Questions about P4 steppings and Frys

[flxnimprtmscl]

I've seen to many of you hitting 3+ Ghz and I'm jealous so I was planning on going to frys sometime this week and picking up the 2.4 and Ecs board combo. No plans on keeping the board but I've got a few questions about the chip.

Someone over on hardform just got this and got a SL6RZ. Those are the multi vid chips right? Second how likely is the chance of me getting the same stepping in another state? Is what frys carries usually varried or whatnot. Also I was reading that some the "L" chips from malay and costa rica have been getting good oc's while the "Q" chips from malay haven't been doing so well. How do you tell the difference. And lastly since I've never bought a chip from frys is there any way they'll let you take a peek at the chip to see the stepping? That's all I need to know. Thanks guys.

 

[o1die]

Fry's won't let you see it before you buy it. You can always check it out, then not pay for it. My 6 month old Fry's 2.4b does 150 fsb (2700) and should go higher with a better mobo, such as the abit bh7. If you're serious about overclocking, save some extra dough for a good copper heatsink and a decent dual fan power supply. The batch number, such as sl6rz, should be listed on the cpu heatspreader. It's easy to find.