stepping problem

[sps]

I am in the process of building a dually. I was going to buy P!!! 800EB processors because as I understood it, these were not made with the cA2 stepping. I was going with the 800 as a minimum because I thought I'd for sure get cB0. According to this: Intel pdf document, the 800EB does in fact come in cA2, cB0, and cC0 steppings. Worse yet, Intel says that the cA2 stepping is not supported with SMP. Now how the heck can I buy a processor and know that I am getting the stepping I want. I've not seen any online vendors who will tell you what stepping the processor they are selling is - much less guarantee you're getting the right stepping.

 

[pm]

Dallas Memory will do it. I told them that I wanted a pair of matched SSpec processors for an SMP system and they read me the SSpec off to me when I ordered and sent me the pair in a timely manner. Their prices are ok - nothing exceptional, but I'll pay a little more to get exactly what I want.

Dallas Memory

I've heard of other companies that will do this... PCNut, PowerUp, GenXTech... but I had a bit of a negative experience with GenXTech (was charged double - it was resolved quickly, though) and have had no experience with the other two. SunshineStar will usually do it, and I've had a good experience ordering from there.

 

[IsOs]

Getting a CA2 stepping 800EB cpu is rare. However, if you don't want to take a chance and the retailer may not even know how to tell them apart, get the 850MHz or 866MHz. Intel didn't reach this speed with CA2 so no production went out with that speed.