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Intel CPU Warranty Invalid w/o CPU Fan?
saberint asks: "Recently, I had a good argument with Intel as I had a 3.2G P4 chip die on me within 6 months. I sent the CPU back to Intel only to be told that they will NOT honour the warranty because I did not send the fan back with it. Apparently the fan and the CPU's serial must match or else there is no warranty. This 'policy' is not listed on the warranty card or on their website. So for all you network admin or IT support people out there, keep the fan and the CPU together. Has anyone else experienced this with Intel?"
Those with a separate fan are probably unboxed and thus considered OEM parts. The warrenty on those are much more limited from my recollection.
I mean why would a person NOT use the fan provided by Intel in the retail package?
I'll tell you why. I don't overclock (I've been known to underclock though) and I like quiet systems. The stock fan/heatsink combo doesn't cut it. I tend to use a larger sink than necessary and run a larger fan at a low voltage. I enjoy silence. You don't know what you're missing out on.
With that said, if it's a retail CPU then I keep the old sink and fan so I could send it all back if needed. I rarely buy retail packages any more though.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
There are two tracks for Intel processors, OEM and retail.
If I remember right the OEM have something like a 15 day warranty from Intel, after that you need to take it up with your reseller.
The retail CPUs have a three year warranty but they come with a fan designed for the processor right from Intel. It comes as a package and you are only supposed to use the Intel fan, any other will void your warranty.
I imagine getting the fan serves multiple purposes. Did the CPU die because the fan was weak/dead. Did the user swap it out for another unapproved fan, etc.
" This is obviously a scheme to deter overclockers from scamming away at Intel's Expense.
"
No it's not. It's 'obviously' a scheme to make sure they only do the warranty stuff on factors they can actually control. If a 3rd party fan failed, why would that be Intel's fault?
"Do you void your warranty on your car when you replace the all-season tires with Blizzaks?"
Actually, my brother is a mechanic at a Ford dealer. He says that they will not honor the warranty if a wheel bearing fails prematurely and the car does not have the stock tires on it. Putting wide or offset tires on a car causes the weight of the car to not be supported directly beneath the bearing and can lead to premature bearing failure.
Unknown host pong.
Back when I used to sell these things at a local mom 'n pop shop, as the parent stated, the warranty on the cpus varied as follows:
Intel Retail (boxed): 3 years direct with Intel
AMD Retail (boxed): 3 years direct with AMD
AMD OEM (chip only): 1 year through reseller (us)
Intel OEM (chip only): dunno, the boss didn't bother buying them because they were almost as expensive as the retail versions
Disclaimer: I don't know what I'm talking about.
On a related note, don't buy your case from Intel. They use a Delta 120mm fan, which is famous for being the loudest fan in production. (Sounds like a vacuum cleaner.) Once I replaced the rear 120mm fan, and the front 90mm fan, the two CPU fans became quite noticable. Replaced those, and now it sounds like a normal system.
Yeah, that would make perfect sense, except they can determine instantly if the cpu was oem or retail from the serial number on the cpu.
Having or not having the fan doesn't make it any easier or harder for them, anymore than it does for western digital hard drives. Hell WD even has a util on the website that will determine not only if it's oem or retail but the date the warranty started and if the drive is in warranty (which is bunk, they go by the date of manufacture rather than the date of sale).
The fan was changed to use the thermaltake aqarius2 water cooling system. Not to overclock the computer but so I could leave it on 24/7. The issue more is that I live in Australia, where in summer it hits 40-45 degrees centigrade (approx 103-113), and it can hit just shy of 50 (122) if we r unlucky. If i was too have the computer running at 80% with the standard intel fan then it would crash within 5 minutes. It was either the water cooling or leave the aircon on all the time....and id hate to see that power bill...
The heatsink and fan made its way over to Norway (dont ask), but as u may guess, its on its way back now...
Intel makes the CPU, and the CPU is where the thermal limiter is. The warranty is on the CPU, I wouldn't want one of their crappy fans replaced to begin with. (I have an OEM AMD fan which also sucks, mind you, but I don't care if it's loud because my system has a shitload of fans in it.)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
You're thinking of non-factory rims, not non-factory tires. A tire can't have improper offset spacing. A rim with the wrong offset, however, can wreak havoc on wheel bearings.
I'd say either
usage not in accordance with product instructions
or
improper installation
are the clauses that Intel are using to get out of the warranty.
The question is, in the installation instructions, I'd be sure they specify to use a fan, however, do they specify to use the supplied fan ?
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