cB0 vs. cA2 / FC-PGA vs. SECC2

[TheCableGuy]

Can someone breakdown the difference between cA2 and cB0 stepping, and the perfomance seen. Also, I see that the the highest intel cpu's ( 1.0 ghz )only come in SECC2 package, and the SECC2 costs more, does that meen they're better? I thought the FC-PGA was supposed to be better. Ready to make the jump into the 21st century, and throw down the cash for a new cpu. I was looking at the 667/133, 733/133, or the 800EB/133. I don't want to mess with o/c'ing, just want to spend the cash and get the best I can. Please help to enlighten me.

 

[garrison]

the cb0 stepping was introduced with the p3 1000/133, and almost all the cpus in the market should be cb0.
no performance difference (unless you're talking about overclocking performance).
the 1ghz p3 probably use the secc2 package for cooling reasons (it's easy to put a HUGE heatsink on this package), and the 1.13ghz p3 should too.

however,
i'm not sure if the p3 is a good choice if you DON'T want to OC your machine.
the athlon thunderbird offer more raw speed at lower cost (usually you can buy a +100MHz athlon at the same p3 price).

the p3 733/133 seem to be the fastest p3 at reasonable cost.

 

[Ulysses]

Garrison's advice is basically sound. The FC-PGA form is more versatile since it can be used with a Socket370 mobo directly or in a Slot 1 mobo with 'slotket.' If you are not going overclock then you are correct to get a CPU that runs on a 133 MHz bus.

For more info see:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=196333
or
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=28&threadid=199398