Retail cpu

[fangoria]

What is the difference between a retail CPU and non-retail and how do you know what you are buying. Thanks fangoria

[Buji]

Retail= fancy packaging,heatsink/fan,3yr. warranty.
OEM= No fancy packaging,no heatsink/fan,and whatever warranty the vendor wants to give. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[fangoria]

Thanks for the reply Buji. fangoria

[Nighthawk]

Also, I heard somewhere that the retail cores are cut from the center of the die, leading to higher-quality product.

Keep in mind the warranty period and how expensive for the manufacturer it is to replace a warranty'd chip. They will, naturally, use the better components in the parts they have to warranty for longer.