OEM vs Retail chip determination, how do you do it?

[gaidensensei]

Been searching on the net for a little over an hour, can't find info about this.

Some of us are buying chips secondhand these days, as well as all the OEM buying guys.

Reselling generally always seems to have a higher value with the retail product - especially on ebay where the novices, amateurs generally go with the generalization "Retail is better".

Sometimes you might get that one chip that came with a bundle package from another person in FS/FT. Asking the origins he says that he got it from another person.

So in this case, how can you determine the chip is retail or oem yourself without the box, manuals but having a HSF and chip?

I've read to check out the sSpec but that doesn't seem to show anything on intel's site.

 

[aigomorla]

OEM = 30 day vendor warrenty usually, can be more.. like newegg i believe charged a bit more for 1 yr, but they would pocket the cost if u lost your chip.
Meaning u pop it... you return it to place you bought... intel's side in the deal was over when they handed the lot 1k tray CPU's to ingrim micro, or some other primary vendor for intel.

Retail = 3 yr warrenty.
It dies for unknown reason while operating in the specs it was designed... u mail to intel directly, they send u a new cpu.

Retails come with Retail sinks in retail box. Small alu circle sink with crappy push pins.
OEM's come bare with cpu only.

OEMS vs Retail in OC is the same.
Its your Luck of draw so both have the same YMMV.

I have gotten nice Overclocking chips via OEM, and nice ones retail.
If your gonna buy retail, earily retail is usually the best OCers.
Late retail usually suffer from OC potential in exchange for fab tweeks in output. (from my experience..)

All the cpu's i use right now are OEM.

 

[Rubycon]

I remember getting handed a retail Intel CPU and reading the box...

It says to be professionally installed so I stopped right there.

 

[aigomorla]

It says to be professionally installed so I stopped right there.

Dayam i just voided all my warernties then.

Im not a Profesisonal installer.

 

[Rubycon]

It's not broken in until the warranty is voided.
The bank is your best warranty. If that fails I guess you have to go back to counting your dhrystones manually.

 

[JFAMD]

We sell server parts in 2 form factors: tray and boxed (PIB/WOF)

Tray come with 1 year warranty, you must buy in boxes of 60 for socket 1207 and 40 for socket G34 (5 trays...)

Boxed are PIB (processsor in box, which includes heatsink) and WOF (without fan - no heatsink/fan, just a raw processor). These have a 3 year warranty.

Exactly the same silicon, no difference in quality.

 

[Edgy]

When buying new, Retail is advantageous over OEM because:

1. Warranty (3 yrs Retail vs 1 yr OEM typically) AND at least in AMD's case, End-User can directly RMA with AMD on Retail Products but cannot do so on OEM since Retail Warranty coverage INCLUDEs End-Users and OEM Warranty covers .. well, OEMs and excludes End-Users.
2. Stock HS/Fan usually is included in Retail box of Retail CPU products (Black Edition AMD CPUs are an exception I think) but OEMs are bare CPU chip only.

At least in AMD's case, and I'm fairly sure it is same for Intel, there is absolutely no difference in quality or production method for either Retail CPU vs OEM CPU since ALL CPUs produced are in bare chip form and packaged in Trays (OEM). AMD then has what's called a packing centers whose sole purpose is to pack the individual Tray (OEM) CPUs from factory with Retail kit (HS Fan, manual, Retail box etc.,) to produce Retail Box CPU product.

As to determining if the CPU you bought second hand is Retail or OEM, as far as I can remember, you cannot - at least not by looking at the CPU chip itself.

The way AMD determines if CPU you're RMA'ing was sold as Retail vs OEM is by the Serial# sticker on the Retail box (I am pretty sure Serial# is not imprinted on CPU chip itself). Also AMD requires stock HS/Fan & original Retail box w/Serial# sticker to be returned for RMA process along with Serial# validation as well.

Therefore, if you get the Retail box with valid Serial# sticker on Retail box, along with the CPU chip and retail HS/Fan, chances are likely that was a Retail product during original purchase (of course someone might sell you an OEM purchased chip with any spare Retail box with Serial# sticker, in which case, as long as Serial# is validated as qualifying for RMA services, AMD will not know that the CPU chip was an OEM purchase either).

If someone tells you a chip they're re-selling was originally Retail product purchase but has no original Retail box with serial# sticker and no stock HS/Fan, then their claim may or may not be true but you would not be able to RMA with AMD directly as End-User and benefit from 3 year Warranty.

 

[gaidensensei]

Hey Ruby, I used the green laser to help me read the codes on the CPU in the dark since I didn't feel like taking out the chip. That was handy!



As far as identification goes, I guess this is the dilemma. We as enthusiasts know OEM and Retail have no differences in terms of usability. The question still remains is that when you're fronted asking if the chip is retail or OEM when you don't have the box or receipt is the issue I'm getting at.

As far as replacements go, in the past I remember having to RMA a P4 from intel. Times may have changed.. but the guy from the RMA dept told me to read some numbers off the IHS and that was it. Nothing from the box nor manual nor any questions like "did you install the heatsink correctly" blah blah. That was it.

This is why I assumed there's some way to determine this.. but I guess from the looks of it, the public does not know how yet..