they only have chips that came from the lower rated bin. Either way, your particular Pandora will run at 600 but it could very well not be overclockable at all.

 

[Enverex]

what are you on about? they just did more testing & decided to change the rating for safe operating range. Of course no one knows what they'll be doing in the future, but that argument can be made with anything. All the chips at very least should be able to handle 720mhz or they wouldn't have bumped it.

That's exactly the issue that people have picked up on, they HAVEN'T reclassified the existing chip. The "720" classification now applies specifically to a -new- part with a different part number that you have to order separately (and costs more). They haven't just changed the spec on the original to say it can now handle 720 without any issues, it's a different part.

All the parts for the first 4000 Pandoras were delivered some time ago so they should be safe from the "these are only the ones that wont overclock at all" issue (although some still will fall under this umbrella, just less of them).

 

[Consequence_9]

what are you on about? they just did more testing & decided to change the rating for safe operating range. Of course no one knows what they'll be doing in the future, but that argument can be made with anything. All the chips at very least should be able to handle 720mhz or they wouldn't have bumped it.

That's exactly the issue that people have picked up on, they HAVEN'T reclassified the existing chip. The "720" classification now applies specifically to a -new- part with a different part number that you have to order separately (and costs more). They haven't just changed the spec on the original to say it can now handle 720 without any issues, it's a different part.

All the parts for the first 4000 Pandoras were delivered some time ago so they should be safe from the "these are only the ones that wont overclock at all" issue (although some still will fall under this umbrella, just less of them).

ahh, bummer

 

[Monk]

what are you on about? they just did more testing & decided to change the rating for safe operating range. Of course no one knows what they'll be doing in the future, but that argument can be made with anything. All the chips at very least should be able to handle 720mhz or they wouldn't have bumped it.

That's exactly the issue that people have picked up on, they HAVEN'T reclassified the existing chip. The "720" classification now applies specifically to a -new- part with a different part number that you have to order separately (and costs more). They haven't just changed the spec on the original to say it can now handle 720 without any issues, it's a different part.

All the parts for the first 4000 Pandoras were delivered some time ago so they should be safe from the "these are only the ones that wont overclock at all" issue (although some still will fall under this umbrella, just less of them).

ahh, bummer

Indeed that's the case, if we assume that the original 4000 units were actually set aside or delivered somewhere at the time, and have not been picked after the new 720MHz testing procedure came into place.

This is one example where first batch units COULD be different to later batch units - later batches COULD either have SOCs rated to run higher than the first batch are RATED to run at, for extra $$, or they could have SOCs that are the leftovers after 720+ units have been split off from the production lines and MAY not run as quickly/reliably as first batch units. We won't KNOW for some months at minimum, I suspect.

 

[Enverex]

what are you on about? they just did more testing & decided to change the rating for safe operating range. Of course no one knows what they'll be doing in the future, but that argument can be made with anything. All the chips at very least should be able to handle 720mhz or they wouldn't have bumped it.

That's exactly the issue that people have picked up on, they HAVEN'T reclassified the existing chip. The "720" classification now applies specifically to a -new- part with a different part number that you have to order separately (and costs more). They haven't just changed the spec on the original to say it can now handle 720 without any issues, it's a different part.

All the parts for the first 4000 Pandoras were delivered some time ago so they should be safe from the "these are only the ones that wont overclock at all" issue (although some still will fall under this umbrella, just less of them).

ahh, bummer

Indeed that's the case, if we assume that the original 4000 units were actually set aside or delivered somewhere at the time, and have not been picked after the new 720MHz testing procedure came into place.

This is one example where first batch units COULD be different to later batch units - later batches COULD either have SOCs rated to run higher than the first batch are RATED to run at, for extra $$, or they could have SOCs that are the leftovers after 720+ units have been split off from the production lines and MAY not run as quickly/reliably as first batch units. We won't KNOW for some months at minimum, I suspect.

They COULD also grow wings and fly to the moon, but OpenPandora said that they -will not be changing the hardware between batches-. The only time they would change is if a part became unavailable which is unlikely. There's no reason that they are being forced into the "72" chips so I doubt they are going to go back on their word now, especially as the pricing is different too.

 

[WizardStan]

They COULD also grow wings and fly to the moon, but OpenPandora said that they -will not be changing the hardware between batches-. The only time they would change is if a part became unavailable which is unlikely. There's no reason that they are being forced into the "72" chips so I doubt they are going to go back on their word now, especially as the pricing is different too.

Who said they would? Reread the post. The first batch are unsorted, meaning most should easily clock to 720. The second batch will be post "72" version; depending on how TI does the sorting, that could mean that future batches are not capable of exceeding the 600 mhz by any fair margin. OpenPandora doesn't have to change anything, the change happens entirely without them.

edit: oh, now I see. Yes, he did talk about accepting the 72 version. Sorry, it's late, and I don't always listen to my own advice.

 

[Username]

This topic is fucking stupid and a waste of time.
Edit: not that the original question was stupid but it's already been answered and the rest is just people responding to a troll.

 

[Consequence_9]

This topic is fucking stupid and a waste of time.
Edit: not that the original question was stupid but it's already been answered and the rest is just people responding to a troll.

Then don't waste your time responding, jeez.

 

[Monk]

They COULD also grow wings and fly to the moon, but OpenPandora said that they -will not be changing the hardware between batches

Self-powered flight would required hardware changes. Actually ones FAR in excess of anything more reasonable that anyone on this thread has pointed out. Thankyou for conceeding that changes outside of OpenPandora's complete control - all that I have been discussing - are indeed out of OpenPandora's control and therefore possible.

Though personally I find your flight of fancy more than whimsical.

The first batch are unsorted, meaning most should easily clock to 720. The second batch will be post "72" version; depending on how TI does the sorting, that could mean that future batches are not capable of exceeding the 600 mhz by any fair margin. OpenPandora doesn't have to change anything, the change happens entirely without them.

"could" being the operative word. If we assume that the first batch of SOCs were actually physically allocated before the 72 sorting started (I have grown weary of seeing reasonable assumptions about OpenPandora being proven false) then we have several future scenarios. One of those involves having SOCs which are specified EXACTLY the same as batch 1, yet are "slower" (cannot significantly overclock) because they failed 720MHz testing . This would be a change in all but name. IF TI do their sorting that way THEN OpenPandora COULD, in theory, pay the extra $8 per SOC (or whatever it is by then) to get 720MHz certified units (which would terchnically likely be the same as the initial batch of SOCs but with an official guarantee to run at 720MHz or more). Either way involves a change in terms of the actual capability of the hardware or the pretty numbers printed on the chip. Neither is certain, at all - as Craig has mentioned, we do not KNOW that TI are sorting that way, and it could be that ALL of these SOCs will work at 720 and above.

 

[SoleGrave]

I have a question which sounds rather newbish, I just got my preorder # and opted to pay by personal check BUT I dont know whom I should write the check to or the mailing address. Im feeling apprehensively stupid about this.

 

[gruso]

Details here:

http://www.openpando...emid=11&lang=en

Welcome to the party.