Retail vs. OEM PIII

[BlackFalcon]

I've heard that OEM PIIIs are cut from a portion of the wafer that give inferior performance (vs. retail)? Has anyone found this to be true? Perhaps there is an article comparing retail vs. oem processors?
I don't need the HSF that comes with the processor and will invalidate the warranty by overclocking so don't need that. In other words, is it worth saving the money and going OEM?
P.S. If anyone has a suggestion on where to get a PIII 750 FCPGA with cb0 or a CUSL2 motherboard please respond.

 

[AndyHui]

It's a rumour...not always true.

I've got a retail cB0 700E on an ASUS CUSL2 that won't do 933. Some people believe that retail CPU's are cherry picked, although I think the real issue is the warranty difference and the heatsink/fan unit.

 

[KarsinTheHutt]

I don't know about that...

Are the OEM CPUs we buy the same as the ones shipped to Dell, IBM, etc? Does anyone know?

 

[AMB]

I would go retail with Intel and OEM with AMD

 

[Burn]

That has been a rumor for a long time. But I have never seen proof to back it up. My P3 650E OEM runs just fine at 975Mhz with stock voltage.

 

[Tripleshot]

KarsinTheHutt
In a word , yes.The OEM cpu is from the same batch of CPU's sent to Dell or Gateway IF the vendor has good connections.We resellers establish accounts with wholesallers who have purchasing power to buy in reletively large quantities.Therefor they can get the same chips as Dell or Gateway in the same fashion.The OEM cpu is shipped in 'Trays" This is the way OEM's get thiers. They are easier to handle that way. They are of the same quality as retail{can you imagine testing and segregating retail from OEM right from the wafer?)

As I understand it, "grey market" cpu's are the ones to stay away from.These are rejects for 1 cause or another,and the usual splee is "but it won't effect what you are going to do with your system"
But,I don't know everything.It's just my observations.

 

[DaddyG]

Sure its real smart for Intel to send the customer like DELL, Gateway, HP and Compaq the crap and box up special cpus for the retail market. The OEMs account for prolly 95% of Intel business, makes sense to send em crap, ROFL.

 

[konichiwa]

AndyHui

You might want to check the other stuff in your system, because I doubt that cB0 processor is what's holding you back.

 

[Euclid]

There is sometimes a difference in rated temperature
between OEM and Retail parts. There can also be a difference
in rated voltage (Intel will make Dell a special voltage
part if they want one...)

Check the specs before you buy. Otherwise, the parts are
identical

 

[pm]

There is no difference in quality between OEM and retail CPU's. If a processor passes the tester at a specified frequency it is labelled as such without regard to whether it is intended for the OEM or the retail market.

Gray market CPUs are generally OEM overstock sold back into the channel... ie. an OEM buys too many processors and then sells them. The risk with gray market processors is that you don't know where it came from.

Patrick Mahoney
IA64 Microprocessor Design Engineer
Intel Corp.
pmahoney@mipos2.intel.com

* Not speaking for Intel Corp. *

 

[BigToque]

pm

you should send me a Retail and OEM P3700e and let me be the judge of quality.

 

[KarsinTheHutt]

Hmmm. I beleive you pm, but I agree with Stephan. We need to confirm this for ourselves...

a cB0 P3-700e would be nice

 

[AndyHui]

konichiwa: what would be holding me back?

I have ASUS CUSL2, 128MB PC133 SDRAM, CL GeForce 2 GTS, Quantum LM 20GB, SBLive VE...

I get a hard lock while booting up Win98 at default voltage 933MHz.
I can increase the voltage and boot into windows and do stuff there, but once I start playing games, it hangs after 5 minutes. The CLA2 is not overclocked.

 

[compuwiz1]

KarsinTheHutt, the man works for Intel. Do you really believe there is anything else to verify? I can tell you it makes no difference. The Celerons I've been testing have actually been worse on some days from the Retail boxed, than OEM. Other days it's the other way around. It is not consistent one way or another. I can tell you my most disappointing PIIIs have been 700E Week 22 Retail Boxed from the Philippines. I had 4 in a row that would not even post on 133MHz fsb and the max they would run was 124MHz fsb, and at 1.8v or greater.

 

[AndyHui]

Argh!!! My P3-700E is a week 22...but it's from Malaysia...:|