Oh man...
ALERT: Fake Athlons in Circulation
Plantation, FL. March 20, 2000. ComputerNerd USA is issuing this alert to Athlon buyers that it has recently received a shipment of counterfeit Athlons. The plastic cartridge back cover on these CPU is not exactly the same as the original AMD cover. This may assist in identifying the counterfeit without having to open the case, and also suggests that the counterfeiting operation may be large scale.
Since it is not an authorized AMD distributor, ComputerNerd USA purchases large numbers of Athlon processors from several suppliers on the gray market and opens them for testing with the Advanced POW!er Boost overclocking controller. It is therefore able to detect CPUs which have been opened and remarked which would be accepted as original AMD products by customers that do not open the case or do not carefully check for signs of internal tampering.
The counterfeit CPUs were marked as Athlon 650 0.25 micron (C types) with serial numbers on the case of 219936022369, 219936022600 and 219936022907. The paper sticker inside the cartridge on the circuit card with the original serial number had been removed and replaced with another sticker with slightly smaller size and different printing than the original AMD sticker. The serial numbers on the inside sticker were nearly but not exactly the same as on the cartridge (219936022781, 219936022780, 219936022802, respectively).
The metal clips holding the CPU circuit card showed signs of having been opened and reclosed, and some resistor pads (R121, R147, R158) on the circuit card showed clear traces of removal or resoldering. The cores were marked K7650, indicating that the original AMD CPU was probably an Athlon 500 since many of these CPUs were produced with 650 MHz cores.
The plastic CPU back cover is made of a different kind of plastic than the original product (two of the three CPUs had the cover break on removal, whereas the original plastic cover never breaks on removal). Surfaces of the plastic are shinier than the original product. The most distinctive difference, however, is that all corners and angles of the counterfeit plastic cover are rounded, whereas on the original part all angles are sharp with straight intersecting edges.
ComputerNerd has had long experience with the supplier of these CPUs and believes that company has been victimized by one of its sources. For any further information, please contact ComputerNerd USA
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AMD should get on this...
Jim
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