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  • mindless1 - Sunday, November 27, 2005 - link

    Apparently my take on the article is quite different than everyone else's.

    I see it as pressure from distributors to promote price-fixing. That is bad for the consumer. Through collaberation some bean-counters have decided that they benefit more financially from doing this. Guess what they mean, bottom line? They can only benefit more financially by adding more middleman markup if it ultimately costs the consumer more. RIght now you might be thinking "usually only $10 more". That's not significant, in fact the cost of the OEM parts is keeping the retail parts LOWER, and without this supply of OEM parts you will no longer have any idea of how much more you're paying.

    The only thing offsetting this is the additional cost of 3rd party heatsinks (from an end-user perspective). Individual heatsink purchase is going to negate the current OEM/Retail price advantage but it isn't clear that this situation would persist once the OEM parts are out of the market.
  • Avalon - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link

    Most of the people here who buy OEM chips do so because they already have their own HSF and probably plan on overclocking as well, so the extra 3 year warranty is moot.
  • sprockkets - Saturday, October 15, 2005 - link

    Is AMD going to sell the notebook versions in retail pkg, or the low heat versions like they did with the Athlon? probably not!
  • xsilver - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link

    instead of throwing them out, you could use them as extra coolers for your hdd's
    duct tape is good if you're not too good with tools

    cools my hdd by almost 10deg.
    if you have a fan controller you can hook the fan up too
  • Tonymil - Friday, October 7, 2005 - link

    The only thing I don't like about the elimination of the OEM CPU's is the continued growth of SFF, HTPC, and other special use PC's. Typically, these either come with a custom HSF mechanism (think XPC) or are built with the intent of using a special HSF (think ultra quiet for HTPC or ultra cool for overclocking). For this growing population, the extra HSF is a total waste - we have to pay for the HSF, and then pay to ship the heavier package to us!

    I think that OEM CPU's should be limited in the same manner as OEM Microsoft software. To buy OEM Windows, you have to buy some hardware. So - set this up such that to buy an OEM CPU, you must buy it with an appropriate cooler.
  • jediknight - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link

    More choice is almost always a good thing. While, personally, when I built my system last year I opted for the retail chip.. I would like to have the option to go OEM if that suits my needs better.

    I think this is a bit of a cash grab on AMD's part.
  • plonk420 - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    Retail is BS as long as i'm building for myself. someone mentioned that you can just throw the fans in the trash. someone else mentioned that they are "pretty much as good as most you can buy."

    for one thing, the money i have saved buying retail amounts to two DVDROMs or two CDRWs i can sell with my system (who wants to buy a driveless system?) when it needs to be retired...

    as for how good it is, i used the AMD branded HSF that came with my two Athlon 64s, they were louder than the loudest, cheapest Athlon XP HSF i've ever been afflicted with. they were in the system for all of 5 minutes. they work, but they are trash.
  • Generic Guy - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    I've bought AMD64's in the retail packaging, mostly for the 3-year warranty coverage. But I also understand people would want CPU-only for, say, dual-processor boards or if they have their own cooling system.

    I just don't understand why AMD -- you know, the guys who are suing Intel over price-fixing and market maniplulation -- why would AMD now be going down this road to assure 'predetermined price' for vendors. That's not at all reflective of free market forces which AMD has been complaining about Intel. I've noticed that AMD chips have over time been getting more and more expensive, and this will make it even more so. I'm almost leaning back into the Pentium camp, if Intel can get the heat-furnace issues under control.
  • johnsonx - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    While I can certainly see a few downsides to this, overall I think this is a good change.

    You know who might be most upset by this? The HSF makers who sell cheap OEM-equivalent HSF's. The only reason to buy those $6.00 HSF's was when you could get an OEM chip much cheaper than retail and then buy a cheap HSF to go with it. Now the only reason to buy a HSF (aside from the replacing a failed OEM unit) is to get an expensive one that's either silent or good for extreme OC.

    Of course, I suppose the cheap HSF maker's market probably isn't primarily retail, but sales to OEMs who of course will still buy OEM chips.
  • kleinwl - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    I don't know where you guys are getting the $10 pricing information. Ewiz is $112 for a 3000+ venice, where the retail is $149. Why would I waste the $37 that I would otherwise spend on an aftermarket heat sink. For a low cost build, the cost is significant.
  • BigLan - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    Amen to that.... oem chips are all I've ever bought because they're cheap, and traditionally amd chips were cheaper than Intel. Like another comment said, AMD seem to be getting more and more expensive.

    Another thought - how many people have actually had to RMA a chip after more than an month? In my experience if it works when you first install it, it's probably not going to have a problem.
  • BigLan - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    From the new A64 overclocking guide

    "The price of entry for the cheapest Venice core (the 3000+) is once again very low; $120 for the OEM model, or $145 for the retail version."

    That's a 20% difference right there.
  • TrogdorJW - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    Apparently, the Venice 3200+ is even a bigger gap: OEM = $140, retail = $190. That's 36%!

    That said, the drop in prices of Venice OEM chips is probably due to exactly what this article states: an attempt to clear out excess OEM inventory before AMD introduces harsher measures. Two months ago, the difference was not anywhere near 20%, let alone 35%.
  • Falloutboy - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    I cans ee there point of view, but I normally by OEM not for the cheaper price but because alot of retailers let you choose or atleast know exactly what stepping chip your buying. I also don't like the fact that you won't be able to purchace any of the DTR Laptop chips since those were always exclusivly OEM chips
  • Beenthere - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    There are a LOT of questionable Marketeers out there who get back door deals on OEM chips and then peddle them to unsuspecting consumers. AMD's decision is a sound one and even if you don't care for the OEM heatsink, the three year warranty is worth the $10. If I had a dollar for every person who couldn't get some slimeball Marketeer to warranty a CPU, I'd be a millionaire. Of course if I had a dollar for every PC enthusiast who fried or damaged a CPU through negligence...I'd also be a millionaire.
  • imaheadcase - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    The latest heatsink/fan on retail amd CPUs are pretty much as good as most you can buy.
  • Calin - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link

    No they are not. But they are at least as good as any other $10 heat sink and fan.
    They aren't very high performance, and not completely silent. However, I bet you should pay 3x more for either a high performance or a silent cooling setup
  • Lifted - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    A purely marketing move. They just want to improve their brand name. The only difference it will make is with cheaper Semprons where the added cost of a retail chip could be upwards of 15% or so, but you still get the heatsink and fan anyway, so it's a wash.
  • Quiksel - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    AND the warranty
  • Samus - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    God Damn, from all the retail boxes I've been forced to buy, I've accumulated a massive stack of HSF's.

    All my CPU's are going into SFF's that have their own cooling system.
  • RandomFool - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    I know this is going to sound weird, but they make these little buckets you can put all the extra HFS's in and then once a week a man in a big truck comes and takes everything inside them away. It's pretty neat.
  • Brian23 - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    ooooh the magical man that's making people happy! He lives in a gumdrop house on lollypop lane!

  • akugami - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    While other components like HD's may differ, the pricing on OEM and retail cpu's are rarely larger than $10 USD's anyways. The 3 year warranty on retail CPU's mean that most people opt for retail versions of the same CPU. Especially considerin the longer warranty and the HSF that comes with the retail versions.
  • Brian23 - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    I would only buy a retail box chip anyways.
  • Calin - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link

    I don't think those $10 are so much for an $150 chip - especially than many people that buy them will be happy with the included (retail) heat sink.
  • AtaStrumf - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    Maybe those counterfeit chips sprung AMD into action. I agree with AMD on this one. For a few $$ more you get a POA, a perfectly decent HSF and a 3 year warranty.
  • highlnder69 - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    Even if you do not use the heatsink/fan, I would not throw them away. In order to get your retail processor replaced when something happens to it, you need a code from the heatsink so they can verify that it was from a retail box. At least thats what I needed to do when I needed to get an Athlon XP 2500+ replaced when the systemboard went bad and took the processor along with it.
  • mindless1 - Sunday, November 27, 2005 - link

    That's fraud.

    You cannot get a CPU replaced because the motherboard killed it, that is not covered. Truth is, CPus don't generally fail, they're either defective right at the start, obvious during the vendor warranty period, or last several years unless subject to a non-warrantied fault whether it be the board or overclocking or user error, etc.
  • Live - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    I have always bought without the retail package. Why pay extra for a fan and heatsink you are never going to use? While I can understand AMDs reasoning what does the system builders say?
  • smn198 - Monday, October 3, 2005 - link

    Down goes the Coolermaster stock...

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