More newbie questions ------

[Soren]

I have been looking around; and seen things on processors..

What is the difference [other than cost :mad: ] of OEM and RETAIL!?

Does it matter, what changes, etcetera.

Thanks,

Joe Newbie

[Breadfan]

The main difference, in my eyes, is price. OEM CPU's are typically cheaper than Retail CPU's of the same speed.

The difference lies in the name. Retail CPU's are meant for retail sales, whereas OEM cpu's are meant to be sold in bulk to people who build systems to sell the systems retail. In that case, they don't need the retail packaging, as they will be selling the CPU already installed in a system!

Retail CPU's usually include retail packaging, a heatsink/fan, and most likely, installation instructions, and possibly better technical support.

OEM cpu's are usually just bare cpu's with no hsf.

There is no difference in quality or speed, and since us overclockers usually would never use the cheesy retail hsf (espeically for AMD...), it is better for us to go the OEM route to save a few bucks.

Hope this helps.
Mike

[Soren]

w00t w00t! Save the newbie money!

[turok]

isn't there a difference in warranty too??????
that i know of...yadda yadda yadda

[Breadfan]

I think there may be a warranty differnce yeah...then again you hear of people RMAing OEM cpu's...I'm not sure of the details there, perhaps someone could give some insight...the warranties may be vendor specific too...

At anyrate, most of the stuff we do voids warranties anyway :) Sometimes I don't even pay attention to a warranty!

Mike

[Diggrr]

Yup, the OEM package comes with the (crappy) HSF , instructions, and a two year warranty.
If you're smart you'll trash that HSF, and as soon as you overclock/unlock, the warranty is junk too. (unless you use a removable bridging technique, and lie like crazy...;) )

[Cluster]

Here's the clear difference that I have been told.

Warranty: With OEM you usually get one year with the store that you bought it from. With reatail you get a 3 year warranty with the manufacturer(Amd/Intel).

Protection: OEM's come in a plastic case and can easily be opened and remarked/overclocked and sold for more. Retail comes in a box that is sealed and is certiefied by AMD or Intel.

Cost: Obviously Retail costs more than OEM.

That's basically it, not much difference in performance, at least with processors. I know that with ATI video cards the OEM version is lower quality than Retail. Usually and OEM product will be ~10% cheaper. I hope this answers your question, if I missed something or you have more questions, feel free to ask away. Oh ya, and welcome to the forums.

[Yodums]

Like they said. OEM isn't equipped with anything like manual drivers and a fancy cover or anything they may just stick it in an anti-static bag and give it to you like so. It comes with maybe months to a year waranty. Performance depends on what the item is. As Intel OEM Chip which are Philipine chips are overclocking better than retail and even when you overclock the waranty is already voided but they don't know that.

Yodums

[Mike K]

A while back I bought a OEM 1GHZ T-bird. It just came in a plastic container but it had instructions. On the instructions it said I had a 30-day warranty!:eek: