OEMS?

[greergirl]

Hi All,

I'm new here and in the midst of building a computer. However I've only bought retail beforehand
so I was wondering if you could clue me in to what really OEMs are all about? I keep having this
feeling like I am missing some fine print on these items, or that they're not as good as retail. I do
know that with things like DVD/CD-R combos they come without software, etc. How does OEM
work with CPUs? What am I missing?
While I'm at it, I guess I'll ask if there is any big difference in the AMD64 3500+ and the more expensive version with the Winchester 90nm if I do not really plan on OCing at this time? Any info you could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[CheesePoofs]

With OEM parts, all you get is the actual part, no extras. So for a cpu, you have just the cpu, not HSF or thermal paste. So you have to get your own HSF and thermal paste. the people who buy oem cpu's are usually people who want to overclock their computer, so they don't want to use the retail HSF. but with an A64, the retail fan will work fine, so you should just get the retail CPU, even if you want to OC in the future.

 

[DaveSimmons]

For CPU info, click the "CPU" tab at the top of the screen, or you could try typing "winchester" into the search box.

OEM vs. retail varies by type of part:
* CPU: no heatsink, short warranty
* Motherboard: warranty, sometimes no extra parts, cables, software.
* hard drives: no cable or controller card, but sometimes a better warranty. Must download the disk utility for drive if you need it
* video cards: warranty, software, and sometimes an OEM model might be clocked at lower speed

Just read the descriptions carefully and look at the pictures (at newegg.com) to see the differences.

 

[greergirl]

Thanks to both of you!