Scammers are among the many lowest types of life, however they are often artful. In current instances there’s been a rise within the variety of scams that attempt to rip folks off by promoting costly objects with out the issues that make them costly objects. Faux RTX 4090s are only one instance. In spite of everything, it is the chip below the hood that really makes merchandise just like the RTX 4090 or i9 14900K. Take that out and also you’re left with an entire lot of nothing.
HKEPC (by way of Tom’s {Hardware}) stories that Safedisk, one of many world’s premier overclockers, fell sufferer to a rip-off the place he purchased a Core i9 14900K that wasn’t what it gave the impression to be. This wasn’t some low finish i3 chip marked as a 14900K, although. It had no die in any respect, making it completely ineffective.
Overclockers are at all times on the hunt for golden CPUs, and on this case, Safedisk possible thought this was a great alternative to seize a chip on a budget on the off probability that it was a gem. Nevertheless, upon arrival, it was clear issues weren’t as they appeared.
Firstly, the chip arrived with a sticker saying guarantee could be void if it received taken out of its clamshell. I am fairly certain the effective print of Intel’s CPU guarantee means that you can really use the product, however 10 factors are awarded to the scammer for the artistic dissuasion. Nonetheless, Safedisk went forward and tried to get the chip in addition. To little shock, it did not.
It was at that time that Safedisk eliminated the warmth spreader from the mysterious non-booting CPU and found a vacant area the place the silicon die was presupposed to reside. No less than there wasn’t a troll face emoji sitting there, that might have been actually insulting.
However this actually is not humorous, it is unhappy. I imply, why would a scammer trouble with one thing like this? It looks like numerous effort with numerous danger concerned. Perhaps the scammer works for an Intel-contracted firm or fab and thought this may be a simple technique to make a couple of bucks from some failed merchandise destined for the bin.
The ethical of the story is to watch out who you purchase from. A vendor popping up with the deal of the century, however with zero fame or suggestions needs to be an computerized disqualifier. It isn’t like I might ever take into consideration shopping for a brand new pretend Samsung 1080 Professional SSD. Really, I did—for 0.5 seconds.
Apply secure procuring people!