Warning about buying Intel CPU's

seano14 · 30-03-2005, 11:17 AM

Hey dudes,

im now $386 out of pocket for buying a brand new intel p4 3.2ghz chip which was faulty straight out of the box. (the chip had a pin missing)
i would advise anyone here to rethink buying intel chips because their support for customers is absolutely shocking.

point of sale would not replace even though i took it back the next day.

and to top it all off intel reckon it was "customer induced damage" and will not be replacing it.

in the end though i have been treated like a criminal from the start and presumed guilty. its now been almost a month and I still have not had any luck.

neb · 30-03-2005, 11:35 AM

thats pretty bad.. i would of thought the shop you bought it from would give you a replacement if you returned it there?

EA2BA · 30-03-2005, 11:41 AM

Well I think in light of that, I will have them open the box at point of sale and inspect the chip before I fork my dollars over.

seano14 · 30-03-2005, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neb

thats pretty bad.. i would of thought the shop you bought it from would give you a replacement if you returned it there?

you would think so, they had a 7 day return policy. seems to count for crap all though.

here are some pictures. intel have been shown these....

chip with missing pin. it was pretty much incinuated that i had dropped it. i would love to see someone drop this and knock out a single pin only, let alone without cracking the silicon.

picture of the box which i noticed later. possibility that the seal had been lifted and then replaced in a slightly different position, note the sticky patch.

30-03-2005, 11:56 AM

when buying stuff like this i always check the box to make sure its sealed no matter where i buy it from, and as the others have suggested. open it in front of them.

but it looks like someone has broken that one and put it back or swapped it. check the numbers on the box compared to the chip.

Failing this. Call the ACCC and explain to them what happened.

seano14 · 30-03-2005, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james

Failing this. Call the ACCC and explain to them what happened.

they say its my word against theirs.

once again the little man loses out against multimilliondollar corporations.

EA2BA · 30-03-2005, 12:17 PM

just solder a pin on to it, and hope it works

seano14 · 30-03-2005, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dellboy999

just solder a pin on to it, and hope it works

i found no pin in the package and it wasnt on the desk i opened it up on....

DivHunter · 30-03-2005, 12:31 PM

Maybe this is why AMD chips come in sealed clear plastic packaging.

Always get the store to fit the CPU to the board, much easier that way.

And... Holy Shit! almost $400 for a processor! Hope you were buying for a business and not yourself. AMD all the way, Athlon 64bit 3200 $300 and if you only need 32bit the Semprons are awesome bang for buck.

Solder a pin to it, probably find the chip is stuffed as well.

BlueRaven · 30-03-2005, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seano14

i found no pin in the package and it wasnt on the desk i opened it up on....

Do you have any old processors you could murder?

It might be worth repairing it as long as you are really really careful when you do it. Maybe you could put the pin in the coresponding slot on the motherboard so its 'touching' the cpu but not actually soldered in..

paul7v7 · 30-03-2005, 12:37 PM

hmmm bugger goodluck i would be screaming blue murder....*refers to my personality disorder or common bouts of anger*

i used to buy my athlon chips without a container and never thought of this hehehe..damn lucky got my A 64 in a sealed container...but i would have thought the store should take back the faulty chip..hmmm

seano14 · 30-03-2005, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueRaven

Do you have any old processors you could murder?

only the 2.0 celeron im using at the moment. i dont exactly want to go down a path that will leave me with 2 screwed cpus

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueRaven

It might be worth repairing it as long as you are really really careful when you do it. Maybe you could put the pin in the coresponding slot on the motherboard so its 'touching' the cpu but not actually soldered in..

may continue down this road if i get knocked back from intel this last time but i believe the pins are shorter than the hole in the board.. if you were to drop one in it would go down too far

Mike Gayner · 30-03-2005, 03:53 PM

That sucks man. I agree with the others, do a repair job yourself. If you get a fien tip for your soldering iron and you are quick and very careful you should be able to repair this chip fairly easily. Not that you should have to, but what can you really do against a company like Intel. I've always bought AMD CPUs and probably always will.

Quasi · 30-03-2005, 04:39 PM

Intel Processors are also sealed, in shrinkwrap. If the processor you're buying isn't, then don't. If the retailer doesn't have any that are shrinkwrapped, go elsewhere.

By the way, was that 3.2GHz CPU with 512k, or 1Mb, cache?

http://www.custo.com.au/category.asp...10003062600201

V8 Ghia · 30-03-2005, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Gayner

That sucks man. I agree with the others, do a repair job yourself. If you get a fien tip for your soldering iron and you are quick and very careful you should be able to repair this chip fairly easily. Not that you should have to, but what can you really do against a company like Intel. I've always bought AMD CPUs and probably always will.

I would only try repairing as a last resort, as a P4 chip has extremely thin tracks inside it any heat applied may cause tracks (Or silicon junctions) to break.

Racecraft · 30-03-2005, 05:13 PM

I'd be more upset at where I bought the chip from than Intel itself. Looking at the package picture it has been tampered with along the way and highly unlikely it left the Intel factory in that condition.

Kick up a big stink in the store you bought it from!!!!

I buy all my hardware from the one store so I have a customer ID and they always look after me, but on something like this it seems your PC shop have sold you a dud!

seano14 · 30-03-2005, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quasi

Intel Processors are also sealed, in shrinkwrap. If the processor you're buying isn't, then don't. If the retailer doesn't have any that are shrinkwrapped, go elsewhere.

By the way, was that 3.2GHz CPU with 512k, or 1Mb, cache?

http://www.custo.com.au/category.asp...10003062600201

quas mate are you 100% sure all are shrink wrapped? mine was not and even has 3.2c written on the box in biro

M14A-Mclaren · 30-03-2005, 05:56 PM

Thats pretty shit customer service, for all the money intel make they should replace it. My next processor will probably be a AMD.

Dez · 30-03-2005, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seano14

quas mate are you 100% sure all are shrink wrapped? mine was not and even has 3.2c written on the box in biro

i dont recall my CPU being shrink wrapped when i bought it....it was in its sealed intel box of course, but dont think the CPU was shrink wrapped....

Racecraft · 30-03-2005, 06:01 PM

my last intel chip was in a heatshrinked bag iirc

RED_EL_XR8 · 30-03-2005, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seano14

quas mate are you 100% sure all are shrink wrapped? mine was not and even has 3.2c written on the box in biro

Only the retail supplied CPU's wil come in pretty coloured shrinkwrapped boxes, but you will glad you paid all the extra $$'s for the installation instuctions to also be available in Swahili.
OEM cpu's can be supplied in crystal plastic antistatic containers or in multichip packages. Guess which ones are cheaper?

seano14 · 30-03-2005, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RED_EL_XR8

Only the retail supplied CPU's wil come in pretty coloured shrinkwrapped boxes, but you will glad you paid all the extra $$'s for the installation instuctions to also be available in Swahili.
OEM cpu's can be supplied in crystal plastic antistatic containers or in multichip packages. Guess which ones are cheaper?

mine is the complete retail box, no shrink wrap...

i know a dude who works in a computer store so i might double check it with him. if all are shrink wrapped then its clear this one was opened.

RED_EL_XR8 · 30-03-2005, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seano14

mine is the complete retail box, no shrink wrap...

i know a dude who works in a computer store so i might double check it with him. if all are shrink wrapped then its clear this one was opened.

Retail boxes will alwayd be shrink wrapped from Intel, that doesn't mean that is the condition they will be in when you get them over the counter.

Dez · 30-03-2005, 06:17 PM

mine was retail, and was un-opened, had not been touched....but i dont remember removing shrink wrap.

*rayman* · 30-03-2005, 06:31 PM

they were shrink wrapped up until about the 2.6 or 2.8's, they just come in a box with the perforated tear open line now.....

Get a 'Genuine Intel Dealer' - GID to get it sorted out with intel for you... we rarely have any problems with intel!!!!!!!! And they have even covered stuff for us out of warranty etc.

Dez · 30-03-2005, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *rayman*

they were shrink wrapped up until about the 2.6 or 2.8's, they just come in a box with the perforated tear open line now.....

Get a 'Genuine Intel Dealer' - GID to get it sorted out with intel for you... we rarely have any problems with intel!!!!!!!! And they have even covered stuff for us out of warranty etc.

yep. mine was the retail version of the 2.6, and wasnt shrink wrapped....but you can tell when something hasn't been tampered with....and mine was fine.

chief · 30-03-2005, 08:28 PM

I work in a computer store and you are not the only one this has happened to. Intels return system is crap. You have to FedEx the chip back to Malaysia. Wait a couple of months for them to assess the chip and if you are very lucky they will exchange it only once every 5 attempts.

Laminge · 30-03-2005, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dez

yep. mine was the retail version of the 2.6, and wasnt shrink wrapped....but you can tell when something hasn't been tampered with....and mine was fine.

Are you sure Dez, thats the 3rd time youve told us!!

:

XR8GRL · 30-03-2005, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laminge

Are you sure Dez, thats the 3rd time youve told us!!

:

Dez · 30-03-2005, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XRGirl

****edited by Laminge*****

i repeated myself because people continue to doubt other people....even though they are talking from first hand experience