How To Tell Them Apart

Pretty soon, people will start looking for Venice-core Hammer chips.

How can you tell them apart from other versions?

The easiest way to do this is to look at the last two letters on the first line of code identifying the chip.

130nm core Hammers will have two letters that will read “A*” (like ADA2800AEP4AX

90nm Newcastle core Hammers will have two letters that will read “BI” (like ADA3000DIK4BI). Though I haven’t seen anything but “BIs” if you found a chip that said BH or BJ or BK, that will be a Newcastle, too.

90nm Venice cores will have two letters that will have letters like “BP” (like ADA3200DAA4BP). It possibly could be something like “BO” or “BQ” or “BR” too.

Some retailers show pictures of the CPUs they’re selling. I can’t attest to others, but Newegg generally changes the pictures when they start selling new types. They’ll also list the first line of code for OEM chips, so you don’t have to be bothered squinting at a picture.

Recently, Newegg has also provided an Advanced Search function for processors. Just go to the category “Core” and select “Venice” when that option gets listed (it’s not there yet), and you’ll get a sort of just those processors. This is particularly helpful for retail versions of the chip.

This may sound like a big plug for Newegg, but no other major retailer I’ve seen provides that kind of data, which takes the effort and stress out of buying a CPU.

So they earned it, and if others start doing that, we’ll mention them, too. 🙂

Ed