Wednesday, February 12th 2025
Processors in EU Retail Channel Could Lose "Unnecessary Packaging," Possibly even Stock Coolers
The EU could influence the mobile phone industry to ditch bundling wall chargers with their phones, and got them to standardize the USB-C connector, with the goal of minimizing the number of wall chargers people would have to own, which could last years, spanning many phones. It even got Apple to ditch its proprietary Lightning connector in favor of USB-C. The European Commission could be turning its attention to the way products such as desktop PC processors are sold in the retail channel. In the OEM channel, things are golden—processors are sold by the 1,000 units in trays that aren't all that different from the way eggs are sold to restaurants. In the retail channel, these processors put on elaborate packaging material that includes boxes that are about 20 times the size of the processor itself, and include stock cooling solutions that can run the processors at stock settings.
This could change, as the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) came into effect on February 11, 2025. This regulation gives manufacturers an 18-month grace period for compliance, and it affects desktop processor packaging in the retail channel. The first casualty will be special edition or flagship SKUs that come with swanky acrylic packaging, like Intel's large dodecahedron that shipped with the Core i9-9900K. Intel has already made the switch, and its current flagship, the Core Ultra 9 285K, comes in much simpler paperboard boxes. AMD's flagship processors also comply, as they come in compact paperboard boxes even for the top Ryzen 9 9950X. Then there's the issue of stock CPU coolers included in these boxes, at least for the 65 W processor models.
Enthusiast-segment processor SKUs, such as Intel's K/KF/KS series, and AMD's X-series (TDP 105 W or higher) already lack stock coolers. The 65 W SKUs from both brands, however, tend to include coolers. PPWR could force processor manufacturers to unbundle this cooler. The cooler could be sold separately at a nominal price for those who really want a no-frills cooling solution to run their chips at stock settings, but it will no longer be in the box. This doesn't affect the vast majority of the DIY gamer/enthusiast user-base that leaves these coolers in the box untouched, and uses aftermarket coolers.
Both Intel and AMD have made conscious efforts to ensure that CPU cooler compatibility outlasts CPU sockets. Intel's LGA775 and LGA115x sockets have been legendary examples of this. You could have bought an LGA775 cooler way back in 2003, and used it all the way till 2009. You could then have bought an LGA1156 cooler, and used it well into 2021, spanning LGA1155, LGA1150, LGA1151, and LGA1200 along the way. LGA1700 and the current LGA1851 share cooler compatibility. AMD has cooler compatibility between sockets AM4 and AM5, so your cooler from 2017 can be used in a current platform from 2025. All this presents Intel and AMD with the perfect opportunity to unbundle stock coolers.
EU regulations tend to reach far beyond European borders, as has been the case with smartphones unbundling chargers or standardizing USB-C, and we could see the trend of simpler desktop processor packaging and unbundling of coolers, similarly spread.
Source:
NikTek (Twitter)
This could change, as the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) came into effect on February 11, 2025. This regulation gives manufacturers an 18-month grace period for compliance, and it affects desktop processor packaging in the retail channel. The first casualty will be special edition or flagship SKUs that come with swanky acrylic packaging, like Intel's large dodecahedron that shipped with the Core i9-9900K. Intel has already made the switch, and its current flagship, the Core Ultra 9 285K, comes in much simpler paperboard boxes. AMD's flagship processors also comply, as they come in compact paperboard boxes even for the top Ryzen 9 9950X. Then there's the issue of stock CPU coolers included in these boxes, at least for the 65 W processor models.
Both Intel and AMD have made conscious efforts to ensure that CPU cooler compatibility outlasts CPU sockets. Intel's LGA775 and LGA115x sockets have been legendary examples of this. You could have bought an LGA775 cooler way back in 2003, and used it all the way till 2009. You could then have bought an LGA1156 cooler, and used it well into 2021, spanning LGA1155, LGA1150, LGA1151, and LGA1200 along the way. LGA1700 and the current LGA1851 share cooler compatibility. AMD has cooler compatibility between sockets AM4 and AM5, so your cooler from 2017 can be used in a current platform from 2025. All this presents Intel and AMD with the perfect opportunity to unbundle stock coolers.
EU regulations tend to reach far beyond European borders, as has been the case with smartphones unbundling chargers or standardizing USB-C, and we could see the trend of simpler desktop processor packaging and unbundling of coolers, similarly spread.
62 Comments on Processors in EU Retail Channel Could Lose "Unnecessary Packaging," Possibly even Stock Coolers
There's a new generation of citizens educated on organic food awareness. They are ok with imperfect shapes and cannot fathom the idocy of some past beaurocrats detached from real world. This is, of course, balanced by way more packages of clever bearocreatic decisions that media outlets do not report often because those are not attention-grabbing news like the shape of banana. For example, there are no roaming fees across 27 countries, and many more.
Mind you, majority of consumers in the EU still enjoy buying their fruit, veg, meat, etc at local food markets, not in supermarkets. Fresh food markets are hugely popular across many countries. I always attend them when I travel around and they are always full of people enjoying their time.
Hard plastic you can cut your finger on and is nearly impossible to open, always a pita to return because you'll have cut up the packaging entirely to get to your item... and well... all plastic. Plus if you are too impatient and the item inside said blister is not durable, you'll simply tear the item apart trying to jank it out of the package.
It gets even better when the instruction manual is plastered on the inside of said blister so if you do cut it open with scissors, you've also got two 50% instruction manuals.
Just for comparison, I bought for work also 27" monitors for 80-110€ including tax at that time, price per piece.Recently I got my stuff in paper trash bags from amazon. PAper trash bags, like on an airplane when you puke.
Or in the original packaging.
edit: typo
edit2: I purchased one order which contained two - five liter motoroil bottles for my car from amazon. that outside box looked like someone played basketball with the box and did not catch the box several times. poor packaging. I forced the driver to wait until i opened the box and checked if there was liquid spillage.
Another time also box was such damaged recently, that i also say. look 350€ smartphone in it. we open it together before i give the amazon logistics subcontract company the access code for accepting the parcel. I dislike packaging which is not theft proof or is easily damaged.
Thomann.de is able to deliver with nearly no wasted space two big ADAM T8V speakers. Proper sturdy packaging
Teufel.de is unable to deliver via ups big subwoofer. (Note: packaging has a purpose)
They're easily the worst when it comes to packing/sending items nicely :shadedshu:
It would be good if the lower-end CPUs that can be reasonably cooled by a stock cooler come in two SKUs - with cooler, and without, and I keep a few stock coolers around because they're handy compact things to have for testing and emergencies, even if you would normally use a more potent solution.
It is about time this obsolete empire finally falls and releases its colonies from slavery..
£100-200 a month for a rinse-and-repeat, zero-effort ebay listing that involves me doing nothing more than printing off some address labels that are auto-generated by ebay. Why throw them in the bin when they are so easy to change into real money?paleofoundation.com/ferrocyanide/
It's not dangerous to humans at all.
Things that are dangerous to humans include flouride (in water), chlorine (swimming pools), alcohol (beer, wines, spirits), carbon monoxide (being outside in a place that has cars), and just about every vitamin you can think of, if consumed in the wrong quantities.
The EU is advised by health organisations, who are advised by qualified medical experts. Maybe occasionally they make mistakes, but on the whole EU food is pretty safe because of the regulations.
Ferrocyanide is "toxic" you say, because it has the word cyanide in the compound name. I'd be curious to hear your opinion on sodium chloride:
- Sodium is a highly unstable alkali metal that reacts with an aggressive exothermic reaction if it gets wet to create sodium hydroxide (which is toxic and can cause severe burns, permanent damage, or death) and hydrogen gas (which can explode violently like the Hindenburg Zeppelin killing 36 people and severely burned/disfigured 63 more)
- Chlorine is a highly reactive element that is proven to cause permanent lung damage, blindness, and is a key part of the active ingredient in bleach, which can be fatal if swallowed.
So, uh, stay away from sodium chloride, it sounds ReAlLy DaNgErOuS!Only joking. I love food, even if it's toxic. A short, but happy life is arguably better than a long, but sad one.
It's been nice knowing y'all.