are OEM cpu safe to buy?
- Thread starter Nights_L
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Funny, over here the retail boxed athlons are actually cheaper than the oem one's !
Anyway, yes it is safe. The retail version comes with a HSF (not even a bad one these days) and extended warranty. The warranty is rather useless IMHO, as the only reason you are going to screw up the cpu is probably one that isnt covered under warranty anyway (cracking the core while mounting HSF, overclocking it way beyond spec, overheating it, etc). If you don't need to cooler, just get the cheapest one of both, and don't worry.
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
Anyway, yes it is safe. The retail version comes with a HSF (not even a bad one these days) and extended warranty. The warranty is rather useless IMHO, as the only reason you are going to screw up the cpu is probably one that isnt covered under warranty anyway (cracking the core while mounting HSF, overclocking it way beyond spec, overheating it, etc). If you don't need to cooler, just get the cheapest one of both, and don't worry.
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
slvr_phoenix
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Yes, OEM is safe.
However OEM isn't <i>always</i> ideal. I've heard of a number of cases now where white box CPUs have had scratched plates and/or bent pins. OEM components don't generally get as good of a treatment or for that matter as protective of packaging.
Don't get me wrong, they're almost always still quite usable, but if you were for example an overclocker looking to push your system to its limits, a big scratch across the surface will mar the perfection of your thermal conductivity, even if thermal paste is meant to fill in that gap.
Safe? Yes. Always ideal? Not for everyone.
<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>
However OEM isn't <i>always</i> ideal. I've heard of a number of cases now where white box CPUs have had scratched plates and/or bent pins. OEM components don't generally get as good of a treatment or for that matter as protective of packaging.
Don't get me wrong, they're almost always still quite usable, but if you were for example an overclocker looking to push your system to its limits, a big scratch across the surface will mar the perfection of your thermal conductivity, even if thermal paste is meant to fill in that gap.
Safe? Yes. Always ideal? Not for everyone.
<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>
slvr_phoenix
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That's all well and good to have your own opinion. Just to set the record straight by giving a different opinion, do you think that someone who spends $100 on a quality UPS with AVR and $200 on a quality case with a solid power supply and superb cooling in order to protect their PC so that they can be ensured of it having a long and healthy life will really care about an extra $5 or $10 for a retail CPU over an OEM CPU?
<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>
When my T-Bird melted the fan off my heatsink, I was sure regretting buying OEM; since the processor was 6+ months old when it happened. OEM warranties often only cover the CPU for 30 days... so make sure to ask the store if they will cover it for a longer period. Having to buy a new CPU a couple of months after just buying a new CPU sucks.
Since then, it's been retail boxed CPUs only for me. I like having a 3 year warranty instead of 30 days.
<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>
Since then, it's been retail boxed CPUs only for me. I like having a 3 year warranty instead of 30 days.
<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>
Maybe not, but I didnt read he got a $100 UPS nor a $200 case, all I see is that he is in the market for a ~$70 CPU. The price premium for the oem one in this case, can almost buy him a second one.
Also, I've seen tons of PSU's fail, I've seen regular power outages or spikes killing motherboards, but I've never witnessed a cpu die in circumstances that would be covered under warranty.
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
Also, I've seen tons of PSU's fail, I've seen regular power outages or spikes killing motherboards, but I've never witnessed a cpu die in circumstances that would be covered under warranty.
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
a melted cpu is not covered by warranty AFAIK. you operated the cpu beyond its specs, you can't blame AMD for that (well, you could, but it wouldnt help your case). Also since every motherboard and cpu now have thermal protection, I really don't see how you could destroy your cpu unless you crack it (athlon) or overclock and overvolt it for a long time. Neither is covered by warranty... Lastly, paying a few bucks for warranty on a $500 is not a biggie, why not, but for a ~$70 cpu ? makes little to no sense. If ever it fails after a year or two, just pick up a new one thats 50% faster for peanuts. If you had a 1 GHz tbird fail on you now, would you bother RMA'ing it ? I wouldnt, I'd just pick up a faster one on ebay for a few bucks.
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
slvr_phoenix
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I never said that my opinion covered all cases. I just said that I was giving a broader perspective against your opinion that no retail waranty is worth the price increase.
I have three times. Once with a 486, once with a K6, and once with a P-266. The last one though was Micron's fault. It was a <i>really</i> crappy government PC from Micron with a passive heatsink of all things. I wouldn't have been surprised if it'd been factory overclocked at that. The hardware in that box was <i>all</i> cheap.
I most definately would! Are you kidding?
<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>
>I have three times. Once with a 486, once with a K6, and
>once with a P-266.
Seriously ? I have owned several PC's for 15 years, I've never ever had a cpu failure :/ Just about every other component has failed though, countless motherboards, harddisks, monitors, optical drives, PSU's.. even mice
but never a cpu. Oh well, ymvv.
>I most definately would! Are you kidding?
No. Seriously, if a 1 GHz cpu would fail, I wouldnt bother go through the hassle of opening the case, removing HSF, sending it in, waiting for another one, reinstalling it.. could just well use the occasion to insert something much faster that is also as good as free (like $20 for a used XP1500+ or 1400 Tbird). Now if it where a reasonably up to date cpu, that would change things.
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
>once with a P-266.
Seriously ? I have owned several PC's for 15 years, I've never ever had a cpu failure :/ Just about every other component has failed though, countless motherboards, harddisks, monitors, optical drives, PSU's.. even mice
but never a cpu. Oh well, ymvv.>I most definately would! Are you kidding?
No. Seriously, if a 1 GHz cpu would fail, I wouldnt bother go through the hassle of opening the case, removing HSF, sending it in, waiting for another one, reinstalling it.. could just well use the occasion to insert something much faster that is also as good as free (like $20 for a used XP1500+ or 1400 Tbird). Now if it where a reasonably up to date cpu, that would change things.
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
He has one point on you for sure. If you have a 3 year warranty, that means you get a brand new *old* CPU if it fails. I currently have one rig (about 3 years old) with a Duron 600 running 933. If it blows up, I'm not putting another 600 in it anyway, even if it was free.
You're sure of this, are you? I have never once stated I overclocked my CPU... in fact I AVOID overclocking just for this reason... especially with AMD CPUs. My 1GHz T-Bird Athlon was running well within specs and when I replaced it, the new one was also running well within specs. In fact, that CPU is still running in someone else's computer... I sold the mobo and CPU to someone else.
There was no such thing as thermal protection for early T-Bird CPUs and Tom even proved that when AMD did integrate thermal protection, it wasn't exactly perfect.
It's all a moot point, since the warranty period was up in any event. However, since I was running the CPU within spec and NOT overclocking in any way, shape, or form... and AMD had refused to take back the CPU under warranty, I would have told them where to go and how to get there. I would have also kindly informed them that Intel would have my dollars from now on since AMD didn't know how to treat it's customers. The CPU failed because it was defective, not because of anything I did. Overclocking is something I just don't bother with.
<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>
actually, you might get lucky and get a faster one for free. I think I read somewhere that someone had a cpu failed, and it was replaced under warranty by a much faster model, as they didnt have the old ones anymore. and frankly, I doubt AMD or your vendor could still find a Duron 600 somehwere maybe you should be hoping for the duron to blow up 😀 at least if you can undo the L7 bridge pencil job, I presume you did.
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
maybe you should be hoping for the duron to blow up 😀 at least if you can undo the L7 bridge pencil job, I presume you did.= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
I'm not 100% sure, but to the best of my knowledge, warranty only covers material defects, not user error or mistreatment.
I am not sure what happened in your case, but if your fan failed, and that made the cpu fry (which I doubt already, but is not impossible), I doubt AMD should be taking liablilty (for anything else then lacking thermal protection, but they never told you it had thermal protection). After all it was not their fan that failed (at least I presume). If the heatsink fell off because the clip broke, AMD would probably tell you to blame the MB manufacturer or the heatsink mf, but not them. At least, thats what I would do, being AMD. If they would replace your cpu nevertheless, it would be purely goodwill on their part.
The thermal protection discussion is very old, and I dont want to restart it, but AMD did not ever guarantee the cpu would survive running without a HSF. Im pretty sure the box told you the contrary: appropriate heat sink & fan required. If you forgot the heatsink, didnt mount it properly, or it failed for whatever reason, tough luck to you.
btw, I even recall AMD (or was it intel ?) not approving artic silver thermal paste, and using it instead of the thermal pad on the supplied heatsink would void warranty. From what I remember, the claim was that AS could crystalize over time, and lose its effectiveness or something, and therefore was NOT approved. I doubt they would ever be able to tell if you RMA'd the cpu, but still makes you wonder what use warranty is...
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
I am not sure what happened in your case, but if your fan failed, and that made the cpu fry (which I doubt already, but is not impossible), I doubt AMD should be taking liablilty (for anything else then lacking thermal protection, but they never told you it had thermal protection). After all it was not their fan that failed (at least I presume). If the heatsink fell off because the clip broke, AMD would probably tell you to blame the MB manufacturer or the heatsink mf, but not them. At least, thats what I would do, being AMD. If they would replace your cpu nevertheless, it would be purely goodwill on their part.
The thermal protection discussion is very old, and I dont want to restart it, but AMD did not ever guarantee the cpu would survive running without a HSF. Im pretty sure the box told you the contrary: appropriate heat sink & fan required. If you forgot the heatsink, didnt mount it properly, or it failed for whatever reason, tough luck to you.
btw, I even recall AMD (or was it intel ?) not approving artic silver thermal paste, and using it instead of the thermal pad on the supplied heatsink would void warranty. From what I remember, the claim was that AS could crystalize over time, and lose its effectiveness or something, and therefore was NOT approved. I doubt they would ever be able to tell if you RMA'd the cpu, but still makes you wonder what use warranty is...
= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
How does a passive heatsink on a PII 266 make it crappy? I would immagine that the molding to make the large passive heatsink for a pII 266 would cost more than a little dinky heatsink and a 40mm fan. I own a dell with a pII 266, it also uses a passive heatsink (which i beleive was an option by intel to oem's) the cpu ran flawlessly with that cooling, the heasink then went to my piii 700, and my pII 266 is now using the stock heatsink from a pII 400 and the cpu actually runs hotter with the pII 400's active cooling.
If it isn't a P6 then it isn't a procesor
110% BX fanboy
:tongue:
I'm...going...to...type...this...slowly...so...you...can...understand.
The fan was running perfectly. The heatsink was mounted correctly. I do this crap for a living, so I know what I'm doing, thank you very much. The CPU for whatever reason overheated. Probably due to a defect since everything else was running perfectly. The clips holding the fan to the heatsink MELTED as a result of the excess heat. The fan then fell off, which finished off the CPU... if there was even a chance to save it in the first place. I had the BIOS set to shut off the comp if the fan stopped spinning or didn't spin fast enough... I know that worked because I stopped the fan with my finger and the power was cut immediately.
I wouldn't be here saying the CPU was defective if I knew it wasn't. It is my JOB to know what's wrong with a computer... so I'd better be damn sure of what I'm saying before making a diagnosis. Trust me, the CPU was defective.
<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>
I'm...going...to...type...this...slowly...so...you...can...understand.
The fan was running perfectly. The heatsink was mounted correctly. I do this crap for a living, so I know what I'm doing, thank you very much. The CPU for whatever reason overheated. Probably due to a defect since everything else was running perfectly. The clips holding the fan to the heatsink MELTED as a result of the excess heat. The fan then fell off, which finished off the CPU... if there was even a chance to save it in the first place. I had the BIOS set to shut off the comp if the fan stopped spinning or didn't spin fast enough... I know that worked because I stopped the fan with my finger and the power was cut immediately.
I wouldn't be here saying the CPU was defective if I knew it wasn't. It is my JOB to know what's wrong with a computer... so I'd better be damn sure of what I'm saying before making a diagnosis. Trust me, the CPU was defective.
<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>
slvr_phoenix
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If it helps any I didn't actually own any of them. The 486 was a system that belonged to my best friend in high school. He bought a shiny new retail 75MHz 486DX as an upgrade and at the time the performance rocked ... for a couple of months before the CPU kacked it. The replacement worked for years and years though, so that was cool at least. It must have just been bad luck.Seriously ? I have owned several PC's for 15 years, I've never ever had a cpu failure :/ Just about every other component has failed though, countless motherboards, harddisks, monitors, optical drives, PSU's.. even mice
The K6 was my uncle's and I really blame the guy who built the system. He told my uncle that he could save him money over a Gateway. Which he did. But the case was awful. The front vent got dust-clogged. The 'good' side vent was half-covered by a way-too-long IDE cable, and the other side vent was the backside of the mobo, so little good that did. I'm pretty sure that the system just overheated itself a little too far one day.
The P-266 was my PC at work when I was in the Air Force. It was a horrible corner-cut monstrosity which we all in that office had the same version of. I was one of the two (out of seven) people actually lucky enough to get my 128MB worth of EDO to be counted as 128MB instead of 96MB if that tells you anything. It was no surprise when four of the hard drives failed and one of the CPUs failed across the seven systems. Strangely enough, FDISK wouldn't even run on two of the systems. :\ I had to FDISK on one of the others and then the replacement hard drive would run just fine in the system that had refused to FDISK it. They were just crap boxes.
But still, that makes three CPUs that I've seen fail that weren't OCed or mistreated. Well ... okay, so the K6 was mistreated unintentionally but we made the guy that built the box deal with it anyway. I don't know if he actually returned it under waranty or not but I'd imagine that he did ... unless he bought it OEM. That'd have been cool if he had to eat the cost. It was a really badly built PC and he rather screwed my uncle on it.
Eh. Never waste an opportunity is my motto. I've got a graveyard of old PCs. Even if I replaced the dead CPU with a faster one at my own cost the spare CPU from the waranty return would still have a home at my house. Hell, I'd probably put together another system just to drop it into. :O
<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>
slvr_phoenix
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The passive heatsink didn't make it crappy. The horrible motherboards and bad hard drives made them crappy.
The heat sink wasn't so bad really. It was nothing special though. I'd seen bigger passive heatsinks on P-133s at that time. The thing was just like a little round cylinder with slices cut out of it and the CPU stuck at one end. It caught the air badly and the 'fins' were so wide that it was ridiculous. But it worked and worked quietly, so the heatsink wasn't really so bad. It was just an odd thing to see in a case where the only fan was the power supply and again, where I'd seen larger (and better designed) passive heatsinks on other PCs.
<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>
varghesejim
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There is no difference on OEM CPUS and retail ones except the packing and warranty support.So if you are buying the CPU from a relable source and the cost advantage is looking better you can go for OEM ones.
HardWareBoss
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varghesejim
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