AMD Issues Warning of Fake Wraith Prism Coolers Being Sold

If you recently purchased a 3rd-generation AMD Ryzen processor, then the chances are almost certain that it came with their ‘stock’ Wraith Prism cooler.

Now, don’t let the word ‘stock’ fool you. Despite it being ‘bundled’ with the processors, it’s actually not only remarkably good at its job, but also it’s also very attractive to look at. Put simply, in terms of style, it urinates over the stock options that Intel offers with their CPUs.

As such, for those of you on 1st/2nd-gen processor releases, you might currently be considering ‘upgrading’ to the latest cooler. If that is the case, however, then, it seems that a warning is in order.

Following an official Twitter post by AMD, the tech giant has confirmed that fake Wraith Prisms are currently being sold online!

AMD Warns of Fake Wraith Prism Coolers

We have to admit, this is one of the first times we’ve ever heard about a ‘stock’ cooler being faked. Based on what we know about such practices, however, the chances are more than a little likely that this ‘dodgy’ version originates from somewhere in China. Why do we say this? Well, they consider ‘bootlegging’ to be a compliment to the original design there. Largely (although certainly not officially) for very convenient legal reasons.

With AMD now being aware of it, however, they’re keen to point out to their customers to not be drawn in by them.

How Can You Tell?

While AMD has not gone into specifics over how to identify the fakes (likely pending clarification) it seems that the main ‘tell’ of an illegitimate Wraith Spire boils down to how many cooling pipes it has.

We understand that the fakes being sold have 6 heat pipes rather than the 4 seen on the real version. If anything, this ‘modified design’ may be the sole reason why this came to AMD’s attention in the first place. Presumably, people were making inquiries as to whether they had updated the Wraith Spire and simply decided not to tell anyone.

While this is all still a little fuzzy in terms of accuracy, the only thing we can say with some confidence is that if you are looking to get a Wraith Spire, check how many cooling pipes it has. It there is 4, then it’s probably official. If it has 6… then it’s probably best you don’t buy it. If it’s too late for that though, for the love of God don’t put it onto your processor! We dread to think just how shoddy it is compared to the real deal!

What do you think? Do you know anyone who has purchased one of these fake coolers? Have you ever bought a PC component only to find out that it wasn’t legitimate? – Let us know in the comments!