There's a guy on ebay selling an Athlon processor that I'm interested
in... he says it's "new" and that it's "been tested and in perfect
working condition". He even has a picture and it looks pretty new. He
has perfect feedback, and he's actually sold over 20 different Athlon
processors (most of which are "new" and "tested" and in "perfect
working condition") in the last month.

I've heard that there are some fake/counterfeit Athlons floating
around, and I just want to make sure I don't get one of those. Any
tips on how I can avoid those? Does that guy on Ebay sound like he's
selling authentic Athlons? I wonder why he has so many "new" Athlons
that are "tested and in perfect working condition".

For example, here's one of his previous auctions:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=6832451 432

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 21:01:22 -0800, void.no.spam.com thoughtfully wrote:


Ebay rates then vendors. I trust those who have done a lot of sales and
are rated high by customers. I've bought my dsl modem, an AMD 550 cpu
and some other stuff off ebay and all are still working. A friend bought
a car off Ebay but daughter trashed it, a friend of a friend bought a
Mercedes off Ebay.

void.no.spam.com@gmail.com wrote:

Seems to me that eBay prices on hardware are typically higher than I
get at a legitimate online merchant.

I wouldn't mess with it.

Good luck.

On 18 Jan 2006 21:01:22 -0800, void.no.spam.com@gmail.com
wrote:

That's a rather high price on the linked auction... you
should be able to do better through other sources.

Counterfeiting is about raising perceived value and with
CPUs that are old, there isn't much perceived value to
raise... back in the day a 900MHz Athlon might've been worth
$150 less than a 1.3GHz Athon but now? Not even worth
counterfeiting if someone had an inclination to do it.

However, there are lots of other ways to get stung, like a
dead CPU, or someone who isn't even selling anything, just
generating false positive ratings to boost their ebay
standing. When in doubt, research the prior buyers to see
if they look like typical buyers (with several purchases
themselves) or more like newly created accounts. Granted
everyone starts on ebay with no purchases but several such
buyers with one seller is a warning sign.

So in other words I'd be more concerned about it being ebay
vs another source than an Athlon vs a MP3 player or
whatever...

<void.no.spam.com@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1137646882.206966.234110@z14g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...
Looks like he sells old stuff and just sticks the word 'New' on the end if
he has space left in the title!!...

I don't see how an Athlon 1.2GHz can be sold as *new* - they stopped making
them quite a while ago now. They have been superceeded by the Athlon XP and
now replaced by/name changed to Sempron! If that's what you want and the
price is right and the guy has a good rep, then go for it. If you pay
through paypal, you have protection and backup should anything go wrong.

void.no.spam.com@gmail.com wrote:

the customer satisfaction feedback. This guy seems to have a very good
rating, so is probably trustworthy. The wording of his advert 'tested
and in perfect working condition' is a little odd, but then again you
should ask him any pertinent questions. If he fails to answer, or is
evasive, then don't deal The most important questions here would be to
ask whether he would refund you if the part fails to work, and what he
means by the wording above . It might be careless wording, but again
could be completely innocent. If he sells you something that he
deliberately describes wrongly, then you could sue him, but rather than
go through the hassle, if you are not sure then don't deal.

I recently bought some Crucial memory on eBay fthat was new, came in a
sealed bag. The seller had an excellent rating and promised to refund
me if there was a problem, so I was happy to go ahead. The product
works fine, and I saved about 15% on the price had I bought from a shop.

One way to determine fake from real is if the seller is also including the
OEM heatsink/fan combo. Older chips (such as the one you linked) did not
require the original OEM heatsink/fan for warranty, but both Intel and AMD
now require them.


<void.no.spam.com@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1137646882.206966.234110@z14g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...

On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 00:23:27 GMT, "Erick"
<NOewprattSPAM@sc.rr.com> wrote:

That tells you nothing about fake from real, as there are
OEM chips, and if someone bought a new product but didn't
sell the heatsink with it, that in itself does not make the
CPU any less new or, fake.

kony wrote:
What other sources?


OK, although it's possible there are some on ebay that were
counterfeited 4 or 5 years ago.

In message <43cf5c10$0$7497$9a6e19ea@unlimited.newshosting.co m> "GT"
<ContactGT_remove_@hotmail.com> wrote:

If it has never been installed or used, and is in original factory
packaging, then it's new.

--
HAM AND EGGS: A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a pig

On 19 Jan 2006 22:05:49 -0800, void.no.spam.com@gmail.com
wrote:

You'll have to decide exactly what you want first.
Sources include refurb or surplus parts sites with good
reputation (check resellerratings.com) or for-sale forums at
some of the larger hardware-oriented (review) websites...
maybe Anandtech, or similar.


Sure, and there's an outside chance one might be around
today but without the profit the incentive to do it is low
and so are the odds.