AMD Athlon 64 Question

[97thruhiker]

I'm building a computer for my cabinet.  My motherboard supports the 939 socket of the AMD Athlon 64 series.  I have a question for those of you who have knowledge of this line of processors.  Listed within the product number is a bp or cg.  As example ADA3200BPBox and ADA3200CGBOX for the Venice core 3200.  Everything looks about the same when comparing these (series 3200, venice core, etc.)  I guess my question is what do these initials stand for.

[MikeQ]

It is probably Retail vs. OEM.  One will have all the pretty box, documents, warranty etc.  The OEM is an ugly plane white box, litle doc and usually a lesser or no warranty.

And sometimes no fan/heatsink

[97thruhiker]

They are both listed as retail.  Heres what Newegg has listed for both:

BP version

64 bit Support: Yes
Cooling Device: Heatsink and Fan
Hyper-Transport Support: Yes
L1 Cache: 64KB+64KB
L2 Cache: 512KB
Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, 3DNOW! Professional
Operating Frequency: 2.0GHz
Process Type: 90 nm
Series: Athlon 64
Voltage: 1.35/1.4V

Model #: ADA3200BPBOX
Item #: N82E16819103535

CG Version

64 bit Support: Yes
Cooling Device: Heatsink and Fan
Hyper-Transport Support: Yes
L1 Cache: 64KB+64KB
L2 Cache: 512KB
Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, 3DNOW! Professional
Operating Frequency: 2.0GHz
Process Type: 90 nm
Series: Athlon 64
Voltage: 1.35V

Model #: ADA3200CGBOX
Item #: N82E16819103602

In looking I only see a difference with the voltage.  The CG is $15.00 more.

[NIVO]

CG is retail   and bpb  is PIB(processor in a box)

[MikeQ]

Ah, ok.  If the specs are the same then it is probably a different processor rev or stepping.

I work with GPU development and we using a revision like A.1.0.  This would be the first rev of a chip that we fabricated.  We might find bugs with the chip or find a way to make it run faster so we "respin" the chip and it becomes A.1.1 and so on.  This may happen throughout a products life to reduce cost as well.

That would make the ADA3200BP the older E4 stepping and the ADA3200CG is the E6 stepping.

That means the CG is the newer version with whatever enhancements have been made.

[MikeQ]

Actually, the voltage difference makes sense too.  The stepping increase (Whatever change they made) allowed them to push the voltage higher.  Increasing voltage usually helps performance of CPU and FSB.

[Hoopz]

The BP is E3 and the CG is E4.  Different voltage for each and different max temp. 

You can compare them on AMD's site.

[97thruhiker]

Thanks for the responses.  I work in forestry managing state lands so my computer experience, while growing, is not to the extent of most of you here.  If you ever have a question about planting pine trees or performing a prescribed fire I'm your guy.

[Hoopz]

Fair trade! 

[MikeQ]

Can you tell me how to plant a pine tree so it won't fall on my house when I get hit by multiple hurricanes?

[97thruhiker]

Looks like you live in Florida also.  I've been lucky hurricane wise.  The forest that I manage is in NE Florida just outside of Jacksonville (Jennings State Forest).  The Jacksonville area has escaped any real damage.  Being with the Division of Forestry we are an all emergency agency and we tend to lead the state in incident command operations so I've been sent all over the state the last year and a half responding to the hurricanes (four weeks away from home alone for Hurricane Ivan).

[MikeQ]

We didn't get hit as bad as parts on the coast, but we did get pummeled pretty good here.