How can I tell what week my Athlon is?

[OuTpaTienT]

I know it's probably been asked before, but honestly I've never cared before because I didn't have an Athlon. Well now I do. Luckily it wasn't stolen because UPS left it on my porch where it sat all day long! (Didn't they used to knock on the door?)

Stamped on my Athlon:
AMD-K7500MTR51B C
219948645901

[KillerBug]

Based on that, and my own, I would say probably the 21st week of the 1999 production year, I have what appears to be a 23. I will post mine just to see if anyone can decypher anything better from it.

AMD-K7500MTR51B C
239946116593

[richamies]

seeing as the Athlon was introduced so late into the year, it could be the 2 digits after the 99, i.e the 46/48? That would correspond with October/November 99... Just a thought....
Or even 4th quarter week 6/8

[This message has been edited by richamies (edited 01-03-2000).]

[OuTpaTienT]

Well, I'll tell ya what, mine better not be a week 21 or I'll be raising some serious hell.

The store I bought it from assured me it was a new batch. Week 48 sounds about right but I'd like to be sure. Someone out there must know.

[Axel]

As I'm thinking about buying one in the near future, could someone please elaborate on what difference the week of production makes? What feature changed and when?

[OuTpaTienT]

Axel, as far as the 500's go, only the first few weeks were true 500mhz cores. As time went on the 500's have been found with 600mhz and even 650mhz cores.

[OuTpaTienT]

Thanks Todd!!!

[KillerBug]

Yes! I looked at the core! 650! Jackpot!

[Todd Beck]

Outpatient has a week 48, Killerbug has a week 46. The manufacturing week is the two digits following the '99', or I guess also following the '00'. You both probably have 650 cores.

AMD doesn't actually "make" any more Athlon 500-600. They make 650+ and sell them as slower speeds to have product in the market. The cache chip speed, cache divider, and core speed are the main things that have been changing. When the new Athlons with on-die cache arrive, they will eliminate the cache variables.

A guy named SDTom hang out in the Overclocking section of the www.amdzone.com (http://www.amdzone.com) BBS. He seems to know almost everything about Athlons, and does oc work on them. He can probably also tell you the speed of your cache chips (though you'll need to open the case and read the chip markings, which will void your warranty). Shoot over there and see what you find.

[This message has been edited by Todd Beck (edited 01-04-2000).]