I'm considering purchasing the AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz processor. Obviously, price is an advantage to purchasing the OEM version. Are there any disadvantages to purchasing OEM vs. retail boxed?
retail boxed processors get three year warranty while OEM parts have only 1. and boxed processors come with a heatsink/fan that you would most likely throw away and get a better one.
actually that HSF is quite enough for normal use, but you would get another if you plan to overclock.
girish
<font color=blue>die-hard fans don't have heat-sinks!</font color=blue>
some OEM CPUs have only 15-20-30-60-90 day warranties.
Most I find that are cheaper have a 15 to 30 day warranty, I got one with only 30 day warranty, and now thats past and my CPU still works, its even overclocked from 1.4 to 1571 MHz (11 x 143 FSB)
go for the oem if you plan to overclock as you wont neat the heatsink and fan... (ie you will get your own) you save money and well, if you overclock your warranty is void anyway so... oh well...