Worried about a Stain

[Glunar]

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased an i7 10700k and it has stains on it. I was wondering whether if I should refund it or not, the processor is working fine and is being recognized by the motherboard & bios. Keep in mind that I haven't touched the surface ever, this is how it came to me. Was it used?

[ClariceStarling]

Depends on who you bought it from and whether the box and plastic case were sealed.  If it was a certified reseller and the Intel seal on the box looked like it was never opened, it would be fine imo - that's why Intel puts the seal on the box and any stain is just a manufacturing thing.  You really need to see what the box and case looked like before it was opened, as you aren't going to get a used one from the factory ... but if you bought it on Amazon and someone tried to swap it, you might!

[Glunar]

It has certification, was purchased from amazon and has serial numbers. It had sticker on hte packaging as well. What do you mean by people swapping on amazon?

[ClariceStarling]

First thing, go into Command Prompt and type command:

wmic bios get serialnumber

 This will give you the serial number off the processor itself.  See if it matches the number on the box.  If it does, you are probably okay, but to be sure you can run the Intel Diagnostic Tool:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

If it checks out, you would be fine to keep it imo!

[ClariceStarling]

Also check your warranty on the processor ...

Warranty Information (intel.com)

[ClariceStarling]

My prediction is ... someone from Intel will come on here and tell you they don't worry about the outside of the processor in quality control, because it's going to be inside the computer anyway.  They are more concerned with whether it works! 

Otherwise, there's so many ways to check whether the processor is counterfeit or used, as mentioned above.

[ClariceStarling]

 @Glunar  Will you let us know what they say?  Thx.

[AlHill]

If you have any doubt, just return it and be done with it.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Windows 11 is the new Vista]

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello @Glunar

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

We understand you have opened an internal Web Ticket with us regarding the same inquiry and the same processor model so we will continue to help you through that channel now. We will therefore close this community case. Thank you.

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[ClariceStarling]

@Glunar 

So are they giving you a new processor?