Anyone know about Core Stepping and sSpec

[Ed S]

Hi,

I am trying to build the best work station I can afford. I am planning on purchasing Gigabyte mobo GA-x58a-ud3r(rev 2.0). When I check there site for compatible CPUs, I find a good range to choose from. I was thinking about the W3530 xeon processor, but it is not on their list. I compared it to the w3520, w3540, w3550, i7-920, i7-930 and the i7-940.
They all seem to be identical except for the clock frequency. I asked Gigibyte about this and they sent back a reply that said I could use the w3530 if the stepping was the same. So I check CPU World and I found that it was. Then I checked the Intel site and found the following:

CPU# Core Stepping sSpec # core speed GHz
w3520 D0 slbew 2.66
w3530 D0 slbkr 2.80
w3540 D0 slbex 2.93
w3550 D0 slbey 3.06
i7-920 D0 slbch 2.66
i7-930 D0 slbkp 2.80
i7-940 C0 slbck 2.93
i7-950 D0 slben 3.06

I don't know what Core Stepping or sSpec# are and how it would affect my selection as all of the sSpec numbers are all different. Is there anything else that would make it not compatible?

From the Core stepping ID, it seems that the w3530 should be ok but I'm worried that the sSpec# (I guessing its a sub-division of stepping) might have something to do with the processor differences. Do I have anything to worry about it being NOT compatible with the mobo I have selected to buy???

Do you need more info.

Can anyone help?

Thanks for your help.

[gshv]

There is only one production stepping (D0) of W3520 processor. That stepping is supported by the board, and, since faster W3540 is supported too, the W3530 should be supported by the motherboard.

Gennadiy