WTF?! Counterfeiters are always looking for new ways to dupe unsuspecting buyers. Most recently, popular tech YouTuber Der8auer shined a light on one such scam involving a fake version of AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor, exposing just how far these silicon forgers can go. It had an empty PCB and fake heatspreaders, stripping it of any real value.
The saga began when an enthusiast thought he had scored a major deal on the powerful gaming CPU through OLX (a Facebook marketplace-like platform) – a genuine 7800X3D for €300, which is a decent discount off the typical retail price. However, the excitement quickly turned to dismay when the chip proved completely non-functional upon installation.
Luckily for him, Der8auer stepped in and reimbursed him the full price of a legitimate processor. The overclocking expert had bigger plans than just charity, though. He actually acquired the chip for an in-depth analysis and attempted to expose the scammers’ tactics.
Even before receiving the physical product, Der8auer noticed some glaring inconsistencies from the seller’s photos alone. The chip’s color was off, with too bluish a hue compared to the green tint of authentic AMD silicon.
Another obvious giveaway for him was that the capacitors surrounding the integrated heat spreader were missing glue. While this glue isn’t present on the non-X3D variants of the chip, it indeed is present on the 7800X3D, so its lack on the latter means something is off.
Once the counterfeit 7800X3D arrived, Der8auer’s suspicions were confirmed – and then some. Beyond the inaccurate colors and lack of glue, he found the chip’s printed circuit board was significantly thinner than AMD’s spec, at just 0.964mm. This meant the socket’s loading mechanism couldn’t secure the fake processor with proper pressure. Scrutinizing the heatspreader’s laser etchings revealed even more disparities invisible to the naked eye.
It was clear this wasn’t an AMD product, no matter how convincing it initially appeared.
The final unmasking came when Der8auer delidded the processor, exposing its utter lack of any actual silicon dies underneath. Rather than legitimate CPU cores, the counterfeiters had simply fashioned a rectangular bump on the heatspreader’s underside to mimic the look of processors’ dies. The package was just an empty board.
Wrapping up, Der8auer admitted the PCB layout, capacitor positioning, and overall packaging were surprisingly well-executed. However, those convincing elements were negated by the fake’s glaring physical shortcomings. But then again, these differences may not be easily identifiable by the layman looking to simply plug the chip into the socket without scrutinizing it too much.
As for why scammers picked the Ryzen 7800X3D over the usual Nvidia flagship GPU, the chip is arguably one of the best gaming CPUs on the market with excellent performance and power efficiency, as we noted in our review. It’s hugely popular too, making it an easy lure.
