What's in the box?
Our retail model was shipped to us from CPU City and was sealed, ensuring that we didn't receive a cherry-picked sample for testing.
Opening up the box highlighted a regular retail bundle, comprising of CPU, heatsink, warranty papers and AMD badge. PIB models carry a limited 3-year warranty from AMD.
It's important to ascertain from the retailer that you're actually receiving a Venice core-based CPU. The simplest method of identifying these Rev. E3 processors is to take a look at the first line etched on to the heatspreader (it's also visible when boxed). All Venice-stepping Athlon 64 CPUs carry the letters 'BP' on the end of the first line, and the number indicates the model number.
Count 'em. It's a regular S939 CPU that runs best with dual-channel low-latency DDR SDRAM.
The supplied cooler is a basic aluminium model. To AMD's credit, there's some TIM applied to the bottom.
CPU-Z correctly identifies it as a Venice core Athlon 64 3000+. The question that remains to be answered, however, is just how high it will go with utter stability.....
