OEM vs Retail

You don' t have to use the Stock Heat sink and Fan. All you have to do is use it once for Windows Setup( enough to melt the original Thermal Pad a bit :p. Then take it off, store it back in it's original box. And then put on your Gigantic Zalman/Thermalright or Thermal Take Fan and use it for the duration. The only Thing AMD needs for an RMA is the Boxed fan and the chip. I've sent back a few Chips that way and they never know the difference. 3 yr warranty is beautiful.:)
 
"plus it comes with an AMD approved HSF.."

lol, yeah, like thats the reason to buy a retail cpu. Do people actually use the stock HSF's still?

Tons of better quality HSF's on the market over the stock retail packaged ones.

As for the cpus themselves, I've never had a problem with buying OEM cpus going back to the K6 & K6-II days. The only AMD cpu I've ever killed was a TBird 1.33ghz unit that had the HSF clip break off & toast the cpu good. But that wasn't the cpu's fault, the socket clip on the mobo broke off.

The most recent OEM cpu I bought was an AMD XP-M for my brothers machine, 2800+ 333 unit, on stock voltage did 2.4ghz 100% stable and only needed a tiny .025 volt bump to hit 2.6ghz 100% stable, on mild-moderate air cooling. So I'm pretty satisfied with the purchase.

Now, on two CPU's I have purchased the retail box version, an old Palomino 2000+ cpu when they were still new, and my current 2700+ XP tbred. Havn't used the stock HSF on either, ever, but they still run great of course.

If you have everything you need to get going right at the start, I'd go ahead and get an OEM but it's up to you of course. You've got 30 days to find out if it's gonna break. If you can wait the little bit extra time-wise you'll be able to get the peace of mind that if something does happen, your covered.

GL!
 
ugg, so chopping it up for ramsinks will kill my warrentee? good thing i havent started. looks like ill make another purchase from the egg for a cheap modding sink :D
 
CCUABIDExORxDIE said:
ugg, so chopping it up for ramsinks will kill my warrentee? good thing i havent started. looks like ill make another purchase from the egg for a cheap modding sink :D
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Well Im pretty sure that some1 would think it ok to send U a Stock HS for postage if u needed one bc of warranty issues LoL... My guess is that at leats 4-5 ppl posting in this thread has at least 1 to spare :p
 
the search is on! is chaintech pretty good about warrentees like putting sinks on the mosfets and stuff? cause id be voiding another warrentee cause i dont wanna use frag tape.
 
are you talking about the 754 or the 939 board. i think the 939 came with sinks on it, but not the 754 board. ill check it
 
You can send just about anything back for warranty these days. Most of the time they dont even look, and if they do look its just to make sure its the proper model. Technically OC'ing does void the warranty, but the odds are highly in your favor that if you fry your cpu, as long as there's not scorching marks on the outside, you have a good chance of getting it replaced.

Another reason I tend to shy away from OEM CPUs is because some companies test their OEM chips. The good ones get sold at a premium as "guaranteed overclock" chips, and the bad ones get sold as regular OEM chips. I don't even think they're required to tell you this, since all that's guaranteed with an OEM chip is that it meets the manufacturers speed rating. Going with a company that doesn't sell "guaranteed overclock" chips doesn't eliminate this risk either. Its entirely possible that the mainstream company you buy from owns another company that sells all their pre-tested components.

For the extra $10 or less, I get alot of peace of mind from retail.
 
Havs said:
You can send just about anything back for warranty these days. Most of the time they dont even look, and if they do look its just to make sure its the proper model. Technically OC'ing does void the warranty, but the odds are highly in your favor that if you fry your cpu, as long as there's not scorching marks on the outside, you have a good chance of getting it replaced.

Another reason I tend to shy away from OEM CPUs is because some companies test their OEM chips. The good ones get sold at a premium as "guaranteed overclock" chips, and the bad ones get sold as regular OEM chips. I don't even think they're required to tell you this, since all that's guaranteed with an OEM chip is that it meets the manufacturers speed rating. Going with a company that doesn't sell "guaranteed overclock" chips doesn't eliminate this risk either. Its entirely possible that the mainstream company you buy from owns another company that sells all their pre-tested components.

For the extra $10 or less, I get alot of peace of mind from retail.
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I dont think thats right. It would be selling a CPU as new when it is a used one. As soon as a retailer plugs it in and turns it on, it's used. Thats sort of illegal.
 
CMAN said:
I dont think thats right. It would be selling a CPU as new when it is a used one. As soon as a retailer plugs it in and turns it on, it's used. Thats sort of illegal.
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Nope U get what U pay for... A CPU that does what they say it does they're not telling U that its a new CPU are they?
 
Depends on the price difference. If the OEM is only $10 less than the retail, then I get the Retail. But if the retail is like 40-50 more than OEM, then OEM all the way....
 
I purchased an FX55 chip recently, turns out it was an OEM version. Since there were none on the planet at the time i didn't worry about it. Most of the time I purchase a top end HSF with an OEM chip like I did this time (Thermalright XP120) so it doesn't bother me. Never had one go boobies upwards either.
 
what i like most about the retail chips is that they have not been handled. i have gotten oem cpus in like 4 different types of packaging, most of which was hinky(yea!). also no guarantee that the oem cpu has not been used for troubleshooting a mainboard, or some other jive. who is to say that when the oem e stepping cpus roll into monarch's warehouse that the folks who work there are not picking the best for themselves?
price dif between oem 3800 and pib 3800 is 10 bucks and 10 days wait. for my peace of mind re a $400 cpu, its worth it.

very truly yours,
politenessman
 
I guess so. With mine I was actually duped, the picture shows a retail box on the site I ordered from but I got an OEM chip. Looking at the webbie... "images are for illustration purposes only and in now way gurantee the exact appearance of the item you will receive" plus the ad didn't actually say it was full retail. I was a bit peeved to be sure, but since they were so scarce, my only other option was to wait until hell froze over to get one.

Works fine, didn't look handled badly (nofingerprints or bent pins).
 
if it had shown up with a bent pin, good frikkin luck convincing rma dept it arrived like that. this is unlikely, but not all retailers are as good as say newegg.

very truly yours,
politenessman
 
There are certain things I buy OEM like a mouse or keyboard but if I plan to spend a significant amount of money for a component, I buy Retail.
 
Frallan said:
Nope U get what U pay for... A CPU that does what they say it does they're not telling U that its a new CPU are they?
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Yes they are,if they are used they are refurbished. Dont be stupid,once it is installed in a motherboard and turned on then removed it is used. New egg doesnt test CPU's then sell them. Some retailers might test a CPU if you request it,and usually pay extra for the service. When i buy a new CPU it better be just as it came from the manufacturer,and not preinstalled.
 
CMAN said:
Some retailers might test a CPU if you request it,and usually pay extra for the service. When i buy a new CPU it better be just as it came from the manufacturer,and not preinstalled.
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i think frallan was trying to say that what you just described is technically "used" ;)
 
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