Can anyone tell me what to look for when buying a processor?

[lemon]

Can anyone point me to AMD processor classification. I know the general classification like Athlon, A-XP, TB, Burton and such, but I need to know more about classification within a particular category, like, say... xp2200.

You know the TUCSP/TCJLS thingy which categorise what was it...? Voltage? 1.5/1.6

I'd like to know how great the difference in performance due to 0.1 difference. Also, I'd like to know your expert opinion on price per performance on those micro-classification.

Another question is what is (RET)/(OED) thingy the on-line stores list? I'm wondering if RET means "retail" but have no idea what so ever on OED. Oh, what... It could've been ODE.

Is it better to buy processor "only", because CPU fan that comes with package probably is crappy?

Thanks.

[acidrainy]

yeah sure....
I think this is what your after......

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont..._Rev02_ENG.pdf


Ret means its retail and comes boxed (with a HSF? not sure)
OEM - means its just the chip or bit of hardware without the fancy box.
both exactly the same but obviously you save money by not getting the colourful box

[lemon]

Originally posted by acidrainy


OEM - means its just the chip or bit of hardware without the fancy box.
both exactly the same but obviously you save money by not getting the colourful box

Thanks.

So, OEM is "not" second hand, tnen?

[acidrainy]

Originally posted by lemon
Thanks.

So, OEM is "not" second hand, tnen?

No it's still brand new kit, just without the fancy boxes you find in the shops

[Knoxville]

Yeah, retail just comes in a nice box with a crappy hsf

oem be the way to go

[fondie]

Nope, OEM means that it is the processor only, they are sold to system builders this way to spare the expense of the extra gubbins, packaging, heatsink and fan etc. Retail processors usually come in a box of some kind alond with a heatsink and fan, and they usually come with a longer warranty.

The stepping codes that you see do not effect the processors performance in any way what so ever, having a different stock voltage does not make the processor run faster or slower (although the lower stock voltage one will run slightly cooler), these stepping codes however can effect the processors stability when overclocked (and presumably while running at stock too), it really does depend for each chip though which stepping codes are best, chips taken from the center of the silicon wafer that they are made from often are better overclockers than those from the outside, also different weeks batchs seem to have varying abilities to overclock and a lower stock voltage means that the AMD production process is now mature enough that some of their chips require lower voltages to run at their rated speeds and therefore it is possible at increased voltages it will be able to reach greater overclocks.

[acidrainy]

Originally posted by fondie
The stepping codes that you see do not effect the processors performance in any way what so ever

No but it can effect your overclock dramatically

[fondie]

Originally posted by acidrainy
No but it can effect your overclock dramatically

indeed, i did mention that it can effect overclocks, but i was trying to point out that unless you overclock it makes no difference, his original post semi implied that different stepping codes would effect stock performance, was just making sure he wasn't getting the wrong idea and expecting a difference in performance from 2 chips running at the same speed just because they had different steppings.

[lemon]

OK.

So, if I'm going after the stability rather than overclockability, does this mean chosing one over the other spec reduce the costs?

thx

[acidrainy]

Personally i would still go for the better chip if i had the choice, even if i weren't going for overclocking innitialy....

For stability though anything will do at stock voltage.....

[dgr]

fondie@ don't you think that sig is a little on the big side? 25k with a width of 600?

anyhow, retail cpus have a 1yr manufacters garuntee, oem cpus have a 3yr retailers cpu. so if you can, go for the oems...

dgr

[BlackSheep]

Originally posted by dgr
fondie@ don't you think that sig is a little on the big side? 25k with a width of 600?

dgr

... looks good though

[fondie]

Originally posted by dgr
anyhow, retail cpus have a 1yr manufacters garuntee, oem cpus have a 3yr retailers cpu. so if you can, go for the oems...

it is retail CPUs that come with the 3 year waranty, and OEMs with a 1 year, if your CPU isn't DOA though there isn't much that can go wrong with it unless there is a bit of user input to help it on it's way, which will have voided your waranty anyway.

it is possible to turn sigs off, it's not much bigger than most other people though, so maybe that's your best course of action if mine is too big for you.

[fondie]

Originally posted by lemon
OK.

So, if I'm going after the stability rather than overclockability, does this mean chosing one over the other spec reduce the costs?

thx

any stepping should be stable at stock speeds, so if you aren't overclocking just pick up a chip from e-buyer, or wherever is cheapest, which doesn't specify stepping codes.

[lemon]

Originally posted by fondie
any stepping should be stable at stock speeds, so if you aren't overclocking just pick up a chip from e-buyer, or wherever is cheapest, which doesn't specify stepping codes.

OK.

Call me stupid but what of UK voltage when you are buying on-line? Are those hardware UK voltage? Or is voltage controled by PSU?

I don't want US voltage hardware sold to me, you know.

BTW, when you are buying from Scan.co.uk, be careful. I once tried filling on-line shopping form for an item. It automatically put "two" item on my shopping list. I'm sure Scan people are wonderful people. I'll definitly doing business with them.

For sure. lol

[TimmiT]

Originally posted by lemon
OK.

Call me stupid but what of UK voltage when you are buying on-line? Are those hardware UK voltage? Or is voltage controled by PSU?

I don't want US voltage hardware sold to me, you know.

Not really stupid, if you dont know.

The voltage for the items within your computer are regulated by the PSU, and are standard (as in the same range, not that you can't tweak to be different).

The US and UK diff come into play with the AC electricy out of the wall. There you are dealing with two different voltages. This will only effect the portion of your rig that plugs into the wall - the PSU. The PSU will be made for either one or the other, and will put out the same voltages to your computer, what ever side of the Atlantic you are on.