Newegg selling Fake Intel CPUs

[Demon-Xanth]

Something else to chew on.

Just as this story broke and became widespread Newegg increased the price of the AMD PII X4 965. Newegg had been selling the 965 at $180.00 with free shipping for about a month but after people started receiving bad i7s the price was increased to $210 with $7 shipping.

I've been noticing part prices increasing as a whole since November. I've been wanting to order some parts but it's hard to when every single component is going. The SSD, the CPU, the RAM, the MB. They've all risen. So I doubt it's due to this snafu.

 

[mmntech]

Newegg's supplier D&H is apparently sending out cease and desist notices to sites reporting the story. HardOCP got one which is demanding they publically apologize for linking they supplier to the scandal.
http://gizmodo.com/5488106/a-bizarre-story-newegg-fake-core-i7-processors-and-a-cease--desist-order

Newegg is claiming that the supplier "mistakenly" shipped "demo boxes". Intel claims they are indeed counterfeit CPUs.
http://hardocp.com/news/2010/03/07/intel_comment_on_fake_cpu_debacle_raises_more_questions

Vary bad news for Newegg either way. It's a major PR blow.

 

[Rubycon]

Newegg's supplier D&H is apparently sending out cease and desist notices to sites reporting the story. HardOCP got one which is demanding they publically apologize for linking they supplier to the scandal.
http://gizmodo.com/5488106/a-bizarre-story-newegg-fake-core-i7-processors-and-a-cease--desist-order

Newegg is claiming that the supplier "mistakenly" shipped "demo boxes". Intel claims they are indeed counterfeit CPUs.
http://hardocp.com/news/2010/03/07/intel_comment_on_fake_cpu_debacle_raises_more_questions

Vary bad news for Newegg either way. It's a major PR blow.

Sometimes you have to break an egg to make an omelet. These are probably gourmet omelets since they cracked a few - new eggs.

 

[Rudee]

It's possible its a scam. By the purchaser.
It would be interesting to see what Newegg and UPS recorded for the weight of the package.

One of the oldest tricks in the book. Purchaser buys legitimate item, removes it and either returns it normally or returns it saying the product he received was a fake.

 

[OutHouse]

One of the oldest tricks in the book. Purchaser buys legitimate item, removes it and either returns it normally or returns it saying the product he received was a fake.

so you are saying the purchasers are running a scam?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Chances are Newegg doesn't buy in large enough volumes to deal directly with Intel.

Kidding, right?

 

[SuperSix]

Wow - alot of FUD in this thread.

I will start off by stating I work for one of Newegg's Intel distributors, no, not D&H, but an Intel-authorized distributor of their CPUs. They buy quite a lot of Intel, AMD, WD, DLink, etc from us.

I *highly* doubt D&H had anything to do with it. I'm not sure where the rumor started - but I think Kyle at HARDOCP started it. He's a webmaster with a popular site - doesn't know half as much about distribution as he thinks he does. That being said – I again, don’t think D&H has anything to do with it. Even if it comes down that they ARE the disty that Newegg purchased the CPUs from – it would fall back on a theft in Intel’s hands in China, Taiwan, Malay – wherever they may have been made.

The more likely scenario is that Newegg is buying on the open (gray) market – a very dangerous thing for them to do, given their reliance on back-end funding from Intel. They sell almost all of their CPUs below cost, buffering the loss with their advertising and back end comp from Intel.

Intel now knows about this – and Newegg may very well get audited – they are not supposed to get back end funds/Flex points/etc when purchasing from a non-Intel authorized source. Newegg is getting what it deserves for playing in the gray market – the fall out from this is far from over.

 

[HannibalX]

Kidding, right?

The volume of sales dictates what resellers pay to Intel. Companies like Newegg just don't move enough CPUs to get good volume pricing with manufacturers so they result to buying through distributors who purchase huuuge volumes and sell to littler guys like Newegg - yes, Newegg is a little guy in the grand scheme of processor sales. Dell, HP, Acer, IBM and other distributors are the big money makers for Intel, AMD, etc.

 

[PsiStar]

No modern Intel CPU has pins. The pins are in the board. I guess he was used to AMDs, which still use pins on the CPU.

Pins/pads what ever ... he said there were none. Don't read so literally.

 

[ViviTheMage]

hahaha

 

[PsiStar]

Cool theory, bro, but it fails to take into account that the fab in Malaysia has been making and shipping Intel cpus for years and years. So why would the fab suddenly put out boxes with horrendous spelling errors on them when they've been doing perfect work for years prior to that.

I even looked through my little stack of empty Intel retail boxes, most were from Malaysia, and they go back well before 2008. So, you're saying years of being able to perfectly print English on previous boxes, including the i5 750 and i7 920 boxes I have, became a mystery and obstacle to them?

I think not.

Just because you want to think something does not mean it is so. I floated this just as a more credible story as any other crap out there. And, yes, what I describe IS done. But I do not *know* that this is the case for this.

The spelling errors are not horrendous ... overly dramatic are we? The word/space breaks are in the wrong locations. It is interesting that the French(?) just below the English contents description (with the HORRENDOUS spelling errors) is correct.

 

[Q]

This story is becoming very interesting

 

[Zebo]

I'm betting someone got a box of packaging validation mockup units. And screwed up by actually shipping them.

No Mistake.The printed box where factory seal should be in give away of intentional counterfeit.
Why would they make different boxes? Costs more.
Why wouldn't they just slap their cheap real labels on?
Why the spelling errors?

 

[Capt Caveman]

Newegg customers get fake Core i7 CPUs

Newegg is aware of a shipping error that occurred with certain recent orders of the Intel Core i7-920 CPU. After investigating the issue internally it appears one of our long term partners mistakenly shipped a small number of demo boxes instead of functional units. Our customer service team has already begun proactively reaching out to the affected customers. In line with our commitment to ensure total customer satisfaction, we are doing everything in our power to resolve the issue as soon as possible and with the least amount of inconvenience to our customers.

 

[BladeVenom]

I *highly* doubt D&H had anything to do with it. I'm not sure where the rumor started - but I think Kyle at HARDOCP started it. He's a webmaster with a popular site - doesn't know half as much about distribution as he thinks he does. That being said – I again, don’t think D&H has anything to do with it.

You're right, and Kyle's wrong. The latest news is that Newegg got them from Ipex and has canceled their contract with them. D&H was an innocent victim who had nothing to do with the whole mess.

 

[rahvin]

http://www.facebook.com/notes/neweg...920-cpu-situation/400548248571?_fb_noscript=1

Newegg's facebook page now says it was a distributor (not the one Kyle pulled out of his ass) and that the distributor has been fired. Intel's also involved at this point. Chances are someone's going to go to jail now. Now that Intel is involved they will have involved the FBI as at the dollar value involved it's Federal counterfeiting territory now. At the very least NewEgg announcing the dealer's name is going to destroy said dealers business pretty thoroughly.

It's pretty sad, a lot of people are going to be hurt pretty badly over this and the few that did it will be facing a federal investigation that isn't going to heal the damage done. The only bright side is Newegg is eating the loss on the processors so no consumer is going to be hurt by it but that's $75k out of NewEgg's pocket that they will now need to make up with higher prices.

It's really sad that people will do this to make money. Personally I wouldn't be surprised in the least if organized crime is involved. The funny thing is they didn't even bother to fix the spelling errors on their fake boxes, it's those spelling errors and other defects that are the forensic evidence that will probably lead the FBI to the perpetrators.

 

[aigomorla]

If they made the boxes real.. they could pass it off as demo's

But it was so horribly spelled, and so poorly counterfitted, its obvious that they are fakes.

Intel wont take this sitting down. It doesnt just hurt the distributors but it also hurts intel directly.

I hate to say this, but because of the spelling errors, i think the chips will be sourced out of country... to be more exact, china.

I couldnt see an american putting:

1. This much work into 920's instead of 940's or 960, 975EE, or 980X EE's.
2. Making that many spelling errors when putting in that much work.

So it makes it seem to me, it was cheap labor.. most likely sourced out of country.

 

[Lonbjerg]

A guy in denmark now have gotten one of these fake i7 920 CPU's from a e-retailer:
http://img293.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=img0831f.jpg

Google translated thread:

Fake i7 thread at newz.dk

So it wasn't just newegg receiving these fake cretins