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FakeRyzen

AMD's Ryzen processor architecture has been a huge upgrade for the company, revitalizing its position in the desktop market and giving it a far stronger architecture with which to iterate confronting Intel. It may not completely reset the position Sunnyvale occupies against its larger rival, simply it definitely put AMD back in the ring. And unfortunately, some unscrupulous vendors are taking advantage of that popularity to sell mis-badged parts that deliberately prevarication about their provenance.

Information technology's a adequately sophisticated scheme, at least compared with earlier rebadge efforts, as Tom'south Hardware reports. The scammers buy up legitimate stocks of high-end parts, and then scans the CPU rut spreader. This image is then used to create a sticker for a imitation scrap that'll masquerade every bit a real core. The apocryphal CPU goes into the existent Ryzen box and gets shipped to buyers.

While in that location'due south some initial expenditure due to the cost of the real Ryzen 7 1800X parts and the scanning and printing equipment, someone trying to pull a scam similar this can appear and disappear into the digital ether in adequately short social club. And of class, from the exterior, the unabridged scam looks authentic, considering the box appears to exist genuine.

The scammer then returns the CPU box with the imitation CPU inside, receives a total refund, and can either sell the real Ryzen seven 1800X as an OEM part or as office of a white box PC. They may non get full cost for the product, merely information technology'southward pretty like shooting fish in a barrel to sell a $500 part for $400 when you're getting a full refund on every part yous sell.

Ryzen-Launch

While this is a stylized press prototype for Ryzen, you tin clearly run into the pins on the underside of the chip. Intel CPUs don't use this arrangement.

The goal isn't always to scam the consumer, but the retailer. Many retailers volition put returned hardware dorsum out for auction. I personally ran into this trouble with Newegg earlier this year, when a used Telly I was shipped appears to take been the exact broken unit of measurement that had been shipped to someone before me, who then left a poor review. Since the CPU looks visually identical to a proper Ryzen, it passes inspection.

Both AMD and Intel have websites discussing security features and serial number checks on their CPUs. But this may exist difficult to use, since it appears the scammers are returning valid boxes with CPUs that appear legitimate. AMD'due south anti-counterfeit features are all focused on the package, non the cadre itself.

Our advice is to but purchase directly from the company itself — Amazon, Newegg, or whichever your preferred provider is. Don't buy used fries unless sellers take extremely expert ratings. Even and then, check and brand sure those ratings are relatively recent. Always pay through methods that offer some kind of protection in the event of fraud. While we're on the topic, remember AMD doesn't offer LGA (Land Grid Assortment) consumer CPUs. If you see a chip like the ane in our feature paradigm above, it'southward definitely not an AMD design. Ryzen CPUs look much more like AMD's previous FX and Phenom 2 CPUs, or its APUs, then Intel's LGA 115x CPU families.