RGB CPU boxes anyone?

That's some pretty impressive packaging, though :)

To be honest, I'd rather my money went on the chip, not the packaging.

kalniel
To be honest, I'd rather my money went on the chip, not the packaging.

Same here, I've always bought OEM chips where possible as I don't care about the packaging.

kalniel
To be honest, I'd rather my money went on the chip, not the packaging.

In defense of the packaging, I built a 1920x threadripper system about 4 months ago and I was blown away by how extremely well packaged(secure, easy to work with) it was. When you are working with components upwards of 700+ you really want them in some bubble wrapped in some box.

This though…..definitely looks a bit much

Ridiculous, wasteful, OTT packaging.

Some of you might want to look at the boxes of the Nvidia FE edition - especially as I am using one myself. It feels much more expensive compared to the other 30 or so graphics cards I have bought over the last 15 years,and more elaborate and that is the reason AMD is doing this. People like us don't really give a damn,but it seems people do care,and AMD is trying to associate its premium products with premium packaging. If you don't think that has an effect,then look at how many other products do the same. Its the same reason why Nvidia has made the Titan sub-brand as a “premium” product line with an all metal cooler. The GTX1080FE feels the “most premium” card I have used,even though there are better aftermarket cards,using less premium feeling coolers. An all metal cooler does not mean it will cool any better,but it feels nice to the touch. The same goes with Apple products.

Personally I would prefer more functional packaging and a cheaper product!;)

But imagine what if AMD put it in a white cardboard box,with Ryzen printed on the side,people would be moaning AMD makes no effort and are “cheap” and Intel,Nvidia,etc know how to package their products better,etc.

Oooh very nice , very nice indeed. I am sure AMD can up the game by having a button on the box that unboxes the box ?

is this the first product where you can return just the box because the batteries for the LED cradle might be faulty?
or will you have to return the CPU aswell just to get a working LED lightup box?

philehidiot

kalniel
To be honest, I'd rather my money went on the chip, not the packaging.

Same here, I've always bought OEM chips where possible as I don't care about the packaging.

While I believe that processor packaging should never ever be OTT (and both the original and the new Threadripper packaging is at the very least close to that), I would never buy a non-“boxed” CPU. The reason is the warranty, or lack thereof. At least with regard to Intel, but I'm sure AMD has a similar policy (and apparently, it does). Usually, “boxed” CPUs do not cost vastly more, either. Not as much as to forego peace of mind.

Whilst I'm not sure it makes much of a difference to us who choose our chips by objective criteria (man you should see the equations I've used to choose hardware - taking benchmarks, weighting them for importance, indexing them to price and in the end coming out with one figure….. and it's after all that work and pages of numbers carefully written down in columns and analysed that you realise that the manufacturers have done the exact same sums and when you index performance to price like that, they all come out the same….) there are two things to remember. Firstly some people WILL actually see the box on a shelf (probably in a glass cupboard) and their eyes will be drawn to it. That's product impact and exposure that you might not get if they're skimming along a shelf of broadly similarly packaged products. Then there's remembering the product - you gonna remember that Intel 6850K… or was it 6890K? Or was it Z? Can't remember, they all looked the same. Or are you gonna remember the AMD one in the fancy packaging that stood out and made an impact? That's competing in someone's head and that's where the real victory is won.

Charge less and just sell the cpu. if it takes razmataz then it's not your primary focus…

CAT-THE-FIFTH
Some of you might want to look at the boxes of the Nvidia FE edition - especially as I am using one myself. It feels much more expensive compared to the other 30 or so graphics cards I have bought over the last 15 years,and more elaborate and that is the reason AMD is doing this. People like us don't really give a damn,but it seems people do care,and AMD is trying to associate its premium products with premium packaging. If you don't think that has an effect,then look at how many other products do the same. Its the same reason why Nvidia has made the Titan sub-brand as a “premium” product line with an all metal cooler. The GTX1080FE feels the “most premium” card I have used,even though there are better aftermarket cards,using less premium feeling coolers. An all metal cooler does not mean it will cool any better,but it feels nice to the touch. The same goes with Apple products.

Personally I would prefer more functional packaging and a cheaper product!;)

But imagine what if AMD put it in a white cardboard box,with Ryzen printed on the side,people would be moaning AMD makes no effort and are “cheap” and Intel,Nvidia,etc know how to package their products better,etc.

Yeah totally right.

I personally don't like this whole trend of creating “unboxing experiences” and would much prefer the approach of making something as recyclable as possible.

Everything has to be so damn dramatic these days.

Biscuit
Yeah totally right.

Everything has to be so damn dramatic these days.

Biscuit
I personally don't like this whole trend of creating “unboxing experiences” and would much prefer the approach of making something as recyclable as possible.

*sigh*

Please keep packaging minimal and recyclable. Where possible, cardboard with minimal use of plastics. Preferably, a box just big enough to contain the product and associated gubbins.

It's stuff like this that actively puts me off manufacturers.

When Nvidia overpackaged their Titan and FE cards in premium boxes and had cards with shrouds made of thick cast metal(the stock cooler is very heavy but feels nice),it was all cool and nice. I mean you don't actually need a cast metal shroud shroud as plastic and stamped metal ones are fine,but people were going on but the AMD shroud feels cheap,so AMD then also went cast metal for certain cards.

There was even laughing on tech forums,when some of the FX CPUs were found to use recycled metal for the tins.

I didn't see the big deal personally.

So if people didn't care,why did they care if AMD used recycled metal? The fact is people do care - more NOW than in the past.

Perception is everything.

The fact is people want pretty looking and pretty packaged products,otherwise they consider it “cheap”.

Look at how much I complained about pointless cosmetic heatsinks and RGB everywhere,but people were arguing for it.

I don't see the issue here - the packaging is eye-catching,it protects the massive CPU well,and its distinctive. It does what its meant to do - show its an AMD product and to convey a sense of “expense”.

If someone wants to resell the CPU,they can just put it back in and sell it. Try reselling an Intel CPU - the packaging is flimsy and it needs to be well protected.

I mean do you think AMD would rather spend less on the packaging?? I suspect they would rather use a plain box and make a higher profit margin,but feel the need to do this,and this tells you much about the market as a whole now.

Dashers
*sigh*

Please keep packaging minimal and recyclable. Where possible, cardboard with minimal use of plastics. Preferably, a box just big enough to contain the product and associated gubbins.

It's stuff like this that actively puts me off manufacturers.

HTC have been through this cycle. The TYTN II was in a big box with magnetic closure all posh and everything. Pointless given that you were probably going to open it once and then bin it. I kept it for storage as it was sturdy. Since then they seemed to go more and more compact and recyclable on the packaging, most notably starting with the One X. After that the M7 and M9 both came in minimalistic boxes which were flexible so good for absorbing impacts. There was a space saving for HTC so transport became cheaper and they could also brag about being nice to the trees, etc. The thing with boxes is that if you see it on a shelf then it'll make a difference. I dunno about you but if I go into a phone shop I don't even see the box until I've basically agreed to buy as the person pops into the back to get you a phone. More and more people are buying online or upgrading using online or phone systems and therefore again, the packaging has minimal impact.

It's a crying shame to see HTC going down “meeeee tooooo!” route when they were so good at doing things just that little bit different.

would make a cool stash tin ;}