Wow, very nice feedback guys!!

Dave: the 1.7GHz vs 2GHz comparison will be very worthwhile IMHO. Frequency scaling is already hot on the topic with tests so far showing k10 scales better than core 2: frequency scaling and socket scaling.

K10 is an architectural beast: if I was an engineer, I'd be damn praising the K10 just as Core 2 was to be praised over P4. I'm pretty sure Intels upcoming CPUs will be based on many technologies you see within K10 now although they are very risky. It certainly is weird but this independent core frequency/voltage control can also throw off quite a few more potential problems.

AFAI understand... processor mfgs don't release another core stepping (a re-spin will take 3 months at least usually) unless there's a good enough gain with the tweaks to make it justifiable. Am I correct?

And from what I'm hearing now, they're trying to push B3 out of the door as quick as possible late Q4. Must be something worth it then.

I know one thing for sure - B1 leaks a lot more current than B2 hence why it aint shipping.

Stephen: Nice work with the CPU .. but what about the low RAM frequency and it looked like your RAM was running single channel mode? Imagine if all but one of them was running at the correct frequencies just like the CPUs