Hi Dean,

I believe that retail box processors come with a 1 year warranty, a
heatsink/fan included, and a cute little sticker for the front of the case.
Although not always the best performing heatsink/fan, it is adequate. OEM
processors usually 30 days and no fan.

Other than that, there is typically no difference, so it all depends on your
budget. If you are replacing an existing processor with a faster one, and
already have a good heatsink/fan, then the OEM is a good way to go. If you
are building a new machine, and especially if you want that cute "intel
inside" or "Core 2 Duo" sticker and need a new heatsink/fan anyway, then
consider retail.

Russ Poffenberger

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Personal Computer Hardware discussion List 
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dean K. Kukral
> Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 7:07 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [PCBUILD] Retail vs OEM Intel Processors?
> 
> I am thinking of upgrading, and I was looking at NewEgg at 
> the new Yorkwhatever processors from Intel and saw that there 
> were two kinds, an OEM version and a Retail version.
> 
> The retail version evidently came in a box, perhaps with a 
> cpu fan included (?), and the oem version seemed to come bare bones.
> 
> There was a $150 price difference between the two, and I was 
> wondering if there are any other differences.  Not 
> necessarily in the cpu's, but in warranty for example?
> 
> Dean Kukral
> 
>                          PCBUILD's List Owners:
>                       Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
>                        Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>
> 
> 
> 

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