Why Not More?

Right now, there’s a grand total of two places that are selling these 2100+ TBredB chips. Only PC Nut has joined Newegg in offering these CPUs, and both will be out until Tuesday.

BTW, PCNut is the only one that specifically states on the webpage that you’ll get an AIUHB CPU.

Newegg certainly knows it has something hot; they increased the price $17 from the time they first introduced it.

If Newegg and PCNut can do it, why can’t more places do the same?

There’s Gold In Them There Codes

Throughout the history of overclocking, only a handful of places at any one time have made a habit of identifying and offering CPUs of particular interest to overclockers.

This seems to be an increasingly unwise move. Newegg probably doesn’t make more than $10 on a CPU at that price. Now they’re making over $20. If they sell a hundred processors a day, that’s over a grand profit a day.

To be fair, I should note that PCNut is nowhere near as big as Newegg, and I know they pay more for their smaller shipments than a Newegg or Googlegear or the other warehouse folks.

And what did they have to do to get it? Just pay a little attention to their sales figures. How much could that have cost them?

How much would it cost any retailer to find out what the hot CPU is, make the effort to order them, and specifically identify them for sale? A few dozen bucks worth of time on the part of the staff?

If resellers don’t want to draw general attention to overclocking, they don’t have to say a word about it. Just say you have blankety-blank. Those who know will buy. Those who don’t will buy the regular, cheaper one.

This is especially true if you’re selling the things anyway, why should others make more money selling the same thing you do?

If there are resellers out there who have found that this causes problems, I’d like to hear them. I won’t identify you in any way, shape or form, I’m just curious to hear why.

Why Are You Telling People To Charge MORE?

Because a lot of people want to know what they’re getting rather than play craps.

Right now, trying to buy a better CPU is a mess. You try to buy a low-speed C1 stepping PIV; it’s like playing Russian Roulette with most of the chambers loaded (and that’s just to get the chance to play it again if you find or luck into one).

You have a few original B0s out there, a lot of B0 shrinks, and just a few C1. You can buy a chip today, and get something made last August or September.

It’s at least as bad with AMD chips. In all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never seen such a mess.

Under these circumstances, yes, I would pay an extra $10 to know for sure what the hell I’m getting, and I think most people who comprehend the current situation and don’t think they’ll magically get the chip they want just because they want it would, too.

For those who want to play Russian Roulette, there will be plenty of places that won’t do this, so go play there.

Email Ed

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