what does stepping mean?

[Bmxpunk86pl]

i was wondering what steping on a cpur means, can anyone tell me?
i have a stepping 6 and my friend has a stepping 10, which one is better?

[Jon]

Stepping refers to the version of the chip release. While using the P3 as an example, the first line of chips to come out were the cA0 stepping chips. The number you refer to is basically the same thing as these codes. The second line was cB0...3rd was cC0 and the final was the cD0.

All of these chips were compatible with motherboards that support P3 processors but each version contained slight changes for stability purposes, etc. The most noticeable changes usually is the voltage that the chip runs at.

As far as which is better, usually the later versions are better from an overclocking standpoint, but not always the case.

Yours is a cC0 stepping chip, I'm almost certain and your friend's is a cD0. His, by majority, is a better overclocker...your's is quite good too though (depending on the chip, of course). One isn't necessarily any better than the other at default speeds, however.

[Bmxpunk86pl]

thanks a million man, i appreciat it