Delidded Fake Ryzen 7 7800X3D Exposes Mind-Blowing CPU Scam
Extreme overclocker Roman Hartung, who you may recognize better as 'der8auer', has been around the block a time or two, delidded his fair share of CPUs over the years, and has seen things. Lots of things. However, the close-up examination and dissection of a fake AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor blew his mind, a phrase he used no less than three times (by our count) in a new video posted this weekend.
Scammers selling counterfeit chips is not new, nor its it exclusive to AMD Ryzen parts (we wrote about a Core i7-13700K being sold as a Core i9-13900K around this same time a year ago). What left him mind blown was how much effort the counterfeiter put into certain parts of the fake chip's design.
He obtained the CPU in question from Bruce Lee (not to be confused with the late and great martial arts expert), an enthusiast from Romania whom der8auer connected with over Discord. Lee had purchased the chip on an online maketplace that mostly consists of private sellers, somewhat similar to Facebook Marketplace.
Unfortunately for Lee, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D he purchased for 300 euros ended up being a non-functioning fake chip. Fortunately for him, Hartung came to the rescue by buying the fake CPU for 400 euros, which is around the going retail rate for a new Ryzen 7 7800X3D in Europe. With the counterfeit chip in hand, Hartung embarked on an in-depth examination.
One of the things he noticed right away is that the greenish PCB (printed circuit board) appeared a little more blue than a real Ryzen 7 7800X3D he had on hand, though that's not necessarily unusual—some of AMD's chips do sport a bluish-green CPU. What was unusual, however, is that the exposed capacitors were completely clean, whereas on real 7800X3D CPUs, they're typically covered with glue.
That wasn't the only potential sign that something was amiss. Hartung says the PCB felt thinner, which he confirmed through an actual measurement (0.964mm versus 1.308mm). Beyond that, it took some high-resolution photos to discover some subtle differences in the IHS (integrated heatspreader) design.
What really exposed the chip as a fake, however, was a delidding, with the IHS popping off far easier than a legitimate chip.
He later goes on to state that, "Overall, this is an extremely professional fake for both parts, heatspreader and PCB."
The lessen here is to be extra wary when purchasing goods, especially things like processors, from marketplaces as opposed to retailers like Amazon (where the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is on sale for $419, just be sure to manually select Amazon as the seller, as it defaults to a marketplace seller). If you get scammed by a chip on Amazon, there's a far better chance at resolving the issue through a return or exchange, versus buying a counterfeit chip from a marketplace seller.
