What is the difference between OEM and Retail?

[msi or epox]

Besides price what is the difference? I'm planning on going with an Opteron 146 but am unsure of whether i am going OEM/Tray or Retail.

 

[bladefd]

OEM is the cpu alone. No heatsink, no fan, no manual(I could be wrong about this one). Retail has a heatsink,fan,manual. For motherboards and cpu specifically, do NOT buy OEM's - Only get retails because if the OEM cpu comes defective, some sites don't give you credit back.

 

[imported_Tick]

Bah. Almost any site, aka any reputable one, will give you money back for a defective OEM cpu. And, OEM cpus tend to be cherrypicked, and hence better OC'ers.

 

[Slowlearner]

Warranty is also different, usually 3 years for retail and in days 30-60 for OEMs

 

[KoolDrew]

Retail comes with HSF and has a better warranty. If you are overclocking and bought your own HSF anyway just go OEM.

 

[msi or epox]

Yah I was planning on OC'ing and getting my own heatsink so it should be worth it for me to go OEM right?

-even if something goes wrong w/ the cpu and its not b/c of overclocking how can they tell i was oc'ing?