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i9 13900k showing wrong CPU (as i7 13700k)

Dear god, the crappy things people do. It's a horrible switch to get an expensive item for cheaper. But what someone mentioned, why not just use a cheaper LGA1700 cpu and use that instead. Abit odd to use a 13700k unless they already had one.
 
wookiee87 said:
Your story has had enough traction to be featured on videocardz, stuff like this has happened years ago as the article explains, just a reminder to all to be careful when buying expensive hardware, the rainforest isn't always the best option, but you can do things to protect yourself if you fall in
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Its probably why it happens more on the rainforest than anywhere else, i highly doubt they check every item that is returned or even know what they're looking at is legit.

A similar thing happened to a mate of mine, he bought some Noctua fans but what he got was cheaper generic fans and someone had printed and stuck the Noctua logo on the fan hub.
 
Jay85 said:
Dear god, the crappy things people do. It's a horrible switch to get an expensive item for cheaper. But what someone mentioned, why not just use a cheaper LGA1700 cpu and use that instead. Abit odd to use a 13700k unless they already had one.
Click to expand...

I would say the 13700k may have been used and possible oc'd causing damage, if out of the return window they buy a 13900k swap it over and make up a story saying it's not working, do the swap and and back the 13700k masked as the i9, get a full refund and buy a ihs of the bay, very scummy way to get around it, can't believe people do such things, but that's the world we live in.

Any kind of expense hardware always use a retailer, many good ones out there inc ocuk
 
Jay85 said:
A similar thing happened to a mate of mine, he bought some Noctua fans but what he got was cheaper generic fans and someone had printed and stuck the Noctua logo on the fan hub
Click to expand...

Christ that would annoy the f out of me, noctuas are very expensive fans, I run 7 140's in my build, hope your friend got it sorted out in the end
 
wookiee87 said:
I would say the 13700k may have been used and possible oc'd causing damage, if out of the return window they buy a 13900k swap it over and make up a story saying it's not working, do the swap and and back the 13700k masked as the i9, get a full refund and buy a ihs of the bay, very scummy way to get around it, can't believe people do such things, but that's the world we live in.

Any kind of expense hardware always use a retailer, many good ones out there inc ocuk
Click to expand...

Same, i rarely buy anything expensive off the rainforest site unless i know it can't be tampered with and always check the tamper seal on the box. The only good thing about the rainforest is the ease of returns but it doesn't give me any buying confidence in what i get is either A: legit or B: Brand new.
 
wookiee87 said:
Christ that would annoy the f out of me, noctuas are very expensive fans, I run 7 140's in my build, hope your friend got it sorted out in the end
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Yeah he did, he contacted customer support who were quick to refund him and asked him to send them back. I don't think anything ever came of it though, i doubt they would spend resources in investigating it either. Shame really as stuff like this would just carry on and get worse if people know they can get away with it.
 
As the article suggests manufacturers should Lazer etch serial numbers or part numbers on every part of the product they can, that way if it doesn't match or has been messed with you know to return, serial numbers should be recorded to so if any funny business is done the original purchaser should get a warning and repeat offenses get a IP block and access removed.

But again there are loads of ways around that, end of the day it comes down to trust, obviously some people don't know that word.
 
mikalourus said:
Hey guys thanks so much for the replies. As it was suggested the lids were in fact switched, on closer inspection this morning you can see at the bottom (ignore the arm hair, yes it's an air hair) there's a slight gap at some parts where the lid meets the board. I spoke with amazon who instantly offered a refund which I was surprised about. But I was armed with the information between here and toms hardware, and pre-empted that they would find my chip was probably a return though sold as new. The ridiculous thing is I had searched on my laptop (when autofill was suggesting terms last night after taking the chip out) about it being the wrong chip at the time but came across a post where someone suggested the mobo can detect the wrong chip if the BIOS predates the release of the chip you're trying to use. Along with everywhere saying the 13900k runs really hot I just assumed it was fine.

Have a bit of anxiety about returning the chip though as I've read similar stories about people being offered a refund and then the item going missing. They won't collect it which is concerning, but have sent me a QR to drop off at the local post office.

So glad I wrote on the forums as I was planning on trying to reseat with paste I have coming today, failing that shelling out £200 for a new cooler that I can't really afford atm due to my car dying on me last week and needing replaced.

So thanks again, have a great weekend!





Click to expand...
Video yourself packaging it up
And taking it to the post office if you're worried
 
wookiee87 said:
Your story has had enough traction to be featured on videocardz, stuff like this has happened years ago as the article explains, just a reminder to all to be careful when buying expensive hardware, the rainforest isn't always the best option, but you can do things to protect yourself if you fall in
Click to expand...
videocardz.com

User discovers brand-new Core i9-13900K turns out to be a 13700K with swapped IHS - VideoCardz.com

IHS swapping scam targets 13th Core Gen series buyers Redditor finds its brand-new Core i9-13900K processor has a different die underneath. The IHS (Integrated Heatspreader) swapping scheme is a well-known issue, affecting a variety of CPUs, typically targeting high-end Core i9 models, which...
videocardz.com videocardz.com

yeah here it is, i read it earlier
 
subbytna said:
videocardz.com

User discovers brand-new Core i9-13900K turns out to be a 13700K with swapped IHS - VideoCardz.com

IHS swapping scam targets 13th Core Gen series buyers Redditor finds its brand-new Core i9-13900K processor has a different die underneath. The IHS (Integrated Heatspreader) swapping scheme is a well-known issue, affecting a variety of CPUs, typically targeting high-end Core i9 models, which...
videocardz.com videocardz.com

yeah here it is, i read it earlier
Click to expand...
Think it made Tom's hardware too
 
If the store won't refund it. Go to your bank and request a chargeback as it's a scam. The seller can challenge it, but they won't be able to defend that.
 
clone said:
It's sad that this type of thing happens, but the retailer should really check items more carefully when they get returns.
Click to expand...

Problem is they don't.

I used to buy from said company's warehouse a lot BITD. It used to be dirt cheap. Then it got progressively more expensive and it is now at the point where the saving is so small it is not worth it because you usually end up with something that doesn't work at all (IE never tested but says it has been) or that someone has taken a free upgrade from.
 
clone said:
It's sad that this type of thing happens, but the retailer should really check items more carefully when they get returns.
Click to expand...
ALXAndy said:
Problem is they don't.

I used to buy from said company's warehouse a lot BITD. It used to be dirt cheap. Then it got progressively more expensive and it is now at the point where the saving is so small it is not worth it because you usually end up with something that doesn't work at all (IE never tested but says it has been) or that someone has taken a free upgrade from.
Click to expand...

Somewhere like Rainforest store won't check, they don't have the hardware to check either. The most they'll do is probably look at the box and compare it to a product listing and call it done. They must get 1000's of returns a day so its impossible to sift through it all at each distribution centre.
 
Jay85 said:
Somewhere like Rainforest store won't check, they don't have the hardware to check either. The most they'll do is probably look at the box and compare it to a product listing and call it done. They must get 1000's of returns a day so its impossible to sift through it all at each distribution centre.
Click to expand...

Exactly. That is why whenever I buy anything like that I buy from proper places.

They used to actually test the stuff. Then I suppose it was easier to just like, lie, and hope people didn't return it again.
 
Had the same thing happen to me years ago with a gpu through amazon, bought a 980ti asus strix, and inside the box was an old geforce gtx 275.

X2wNZyp.jpg



They refunded it no bother but its one of those situations where you think that they're bound to think you swapped it yourself. As soon as I took the box out of the shipping box I knew something was up as I already had 1 strix 980ti and this was the second for sli so immediately I noticed the box felt much lighter. This was sold by amazon as new so presumably at that point they weren't even bothering to weigh shipments, as this had to have been returned and somehow they didn't notice the card in it was much lighter than the one that should have been in the box.
 
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