What Are You Looking For?
1.6 GHz: BX80532PC1600D
1.8 GHz: BX80532PC1600D
Both of these are boxed processors, no OEMs available yet. If and when they are, they’ll probably be called an RK80532.
Where Can You Find Them?
Pricewatch only comes up with a couple references. You probably also want to use Pricegrabber for this hunt.
Keep in mind that if there’s a price drop while you’re awaiting an order, the reseller isn’t going to pass that onto you. Intel will have price cuts on the 1.6 and 1.8GHz next Monday, so it probably would be a good idea to wait until next week to order.
Please keep in mind that most 1.6 and 1.8GHz PIVs are NOT Northwoods. If it has only 256K cache, it’s NOT a Northwood. If the part number starts with anything else besides BX80532, it’s NOT a Northwood. If the processor is socket 423, it’s NOT a Northwood.
Please, make sure the motherboard you buy is a socket 478 motherboard, and uses the same RAM you plan on using. If it’s called an 850 board, it uses RDRAM. If it’s called an 845 board, it uses SDRAM (you don’t want that). If it’s called an 845D, or a SiS 645 or a P4X266, it uses DDR.
To protect yourself, you should make sure the website ad for the CPU has the part number highlighted above as part of the product offering and then save the webpage.
You should also make sure the item is in stock. This is not going to be a readily available product (particularly the 1.6GHz), and you may find yourself ordering, then waiting a long time until they get more (one place has a 10-15 day backorder).
If this all sound paranoid, there are a lot of places out there selling CPUs that aren’t exactly exemplary. Remember that they make more money from a restocking fee than actually selling you the product. If you make a mistake and get a wrong but non-defective product, in most cases, they aren’t going to pay for it, you are, that’s their written policy.
Isn’t it worth a few extra minutes to avoid that?
As always, check websites out at Reseller Ratings or an equivalent rating site. If the place doesn’t have a rating of at least around 5, don’t buy from it.
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