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Hardware New AMD Internal Packaging
David Graham (Blog) - March 23, 2006 4:56 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 22 comment(s) - last by Araemo.. on Mar 24 at 9:08 PM

Internal package now uses cardboard

Previous packaing also saw some CPUs shift out of place

The CPUs are now securely kept in place - photos courtesy of Flickerdown
AMD has changed the packaging internals from the green "biodegrable" material to plain white cardboard.

Sources close to AMD have informed us that the company is quietly upgrading its packaging for processors, which previously caused some problems for end users. Anyone who has received AMD Retail PIB (Processor in Box) processors is surely familiar with the infamous "green" biodegradable packaging material that was used to stabilize the processor and the HSF.  The infamy of this packaging material was based on numerous accounts of the material destroying itself during shipping, leaving a fine green powder or chunks of it across the processor, heatsink and fan. 

This causes numerous headaches for the end user because it requires a few shots of compressed air or lint-free cloth in order to properly clean it up.  AMD has recently quietly changed from this packaging material, opting instead for a white cardboard stabilization unit that keeps the processor in place.  It is unknown how long it will take to permeate the entire shipping line of processors, so be aware that you may continue to receive the green packing material for some time as distributors clear their warehouses.  Pictures are available here for your perusal.

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i dunno
By Plasmoid on 3/23/2006 9:04:33 PM , Rating: 2
Looks very ipod esque but im not sure...

I'll reserve judegment until i actually get one in my hands but that green biodegradable thingy really matched the box it came in.

6 months in my garage stored in the box and my degradable packaging hasent degraded.... how did so many go south during shipping???




RE: i dunno
By Hypernova on 3/24/2006 12:01:03 AM , Rating: 3
Probably maoistur. But chances are they mixed the agents doing the degrading at the wrong ratio and didn't care to adjust it.

Personally I think this is just another death strok to the environment. Every time I open a plastic P4 packaging I try to picture in my head how it would look like with 1 million of these things in the landfill. Here in NZ part of the engineering courses are about "environmentally friendly designs".


RE: i dunno
By masher2 (blog) on 3/24/2006 8:26:00 AM , Rating: 1
> "Every time I open a plastic P4 packaging I try to picture in my head how it would look like with 1 million of these things in the landfill"

Calculate the volume of a million of these...or even a hundred billion of them. Now divide by the volume of the earth. Watch as your calculator displays massive underflow errors.

Get the point? Somehow I doubt it.


RE: i dunno
By TomZ on 3/24/2006 8:30:12 AM , Rating: 2
You're right - the "we're going to run out of landfill space" is a pure B.S. argument without any reasonable logical justification.


RE: i dunno
By Josett on 3/24/2006 7:03:48 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Calculate the volume of a million of these...or even a hundred billion of them. Now divide by the volume of the earth. Watch as your calculator displays massive underflow errors.



...by the volume of the Earth?! I wonder why...


RE: i dunno
By Araemo on 3/24/2006 9:08:57 PM , Rating: 2
During shipping the (heavy) heatsink gets bumped around, and it hits that green stuff mighty hard if there is any room for it to shift in relation to the green stuff. What you have is a shipping-company-powered green-stuff-pulverising machine. ;P


Hmmm... is this right?
By oTAL (blog) on 3/23/2006 5:03:36 PM , Rating: 2
"that keeps both processor and CPU in place."

Correct. ;)
It's cardboard, so it's green anyway, right? Green as in ecologic, obviosuly...

Nuno




RE: Hmmm... is this right?
By TomZ on 3/23/2006 5:12:19 PM , Rating: 2
White cardboard gets that way due to a bleaching process. Not exactly environmentally friendly, relative to natural colored cardboard.


RE: Hmmm... is this right?
By TomZ on 3/23/2006 5:13:06 PM , Rating: 2
Also, that cardboard also looks glossy - it might also be plastic coated.


RE: Hmmm... is this right?
By timmiser on 3/23/2006 6:37:43 PM , Rating: 1
I'm not too concerned about the biodegradable aspects of a small box whose contents cost over $400 on average.

I am very concerned about the biodegradable aspects of a box of cereal for example since they outnumber processor boxes about 100,000 to 1!


RE: Hmmm... is this right?
By mindless1 on 3/24/2006 12:11:20 AM , Rating: 2
I'm sure they'll be sad that you aren't going to buy one, or are you just being whiney again?


RE: Hmmm... is this right?
By shoRunner on 3/23/2006 5:13:04 PM , Rating: 2
"that keeps both processor and CPU in place."

because the processor and CPU are different??


Ho hum...
By cornfedone on 3/23/2006 5:36:25 PM , Rating: 1
For some folks the package is more important than the contents. Look at the foolish pimple faced fanboy packaging on mobos and PSUs and you'll see the sheep get all excited.




RE: Ho hum...
By Inkjammer on 3/23/2006 5:55:10 PM , Rating: 2
Heh, I've seen people who oogle over the box as much as they do the contents.

Frankly, I'm glad they're making the change. I bought an Opteron 248 recently and the entire contents of the the biodegrable container had, in effect, degraded. It crumbled into chunky white dust as I poured the contents of the box out.


RE: Ho hum...
By randomlinh on 3/23/2006 6:00:12 PM , Rating: 2
c'mon.. haven't you opened up an apple product before? My 3rd gen iPod was the first apple product I've ever owned... and the packaging just amazed me... moreso the fact they spent so much effort in making it the way it was.


RE: Ho hum...
By Inkjammer on 3/24/2006 4:05:15 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, I have to admit. The packaing on my iPod was so impressively put together I had more fun opening the box than I did ever playing music on the thing.

Then again, the time that went into the packaging probably added another 5 to 10% the price. I'd personally love to see AMD step up their pre-packaged heatsinks to the next level, where the standard heatsink can compare to an aftermarket cooler.

I'd pay the extra $20 to $30 for the CPU if I could get a factory heatsink that rivaled ones I have to buy additionally anyway.


You want loud?
By AaronAxvig on 3/23/2006 6:32:16 PM , Rating: 2
"AMD has recently quietly changed from this packaging material" (Stated twice in the article)

Why must we point out that it is "quietly changing?" Do you want them to make a press release?

i.e. "Attention all interested parties. Oreos will now be switching their packaging to include a small flap that rises from the packaging to seperate individual cookies. This flap is just another good thing Nabisco is doing for you."

Obviously this is not the thing that you announce with a news release, so it is not worth noting that they are doing it quietly, like they are sneaky or something.




RE: You want loud?
By ssvegeta1010 on 3/23/2006 9:37:14 PM , Rating: 2
"Attention all interested parties. Oreos will now be switching their packaging to include a small flap that rises from the packaging to seperate individual cookies. This flap is just another good thing Nabisco is doing for you."

They do that?!?! Sweet!

But seriously, why would they make a big deal about it?


RE: You want loud?
By Aesir on 3/23/2006 11:38:08 PM , Rating: 2
Man, that would suck... Think about how many fewer oreos they'd put in packages, and how much more cardboard you'd get.

Anyway... good idea, that green stuff is terrible. Half of my last processor intsalltation was air blasting that crap out from between the heatsink "fins".


Thank you AMD
By nordicpc on 3/24/2006 9:59:22 AM , Rating: 2
Personally, as someone that opens up probably 3 or 4 AMD PIB's a week, I'll be very glad when the green stuff is gone. When AMD moved from the hard as hell to open plastic clamshell we got stuck with green stuff that liked to break up in shipping. It'll be nice to get back to plain cardboard.




RE: Thank you AMD
By BillyBatson on 3/24/2006 1:34:10 PM , Rating: 2
i feel the same way, i always have to used a can of air to clean the cpu and HSF.
Also i ordered a 4000+ SD last year which arrived with the green holder completely dust and cpu pins bent which had to be RMAed


whoopee
By brownba on 3/23/06, Rating: 0
"A politician stumbles over himself... Then they pick it out. They edit it. He runs the clip, and then he makes a funny face, and the whole audience has a Pavlovian response." -- Joe Scarborough on John Stewart over Jim Cramer

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