I am not sure where to put this question so please forgive me if this is the wrong place. It might even be a STUPID question as well. So please go easy.

I am wondering about ads for MOBO's and CPU combos.

When an ad lists such as this;

AMD Athalon XP 2400 processor and ECS motherboard.
* AMD bare cpu
* ECS *^%$%^& motherboard with ......................

or

Intel P4 2.6ghz processor and MSI motherboard.
* Boxed CPU and Fan
* MSI &%$^&^& motherboard with .......................

Does that mean the AMD comes with out the fan/heatsink? I believe it means that no fan or heatsink. I see a lot of ads that say Bare and sometimes they will say bare and list a fan as well. If I am wrong what does "bare CPU mean?" Would it mean an unlocked CPU?

Any help or ideas would appreciated.

Thanks

Bare CPU means exactly that, no fan or anything else other than the CPU. The unlocking is something that you will have to do yourself, if you are inclined to overclock the CPU.
HTH