AMD EPYC ROME 32-CORE 7532 3.35GHZ

Why did you pick this product vs others?: I needed a CPU that could provide the most PCIe lane connectivity with the lowest cost. The Epyc Rome 7532 was listed for ~$220 from Newell Technologies INC on Amazon. I was skeptical, but it seems to work as advertised for me in the asrock rack romed8-2t/bcm motherboard. No vendor locks, no bait and switch (which is what I was worried about for such a cheap price) Compared to other Epyc CPUs (and newer desktop CPUs) this CPU is nothing to write home about, but if you are doing a primarily GPU heavy workload like multi-GPU AI, or anything that really just needs a lot of PCIe lanes, this is an amazing way to save money and meet those needs.

**Do not buy — likely vendor-locked or defective, and important information was not disclosed** I strongly recommend avoiding this listing, as its likely a SCAM. I purchased this EPYC 7532 and spent **months** troubleshooting it because I initially assumed the motherboard was the problem. I saved up for replacement hardware, waited for additional motherboards to arrive, and tested this processor in **multiple compatible SP3 motherboards**. The result was the same: **the system would not POST with this CPU.** After all of that, I checked the processor's serial number directly through AMD's official serial-number lookup. AMD identifies this specific processor as a **tray processor originally sold to a system integrator/OEM**, not a normal retail-boxed CPU. None of that was disclosed in the Amazon listing when I purchased it. There was no warning that these CPUs may be OEM-sourced, vendor-locked/PSB-fused, previously tied to a particular server manufacturer, or otherwise unsuitable for a normal compatible SP3 motherboard. At this point, after testing multiple motherboards, this processor is either **vendor-locked or defective**. Either way, it is effectively a **$165 paperweight** for me. What makes this especially frustrating is the amount of time involved. I spent months assuming I had motherboard problems, buying and waiting for additional hardware, and troubleshooting an entire system when the CPU appears to have been the common problem all along. I also found other reviews on this same listing reporting CPUs that would not work in normal motherboards and showing similar unusual markings. If you are selling OEM/server processors that may have platform restrictions, **that needs to be clearly disclosed in the product description before someone buys one.** Buyers should not have to discover this after spending months troubleshooting and purchasing additional hardware. **Do not buy from this listing unless the seller can guarantee in writing that the CPU is tested, fully functional, and NOT vendor/PSB locked.**

This is a non-retail part, do not buy, it will not work in a retail motherboard. Everyone is selling these early chips and it is very likely a violation of AMD's agreements with various other companies. These guys are going to cause a lot of returns (i.e. Amazon and you will waste time dealing with this) and I hope Amazon gets them off the platform. The chip they sent me is in the photo. The laser inscription indicates it's a "BB" lot which is not a retail lot code, "1933" means it was made in 2019 week 33, which is well before final production for 7532s started, and finally "PGT" likely means something like "platform group test" or something close to that instead of reading "MTS" which is the "production" version of the chip. Caveat Emptor!!

Epyc performance for desktop money prices.