Hardware scammers in China are up to their usual hanky-panky, this time with AMD’s popular Ryzen 7 9800X3D. The surge of fake chips was so high in the country that even news portals in neighbouring Taiwan caught wind of it.
One report details that the PCB substrate code for the fake 9800X3D is incorrect and is, in fact, the PCB used for the Ryzen 7000 Series. The latter PCBs were likely purchased by unscrupulous dealers at a very low price, likely due to them being manufactured in the millions when the series was still hot on the market.
For those wondering how to discern the difference between a Ryzen 9000 Series and Ryzen 7000 Series, the substrate code on the former is only visible by one column on the exposed PCB, while the latter has two columns exposed.
On that note, this isn’t the first time an X3D processor has been falsified. Some of you may remember when, back in September last year, an unfortunate tech enthusiast thought they bought a 7800X3D for a good price, only to find out that the “CPU” had no die underneath the IHS.
Then as now, the lesson here is the same as it has always been: if you’re planning on purchasing a second-hand or used product via an online marketplace, it’s good practice to always know the product that you are buying and wherever possible, make sure to use customer protection.
(Source: Uniko’s Hardware, Videocardz)
