Help! AMD box vs seperates

[Guest]

I am thinking of putting together an Asus A7m266 board with an AMD 1333. Options include 1) the A1333Box266 that includes the heatsink/fan and a three year warranty or 2)the A1333 and the purchase of a seperate heatsink/fan.

What do you recommend?

If the second is the best alternative, what is the best heatsink/fan to choose?

 

[mjdunn]

What are you planning to do?

Overclock\budget\can put on the HSF without hurting the chip? Get the oem
NotOverclock or get an AXIA\warranty\easier HSF to put on?
get the retail

96.3 % of Statistics are made up.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for replying. I probably will not overclock. I need something that will be very sturdy and reliable. Forgive my ignorance, what do you mean AXIA?

 

[Matisaro]

AXIA is a stepping on the chip, everytime they change an aspect of the fabrication process of a chip they designate the new conditions with a stepping number, the AXIA stepping is an awesome overclocker and stable, but since you dont intend to overclock, it dosent really matter.

PS: also I think the results from the burn in testing may be encoded in the stepping/die number, but have no confirmation on this.

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[MeTaLrOcKeR]

If you wont be overclockignt han I agree with whoever it was that said to get the retail CPU with the HSF. That way if for some reason somethign DOES go wrong, at least you still have those 3 years to back you up. But in the future if you do plan on filling in those L1 bridges you realise that voids your warranty with AMD. But since you wont you dotn have to worry about that. =)
Good Luck

-MeTaL RoCkEr

Burn MF, BURN!!!