Newegg terminates supplier relationship over counterfeit Core i7 CPUs
By Sean Hollister 
posted March 8th 2010 8:58PM
posted March 8th 2010 8:58PM
This weekend, up to 300 Newegg customers who pulled the trigger on a new Intel Core i7-920 processor found themselves puzzling over a clever fake instead. Who's to blame? It's not exactly clear -- Newegg initially said that the processors were "demo units," but has now posted a statement to Facebook saying that supplier IPEX shipped counterfeit chips and has had its contract revoked. That's good news for D&H Distributing, another Newegg supplier that responded to an initial wave of finger-pointing by issuing legal nastygrams to sites covering the story, thus ruining whatever good vibes the truth's generated.Finally, here's the statement Intel just sent us, explaining in no uncertain terms that these are counterfeit parts:
No matter who's at fault here, the damage has been done. We'll never build another PC without losing precious seconds carefully examining its CPU first."Intel has been made aware of a limited number of counterfeit i7 920 packages in the marketplace, specifically Newegg, and is working to how many and/or where they are being sold. The examples we have seen are not Intel products but are counterfeits. Buyers should contact their place of purchase for a replacement and/or should contact their local law enforcement agency if the place of purchase refuses to help.
Intel is getting samples to inspect and until then we can say that everything in the package appears fake. Some of the photos of the processor look like it is a casting and not even a real processor of any kind. Newegg has moved quickly to replace the suspect units."
[Thanks, Cody C.]
@spin cycle
Well that's what I get for not clicking through to the original article. Thanks for pointing that out, Engadget needs to be more careful with the wording on their summaries.
@AltairDusk The thing is that all those sites were reporting that it was D&H that had supplied the fake CPUs, so D&H issued cease and desists since these rumors were patently untrue.
I honestly don't think that it's wrong at all to issue C&Ds when people are plain making crap up about you.
Pretty scary stuff, I hope Newegg does not get stuck with the bill...
@Vaio
Look, the girl in your avatar is hot, so I'll say this nicely. The chips weren't even made out of silicon. It's not like these things performed poorly and Intel is lying and said they didn't make them. They don't run at all and the boxes even have the names misspelled on them. It's pretty much impossible to call conspiracy theory on this one.
@Vaio Right, that's also why they put them in boxes with spelling errors on them and bundled them blank instruction booklets inside before shipping them out.
@Vaio
They aren't processors at all, they're just pieces of aluminum made to look like processors. It's not that they were malfunctioning or anything, they would never have worked in the firstplace.
Kinda off topic, but Newegg is now selling iPods and even iPhones now! Woot!
if you got passed opening the fake looking box, looking at the fake looking fan and processor, and still proceeded to install the hardware, you deserve to get ripped off.
Not that I blame newegg for anything, but aren't they sending the wrong message by ending their purchasing after (what I'm assuming is) one mistake by a supplier. What should newegg's customers do? Stop buying from them because of a single mistake?
@ferank
Maybe Newegg feels their suppliers should be responsible for checking the items on their end? Especially if it was drop shipped. Obviously one can't open the box and look, and even though these boxes had obvious typos, when you're dealing with thousands of them who really reads the boxes? So maybe they feel the supplier did not have enough security to keep any of their other shipments from being tampered with.
@ferank This is not just a "mistake." The legality of counterfeits can screw Newegg really bad in the long run. I mean if Newegg still continues dealing with the distributor knowing about the counterfeits, intel could come after them. Besides, Newegg is a big company and have many distributors, so they probably rather play it safe for themselves and just cut off 1 distributor than risking further issues.
The customers deserved it since they should have been buying the new i7 930s instead of the old 920s and should have been shopping at Microcenter.
The real question which I'm sure is on everyone's mind is:
How well do these fakes perform? (Assuming they perform at all)
@bit1
outperforms the pentium 4 and 100x more energy efficient
Someone needs to learn how to proof read at Intel. That statement is probably the worst thing to come out of a corporations mouth.
I continue to love Newegg to death.
Who's at fault here? I'd say the proofreader of that dreadfully written statement from Intel.
Glad to help Sean!
This is why I only buy already assembled computers straight from the company or from electronic stores like best buy. Over a decade of purchases and all authentic.
They've always replaced or refunded, no questions asked...
I only buy from Newegg... always have, always will.
It could have just been an angry worker, took out one or 2 from each container, slipped in the fakes, sold the real ones off on craigslist or something.... 300 i7's could have got a low level warehouse worker a good chunk of change.
This is the reason why I wait 6 months to buy the new CPU's...but I don't think I'm going to upgrade from my Q9550 in a LONG time.
Good, finally a word from intel. Good that they clearly stated that the products were counterfeits. Newegg should've been honest from the get go, that those are counterfeits.
So, where are the fanboys that still thinks those are demo boxes?
@pika2000
If Newegg originally stated that D&H sent them counterfeits and it was found that they were only demo boxes, D&H could sue Newegg for libel/slander/defamation. In the legal world, you make the least harsh accusation/statement until you know the facts. Ever wonder why even a criminal that everyone KNOWS committed the crime is still only the "alleged criminal" until the trial is finished? Same reason. If found innocent, the defendant can then sue against whoever stated they were guilty before/during the trial.
Looks like somebody used alibaba for sourcing
Honestly Intel is to be blamed for this , as they made it possible, the new boxes for Intel products don't have the transparent "window" to view the CPU and the cooler lake the old packaging did, that makes it easy to counterfeited, is still a big value for many and that makes it a easy and profitable target
For a good laugh, read this http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/190997/four_reasons_to_beware_fake_intel_cpus.html
@18000rpm
I still would have never read the manual.
We've known about this issue for a few days now at TW
http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=606966
As you can see, we're shocked that we even have to question if they're real or not.
"That's good news for D&H Distributing, another Newegg supplier that responded to an initial wave of finger-pointing by issuing legal nastygrams to sites covering the story, thus ruining whatever good vibes the truth's generated."
Wow. Good to see someone ridiculed for trying to defend themselves from unverified lies printed by "news" sites who feel no need to check their facts before posting them.
@geo3d
D&H sucks, they deserve to be ridiculed.
Reminds me of the time I bought a copy of Windows 95 Plus from Circuit City (I think). I opened it up and it had a a Street Fighter game CD and other nonsense manuals inside it.
OMFG, CC sold counterfeit software! Alarm! Alert! Call the CIA! Call the President on the World War 3 phone! Make a huge deal out of it on the internet!
Yeah, the media sucks. And stop getting yourselves all worked up over such things too.