14 DAY TRIAL // Motherboard manufacturer DFI has just issued a consumer warning about some fake motherboard models that are touted as manufactured by the company. However, despite the fact that the counterfeit units are similar with DFI's models, the imitations are stamped as DFI MCP78V and MCP68PV, two models that are not present in the company's portfolio.
The forged units are especially present on the Indonesian market, and DFI's investigations have unveiled that the fake motherboards are distributed by a local hardware vendor, called TIGA. Moreover, the imitations using DFI branding seem to be produced by the Chinese board manufacturer J&W.
"We have contacted the alleged party to cease and desist the act. DFI will not allow and permit any illegal use and have commissioned the legal department to take action to stop the unauthorized behavior. Meanwhile we would like to call the general public's attention of the potential losses of certain consumer's rights if buying the fake DFI motherboards," reads the company warning.
The fake motherboards misleadingly branded as DFI products can cause a lot of trouble to the users. Counterfeit products are usually built with low-quality products and are engineered with no respect towards the chipset and CPU manufacturers' safety indications and requirements.
The most important problems that can occur when using counterfeit motherboards are related to the VRM modules, that can result in limited CPU support (sub-100 Watts), since they are built with low-quality capacitors, as well as loss of warranty or other customer privileges.
DFI is not the only target on the hardware market. Networking specialist Cisco faced the same problems in early March, when the US and Canadian customs authorities seized $78 million worth of forged networking gear branded as Cisco Systems.
However, the vast majority of the counterfeit products target mobile phones, especially iPhone clones manufactured in China. The German authorities triggered an investigation during the CeBIT expo and seized thousands of forged products that were to be showcased during the event.