Beware of fake AMD Ryzen processors out there in the wild. In a recent video, German YouTuber der8auer tore down a fake Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU passed to him by one of his viewers and explained what you’ll need to watch out for yourself. It’s a convincing copy, but not without its shortcomings.
Der8auer’s viewer bought the fake AMD CPU from a Romanian third-party selling site called OLX for around €300 ($330) at a discount on current EU prices compared to a genuine 7800X3D, which is the best gaming CPU available to buy. The pretender doesn’t boot and a quick test with a multimeter by der8auer is enough to confirm it isn’t usable.
Even before booting, there are a few more telltale signs that this isn’t a legit AMD chip. Der8auer’s video, which you can see above, walks through some of the obvious signs, starting with the board’s substrate color. The shade is wrong, appearing more blue than the shade of green you’d expect on a real Ryzen processor.
Other manufacturing details are amiss, too. There’s a lack of protective resin on the capacitors that sit between the integrated heatspreader’s legs, while der8auer’s tests prove that the PCB itself is much thinner than a real X3D processor, sitting at 0.964mm versus 1.308mm for the real deal.
The shape of the IHS on the board isn’t a direct match and neither are the engravings on it, with der8auer comparing the two using overlapped photos in Photoshop. Delidding the CPU is the final nail in the coffin. First, the IHS is removed from the board with much more ease than expected, but underneath the spreader, der8auer finds no silicon at all. No wonder it didn’t boot.
To a consumer, this looks very much like any other Ryzen X3D processor. From der8auer’s video, the packaging seems legitimate and many of the visible features are close duplicates to what you’d expect, with some (like the IHS) getting specific praise for having fewer manufacturer defects. Only with a legitimate 7800X3D to compare against does this counterfeit CPU fail from a visual point of view.
This forgery is a reminder that, when you’re buying from third-party sellers, not everything is necessarily as it seems. Der8auer reimbursed his viewer the full €300 so they could go and purchase a real alternative, but if you end up with a fake CPU, you might not be so lucky. If you’re in the market for a new processor, check out our Ryzen 7 7800X3D review to see what you’ll get if you purchase the genuine article for yourself.