To OEM? or NOT to OEM???

[sianof]

Is it better to buy Retail versus OEM if you can afford it? Does that mean that they will give you a new chip if you cook it within 3 years? or does that have limitations as if you overclock and fry it you get squat?
Let me know

 

[The_Lurker]

Originally posted by: sianof
Is it better to buy Retail versus OEM if you can afford it? Does that mean that they will give you a new chip if you cook it within 3 years? or does that have limitations as if you overclock and fry it you get squat?
Let me know

Well... most of the time, they can't tell if you've overclocked the chip, and as far as their concerned, it's just a defective chipped. The only problem? Ethics. If you overclock the chip, it directly violates the warrantee conditions, and if you do ask for a replacement, you're merely stealing from the company. Otherwise, getting a REtail does give u 3 years as well as a crappy retail cooler (if you're overclocking, dun use it anyways), but going OEM will save you a few bux.

 

[pillage2001]

Never bought a retail chip before. OEM all the way.

 

[chizow]

There's actually some benefits right now to getting a retail.

1) Its only a few bucks more expensive, and in Newegg's case, sometimes cheaper (by a lot for the 2500+ Barton).

2) The retail chips are currently coming back with better/later steppings than their OEM counterparts. Many 1700+s are coming back as T-bred As.

3) You get a crappy fan, which can be good as a backup or free sink on an older CPU.

4) You get an AMD case badge.

5) You get the extra warranty.

I should have my Barton Retail 2500+ Thursday if Googlegear ever decides to go from "Packed" to "Shipped." First retail AMD I've ever bought.

Chiz

 

[fhetw]

each has it pros and cons from and overclocking standpoint. generally in the past you would want an oem chip because (a)cheaper and warranty is useless(voided) (b) gauranteed stepping.
however now some places are starting to gaurantee retail stepping which is nice.
chizow's #2 also seems to becoming true at least for some stores.

 

[orion7144]

Originally posted by: chizow
There's actually some benefits right now to getting a retail.


4) You get an AMD case badge.

Chiz

Or better yet an INTEL case badge

 

[ROJAS]

Retail P4 1.6a with stock voltage, stock HSF running at 2.4Ghz at cpu idle 27-28 celsius, after 1 hour Unreal, cpu=32-34 degrees celsius.

1 gig DDR333 PC2700 Samsung, Geforce4 TI4400 128meg videocard overclocked, Liteon 52x cd burner, Logitech Z560 speakers, Maxtor 80 gb, 120Gb ultra133, 7200rpm fluid hard drives, Viewsonic PF790 19 inch professional series .25 aperature grille.

I might up the stock settings one day and see if I can push anymore out. It's just running so smooth at 2.4Ghz in Antec SX1040 w/430w p.s.

P.S. I have never tried to get it running colder in temps.

ROJAS

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

Originally posted by: ROJAS
Retail P4 1.6a with stock voltage, stock HSF running at 2.4Ghz at cpu idle 27-28 celsius, after 1 hour Unreal, cpu=32-34 degrees celsius.


P.S. I have never tried to get it running colder in temps.

ROJAS

Jeez, you live in the North Pole or something:Q? I have watercooling going on my P4 and my temps don't get that low (well, my System temp does). What are you using to monitor your temps? what motherboard?

sianof: first off, if you're not an extreme overclocker (using excessive voltage to push the outer limits of your o/c) and do not already have a heatsink for the cpu of your choice, $15 extra for a retail cpu is totally worth it, IMHO. The Intel heatsinks do a particularly nice job but the AMD 'sinks are no slouch, either. The key is to stay away from higher Vcore voltages with retail heatsinks, since they cannot effectively dissipate heat beyond a certain wattage; with Intel cpu's the recommendation is never to exceed 1.7Vcore anyway, so you don't kill your chip. AMD cpu's seem to take a whole lot more voltage but then you'd better look into a really nice heatsink like the SLK800. Another reason to look into a retail cpu vs. OEM is the duration of ownership; if you're hardcore, then you'll get the nicer aftermarket heatsink but you're also not likely to own the cpu for even a year, so why pay the premium for either feature? Just my $0.02.

 

[ROJAS]

ASUS Probe 2.19.05 for temp readings on a ASUS P4S533 m.b. I have 2 P4 systems both identical on ANTEC SX1040 and ANTEC SX1080 setup with P4 1.6a NorthWood at 2.4Ghz and both cases ar within a degree or so of each other.

ROJAS