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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.
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.
"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.
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...