Computer Chip Scam, Pentium Pirates - Intel’s Most Recent Problem
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Shenzhen Chuanghui Electronics claims that the remarked samples of the Pentium M processors were never meant to be sold to end users; rather, they were intended to be distributed as engineering samples to computer makers. Somehow, that offers very little comfort. After all, not all computer makers are reputable – or difficult to fool.
Besides, one has to wonder about the honesty of a company that has set up virtual storefronts on two online marketplaces to sell these processors overseas. Chuanghui describes them as 1.7 GHz Celeron chips altered to look like 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 processors. The company sells them with a motherboard, in quantities of 100 or more, for $78 each. Compare that to the real Pentium 4, which Intel sells for $401 per unit in 1,000 unit quantities, without a motherboard.
Profit!
No wonder the chip maker is unhappy. If I were Intel, I wouldn’t be amused either. “That kind of behavior is not something that we tolerate or endorse,” stated Barbara Grimes, a spokesperson for the company in Hong Kong.
Part of the problem is that remaking the Celeron to look like a Pentium isn’t difficult. The two chips use the same basic design. The big difference is that most of the on-chip memory cache has been disabled in the Celerons. So wouldn’t the rest of the system know that this chip wasn’t the real thing, and behave differently? Maybe, and maybe not. Chuanghui provides buyers with software that masks the chip’s identity from a computer’s BIOS and Microsoft’s XP operating system. It fools the system into thinking it really is dealing with a fancy Pentium rather than the slower Celeron.
Next: AMD Isn’t Immune, Either >>
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