Amazon buyers warned of fake Ryzen 7 9800X3D listings selling decade-old CPUs
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We've all seen those hilarious YouTube and TikTok videos where someone orders an expensive item from somewhere like Temu or Wish and gets an obvious fake in the mail. You might expect this from dubious online retailers, but one customer was shocked when he opened a package ordered directly from Amazon.
Aris of Hardware Busters needed an additional AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor for some upcoming benchmarking tests. So he ordered one brand new from Amazon. The package arrived and appeared to be factory sealed, but as soon as Aris opened the package, he realized he had a big problem.
As a hardware expert, Aris immediately noticed that the heatspreader was the wrong shape, and the writing on the top looked blurry and amateurish. These things together screamed ‘Fake' to Aris. The writing said it was ‘Diffused' in both the USA and Taiwan, but made in China. Yet another sign of a scam.
- Cores: 8
- Threads: 16
- Boost clock speed: 5.2GHz
- Base clock speed: 4.7GHz
- L3 cache: 96MB
- TDP: 120W
- Platform: AM5
2011 called, and it wants its CPU back
When Aris peeled off the fake sticker, the truth was revealed. The CPU was actually an AMD FX, a processor series that kicked off way back in 2011 and is obviously in no way comparable to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D as far as performance goes. Looking at the list of AMD FX processors, we can see that the final chip (FX-6330) was launched in 2015.
This situation is concerning for consumers. Aris ordered directly from Amazon.de and was sold as new. On delivery, the package appeared to be factory sealed. This is not like other scams where an unscrupulous seller or delivery driver has swiped the real processor. To pull this off, someone within Amazon's supply chain would need to be involved.
Of course, Aris has asked for a refund, but he is also calling on Amazon to fully investigate this issue and get AMD involved to find out exactly what went wrong and who is responsible.
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