

Newegg sold counterfeit Intel Core i7 CPUs  - MykalMorton
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=7596&tag=content;col1

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nicolasgervais
According to Tom Merrit of CNET & Buzz out Loud, the complete package was fake
- foam fan, plastic heatsink, plastic processor, misspelled packaging, etc...
It seems like a case or two (nearly 300 processors) of i7 processors were
switched for fakes somewhere down the line, before making it to Newegg.

EDIT - Apparently, the processors were pieces of scrap metal.

~~~
MikeCapone
Somewhere, Tony Soprano is happy.

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jacquesm
How on earth do you counterfeit a CPU of that grade without a trail a mile
wide ?

I'm sure plenty of consumers would never notice if you swapped an i5 for an i7
but to counterfeit an entire CPU is next to unbelievable.

My guess is that if they follow these to the source they'll end up at an intel
fab where they were discarded as rejects for some reason or other.

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andfarm
From the reports I've seen, the CPU was entirely fake -- it was an inert chunk
of molded metal.

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jacquesm
Counterfeit to me suggests 'functional', just like counterfeit money is not
'real' but it functions just like real money until you test it thoroughly.

more here:

[http://hardocp.com/news/2010/03/07/intel_comment_on_fake_cpu...](http://hardocp.com/news/2010/03/07/intel_comment_on_fake_cpu_debacle_raises_more_questions)

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nicolasgervais
Video of a pseudo unboxing of the fake i7 box / demo unit:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54tDqM5-6RU>

...and a little bit of commentary from another customer who received a
fake/demo i7: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmEgSg9m89U>

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sounddust
More (full-res) pictures:
[http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035412736&postc...](http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035412736&postcount=39)

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nicolasgervais
Do these photos support the claim that the boxes were just demos shipped
mistakenly, or that they were indeed counterfeits that were inserted into the
supply chain? Thoughts?

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sounddust
I think the evidence is pretty convincing that they were counterfeits created
by people with no connection to Intel.

Putting the CPU/heatsink aside - If you wanted to ship a demo unit, wouldn't
you just use the exact same box that you're already producing thousands of in
the factory and slap a "demo" sticker on it? Even if you made a separate demo
box, there's no reason that the boilerplate text wouldn't just be a
copy/paste. It's obvious that someone not familiar with English and French
manually copied the text (the French text is even worse than the English; the
accents are missing pointing in the wrong direction).

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nicolasgervais
I was thinking the same thing. The poor English, and the even worse
translations, seem like a dead giveaway that these are definitely the worst of
the worst: FAKE DEMO UNITS! The world will implode in 5.4.3.2.1...

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MykalMorton
the news is that 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.

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nicolasgervais
Demo boxes? That would explain a lot

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jacquesm
Have a look here:

[http://hardocp.com/news/2010/03/07/intel_comment_on_fake_cpu...](http://hardocp.com/news/2010/03/07/intel_comment_on_fake_cpu_debacle_raises_more_questions)

That makes the newegg spin definitely less believable.

