Retail Codes

A bit of a problem is emerging with the high-end TBirds.

We heard from some computer fair retailers that AMD is getting stricter about product returns. It looks like resellers are trying to pan off OEM chips back to AMD as retail chips fully warrantied by them. AMD has gotten smart to this, and is asking for the serial number of the heatsink/fan that comes with every retail package.

This rather discourages retailers from carrying OEM chips, and you might find that any retailer warranty is pure air if you do some slicing and dicing.

Under these circumstances, it’s understandable that some people might want to pay a bit more for the retail version and the three year warranty (although we must point out that overclocking does invalidate that warranty).

However, this causes a problem now that codes have become so important.

I don’t believe the important codes are printed on the box. Can’t say I’ve paid much attention to the retail version of the chips, but I also think the retail boxes are shrink-wrapped, and I doubt the average retailer is going to open one up for you just so you can look, never mind a bunch of them.

I sure hope I’m wrong about this, but if you’ve bought a retail version of a high-end (1Ghz or better) TBird in the last couple weeks, could you send me a note with the following info:

1. What codes (if any) are printed/pasted on the box?

2. What were the codes on the TBird you got?

Thanks!

Email Ed