I'm rather new to the building scene nowadays and haven't built a computer w/ my own bare hands since the p4 3.0Ghz / 800FSB processor came out. I've always been brought up by the mainstream building community to steer clear of OEM parts/products, and now it seems i've accidentally come into possession of an OEM Pentium D Extreme Edition 965 ES LGA775 w/ a core clock of 3.73Ghz / 1066Mhz FSB that i thought was a retail boxed item. Do I have a legitimate problem as far as overclocking is concerned, is there any difference between OEM and Retail? Or, have I been fed a crock of crap through most of my learning stages? Thanks for any help in advance. -J-
Pretty much this tbh mate - they still have the same length warranty, you just lose out on a fancy box and stock heatsink etc. Overclocking will also be exactly the same, compared to the same "stepping" of chip you'd get in a retail box. p.s. Welcome to the boards.
Does the Same go for OEM Video Cards? I've heard some are intentionally underclocked from factory... I just haven't been in the fray for a long time and times have changed. Thanks for all the helpful info and warm welcome! -J-
OEM video cards are different then processors, i have also heard the horror stories about the OEM gpu's being somewhat watered down, this meaning they are underclocked so they don't perform as well as they should. Usually when you buy a pre-build desktop pc from say HP, they will use OEM parts, but if you go to higher end rigs, you get brand name cards such as EVGA. OEM gpu's just aren't the same as retail.
Never experienced an OEM GPU, but if you can find one I'd suggest checking the clocks vs a retail version before you buy. Seems like a strange one to me, but there we go. Nothing wrong with OEM stuff - I don't even look before I buy for myself anymore, I just throw the boxes in the bin.
Only reason to not buy an OEM processor is if the drop in price isn't £10 for the heatsink if you want to use the stock one. (On that note, cotrary to popular belief the AMD Phenom BEs do come with a HSF (pretty good ones at that).)
In the UK OEM CPUs only have a 1yr warrantry & doesnt come with a heatsink & fan. A retail CPU has a 3yr warranty & comes with a HSF packaged together in a box. The actual CPU is identical.
Yeah, I collect boxes too, heh... Well, retail for this proc still ranges from 500$ to $900 Retail... i saw it for 265 and had to snag it... I was gonna get a new Thermaltake DUOOrb for it... Thanks for all the good info, guys... I'll be sure to come back if i have questions/problems... -J-
