If you are a hard-core overclocker ready to grab up a new Intel processor, you will so jizz your pants at this. Intel has announced that it is now offering an add-on warranty on certain Core processors that will replace it – even if your overclocking kills the CPU. That means if you give it too much juice and fry your new CPU, you can get a new one free.
The way the plan works is that the buyer is allowed one CPU replacement with no questions asked. The new insurance is called the Performance Tuning Plan and is valid only on certain CPUs. It is in addition to the normal 3-year warranty and costs just a little extra to get.
If the processor fails under normal use, the regular warranty fixes it. If it fails under overclocking, the tuning plan replaces the part. This sounds pretty cool to me. I wonder if AMD will follow suit. Pricing for the plan varies from $20 to $35 (USD) making this cheap insurance for overclockers – especially when spending $1000 or more on a top-of-the-line Core i7-3960X CPU.
