OEM vs. Retail

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ninethreeeleven

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If you plan on getting a "better" heatsink and fan for the CPU is there any reason not to get the OEM over the Retail?

The price is a little cheaper and the decision to OC is the reason for the seperate fan, but is there any reason to get Retail or OEM, besides cost?

thanx,
-9311 (super n00b to this site)
 
Retail carries a 3 year warranty, while OEM only has a 30 day warranty.

That is the only other difference as far as I can remember. Someone let me know if I am mistaken.
 
Doesn't putting an aftermarket HSF void the warranty on the retail cpu? I remember reading this somewhere.
 
I doubt it, since there's really no way they would know you didn't put the OEM HS on..
 
JRW160 said:
Retail carries a 3 year warranty, while OEM only has a 30 day warranty.

That is the only other difference as far as I can remember. Someone let me know if I am mistaken.
Click to expand...
Not all OEM CPUs carry only a 30-day warranty. In fact, the warranty length of OEM CPUs vary widely, by reseller. Some can be only 7 days or 14 days; some others can be 1 year or 3 years.

As for AMD voiding your warranty of your boxed CPU when an aftermarket heatsink is used, here is one sure way of validating that you've used the stock HSF: If your CPU has the residue from the original TIM stuck on your CPU, you've most likely used the stock HSF. Unfortunately, there is no sure way of telling whether the stock or AMD-recommended HSF or an overly heavy aftermarket HSF was used if there is any other residue or the lack of much residue on your CPU. (This applies only to AthlonMP/XP processors and Duron processors. Athlon64 series CPUs have their own heat spreader lids on them, so using phase-change pads is a no-no on those CPUs. Also, keep in mind that while AMD's Socket462 CPUs recommend phase-change pads, Athlon64's don't recommend such material at all - instead, Athlon64's recommend only regular, non-electrically-conductive thermal grease.)
 
Yep. 30 days is normal, but the warranty is set by the reseller, not the manufacturer. Some places offer longer warranties, others offer to sell you a longer warranty. Back before they became part of Insight TC Computers used to sell preassembled mobo + cpu bundles. I've bought a couple of these, and I know my dad picked up at least one. If you ordered a board + proc + HSF from them they'd put it together, test it, and give you a 3 year warranty. If you just bought the proc or didn't have them assemble it you got 30 days. I'm sure someone out there still does this.
 
Mwave has mobo & CPU combos where you get a free HSF and they give you a 1 year warranty on the CPU instead of the normal 30 days if you buy a OEM CPU seperate. But really, if you are going aftermarket HSF then theres really no point to buying a retail boxed CPU unless the warranty gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
 
past experience tells me to buy box retail. But then that past experience was like k6's...
Personally, I buy the box, due to the warranty, and I have had better overclocking luck with the boxed (presently have a week 0330 barton 2500+ grey color core - will run stock speed at 1.45volt... overclocked to 11x200 at 1.55 volt, and would overclock more cept for my motherboard and cheap power supply. ) I even had a 700 K7 from germany that overclocked well too. (and came with the big cooler that was used for the 1 ghz K7... )
But then others have had increadible luck with the OEM proc's too. So, if you have a good supplier that has great luck with OEM - go with that - My last 2 procs were from Newegg... and since I had great luck with them, I will continue buying newegg.
 
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