How dodgy is this?

[Gerard]

Just seen a listing on ebay selling what are alleged to be "factory fault" 9900k's for £100. The substrate and ihs is on the chip but there's no actual die under the heat-spreader. It appears to be a perfectly functional 9900k from the outside. You need to delid the cpu to see there's no actual die under the IHS. Anyone any ideas as to why people would want to buy these? Perfectly obvious why but be interesting to see some theories.

He's already sold 21 of these, i'm guessing Amazon are gonna be getting a glut of "doa" 9900k's via rma pretty soon after the swap out is done.

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

If something sounds too good to be true, then avoid it.
Stick with your 2700X that works .

 

[Gerard]

If something sounds too good to be true, then avoid it.
Stick with your 2700X that works .

It's not that at all, it's basically a dummy 9900k that looks real. People are buying them for a ton, getting a real one off amazon or other etailer, switching them out and getting a refund.

 

[Destination]

Where would someone even get these to sell, are they completely counterfeit or an actual intel product?

 

[mattyfez]

Someone may have got hold of a few boxes factory QC reject parts through the backdoor, rumors it happens with other stuff too, like bike parts etc.

 

[edscdk]

Lots of expensive faulty cpus and other bits on ebay I assume people buy they faulty, then a buy a working from amazon or other seller then return the faulty one for a refund

 

[Gerard]

Lots of expensive faulty cpus and other bits on ebay I assume people buy they faulty, then a buy a working from amazon or other seller then return the faulty one for a refund

Given its amazon I'd give anyone doing that a pass

 

[hyperseven]

Lots of expensive faulty cpus and other bits on ebay I assume people buy they faulty, then a buy a working from amazon or other seller then return the faulty one for a refund

doesn't the box have the serial and they won't match? Amazon must surely know what batch numbers they bought off Intel.

 

[Gerard]

doesn't the box have the serial and they won't match?

I very much doubt the amazon employee cares, i once ordered a 980ti strix from amazon and what arrived in the box was this:

Bear in mind this was bought as new, not one of their "used available at this price" offers, so it's obvious someone done the switcharoo and amazon apparently don't really care. I sent it back telling them what happened and got a refund and that was it, no followups on what occurred which i was expecting. GPu money to amazon is like what they find down the back of the sofa, otherwise they would take more notice of this type of caper.

When i opened the box i just went "ooh ****" this isn't gonna go well, but the return and refund went as normal. Would not surprise me in the slightest if that card done the rounds and was returned a few times.

 

[Stu999]

Just seen a listing on ebay....
I'm guessing Amazon are gonna be getting a glut of "doa" 9900k's via rma pretty soon....

What have Amazon done?

EDIT - I don't get how you know there is no CPU inside, does it say that in the description? Have you reported the auction to ebay and/or alerted Amazon?

 

[maklabouhlel]

Someone is selling 9900k's with the following description: "These are factory defective Intel i9 9900k CPU’s, these CPU’s do not work. The CPU’s are in perfect cosmetic condition, however if you open up the CPU via de-lidding, you will find no silicon die inside, essentially making them dummies, as-well as this I cannot confirm whether the IHS is original on every chip."

I was just curious as to why someone would pay £99 for this?

 

[Fire_fly]

I can think of a few of reasons but £99 does seem a bit expensive for most of them.

1) They are being sold to scammer who are going to try to pass them off as the real thing and selling them to unsuspecting buyers.
2) They are used as place holder CPUs for motherboards displays in shops
3) It can be put in a frame and sold on as 'geek' wall art. Although if it was me I would want the silicon die to be visible.

 

[Gerard]

What have Amazon done?

EDIT - I don't get how you know there is no CPU inside, does it say that in the description? Have you reported the auction to ebay and/or alerted Amazon?

Amazon have a really lax returns policy as seen in the pic above, they probably process so many returns that one of these could easily slip by as being a genuine cpu. Smaller stores would probably scrutinise it a bit more knowing there's dodgy ones doing the rounds. I did report it but knowing ebay they'll not do much.

 

[CuriousTomCat]

So people really do pay for the brand. I bet an empty AMD chip doesn't cost that much.

 

[kitfit1]

So people really do pay for the brand. I bet an empty AMD chip doesn't cost that much.

A full AMD chip would be less anyway

 

[Gerard]

So people really do pay for the brand. I bet an empty AMD chip doesn't cost that much.

Well if they do the switcharoo (which is the only reason i could see why they would buy one) they end up with a 9900k for a ton. Hard to compete with that.