BOX & OEM Meaning ?

[gustavo]

What´s the meaning of BOX and OEM ?
I have offers to buy TBird processors OEM with just a 60 days warranty, on the Intel side I have OEM versions with 60 days warranty or BOX versions with 3 years of warranty.

So besides the explanation, what is your advice on buying choice ?
Thanks Gustavo.-

 

[gopunk]

as far as i know, there are 3 different types. retail, oem, and white box. were you talking about white box? white box is everything retail has but no fancy packaging. oem is likely to be just that product, with no manuals, bundled software, etc. if you think you'll need the warranty then i guess go for the box. are you asking for us to help you decide between amd and intel?

 

[igowerf]

Box means that it's a retail processor and it comes with a heatsink/fan. OEM is just the processor.

 

[corkyg]

OEM is a component intended for use by Original Equipment Manufacturer's. It usually is a bagged piece of hardware, no manual, no cables, no frills. Just the essentials.

"Boxed" usually refers to a component packaged for retail sales. It includes the manual, and any required bundled cables or software.

The differences in guarantee or warranty period are based on quality control inspection data. OEM often units have a larger inspection sample, and are thus cheaper.

I have done very well with OEM gear. Usually if an electronic component fails, it does so in its initial use . . . traumatic failures caused by external events excepted. I can think of certain devices where a longer warranty is desirable . . . specifically TFT displays.

The rest depends on cost effectiveness. If the replacement cost is tolerable, you can save money by being "self insured." If you have no tolerance for such pain, then you need to spend more up front. Hard drives are a good example of this type of component. On the other hand, in over 10 years of building systems for myself and others, I have never had a CPU or memory failure.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

I have seen a CPU fail, but only once (the fan went out on a slot PIII). I replaced that one with a faster boxed slot PIII so that the customer would have the security of knowing that it had a 3 year warranty on it. I will do that sometimes for customers, but when I build them for personal use I get the OEM CPU and save the money so I can get a better fan which is more suitable for overclocking.

 

[bozo1]

There ARE retailers out there that give 1 year warranties on their OEM processors. MWave for one...