look at this reply from tech support!

[reidroach]

i said:
hey, my dad (Mark Roach) ordered me a tbird 1.4 266 fsb yesterday, i was just wondering what the steppings were and the script on the core... that would be greatly appreciated.

she replied:
Hi. Unfortunately, we are unable to confirm stepping codes. We do ship the most current product that AMD has available. We are not allowed to comment on the stepping codes because we cannot condone overclocking. Thanks-


now is that not hog wash or what?

[demon-eater]

wtf is wrong with knowing what the stepping is on something you bought for gods sake.. now what is this world coming too

[reidroach]

YAH.. LOL

[Rooster]

Didnt see you say anything about overclocking it

[The Coolest]

Heh.... Maybe she's a lil O/Cer herself? ;)

[Christoph]

That's OK. We condone OCing more than enough to make up for her. You'll find out the stepping anyway.

[VegetaQ]

A lot of compaines have their stock at diffrent locations than their sales/fufilment facilities. This is expecially true for larger companies.

They may also just be picking a random chip from a stock of mixed steppings. And unless she can personally oversee your order (or if they only have one stepping) it would be practically impossible for her to get the stepping. Just like here at Nextel, we have various phone models and software revisions. And if somone called for an I85 phone with Condor software 2 we would laugh them off. Our fufilment department is in the same facility. But they do not have time to look at every phone for every customer who calls in wanting to know details like software version (im not against you bro, I wanted to know mine as well. I just got lucky in that Newegg had actually listed it right on the website)

I just wanted to try to make sense of her inability to get the stepping.

[UnseenMenace]

I am actually NOT shocked at the reply you obtained. When you consider that AMD is a business commenting on things such as CPU steppings or even implying that that these make a difference could possibly make a 'lesser stepping' processor not so desirable. The computer press would quickly jump on the story and AMD could possibly end up with processors they can not sell due to the stepping.

The reply was a wise one by AMD imho

[SickBoy]

Originally posted by UnseenMenace
I am actually NOT shocked at the reply you obtained. When you consider that AMD is a business commenting on things such as CPU steppings or even implying that that these make a difference could possibly make a 'lesser stepping' processor not so desirable. The computer press would quickly jump on the story and AMD could possibly end up with processors they can not sell due to the stepping.

The reply was a wise one by AMD imho

It wasn't AMD's reply, it was the vendor's reply, but the same logic applies. When I go to computer shows, I'd say 25-30% of the vendors are hesitant to let me look at a tray of CPU's before buying, because they know exactly what I'm looking for.

If you buy CPU's over the net, it's just the risk you take, unless you buy from a place like Newegg that explicitly lists CPU steppings.

SB

[FRANK]

My experience at the shows has been positive. One vendor in particular, United Micro, asks me to look at the tray of CPUs and pick which one I want. I've been dealing with these guys for about a year and a half and they've been very good about this. They've also have been good on the rare occasions I've had a problem, plus they'll match any price at the show.

My .02

[reidroach]

steppings dont only deal w/ overclocking do, i dont think so!