When I built my computer I got one of their whiz-bang 64-bit chips and it's worked very, very well. And, I can give whoever is interested a tip.

I bent a couple of the pins putting it in. Trying to straighten them made it worse. AMD customer service and tech help wasn't much - suggested using a credit card run between the rows. And chips sold individually or in a "barebones kit" were not covered under warranty. Makes sense, though I didn't like it.

So, I took this at-the-time $250 chip and socket over to my local jewelers and offered him $50 if he could straighten it out so it would work and $10 if he tried and couldn't.

After 30 minutes of his lunch-time spent bending over the thing, loupe in eye, magnifying glass lit and hung, it was together. And is still working as I type.

Best $50 I've spent in a while. And it was tax-free to him, I'm sure.

Arf