Retail or OEM?

[Fossil]

That is the question when it comes to the 9700 Pro.

[JayisunJ]

Most retail boxes come with nothing more than a few games (usually more than two years old) and a pretty box to look at. There is little to justify the price over buying the OEM version. If it were my choice, I'd go with the OEM.:)

[Fossil]

Hopefully it is only a few old games. The first Radeon I bought came with a slower clock speed and I had to overclock it to retail. Next Radeon I bought was the Retail 8500.

[JayisunJ]

Hey, I must've overlooked your flag my first post. You are Canadian. Go ATI! Let me know if you went with Retail or OEM. Good luck purchasing and you know you'll love your 9700 Pro regardless of your choice to go OEM or Retail. :)

[Skully]

Yea be careful, sometimes OEM is not up to the retail card.

[KingTermite]

Originally posted by Skully
Yea be careful, sometimes OEM is not up to the retail card.
Really? I've never heard that, or noticed that before. I nearly always go for OEM unless there is software included that I want.

[JayisunJ]

Yea, I've never heard of OEM being worse than Retail except maybe as far as warranty is concerned? :confused:

[Fossil]

The first Radeons OEM shipped with the same memory as the retail but the clock speed was 163 instead of 175 like the retail. Or the retail was 183, but anyways, the OEM version did not have the same clock speed as the retail. Since a couple of you have nevered heard of this, I guess the OEM version of the 9700 pro is exactly the same as far as memory chips and clock speed.

[pointreyes]

Originally posted by Fossil
The first Radeons OEM shipped with the same memory as the retail but the clock speed was 163 instead of 175 like the retail. Or the retail was 183, but anyways, the OEM version did not have the same clock speed as the retail. Since a couple of you have nevered heard of this, I guess the OEM version of the 9700 pro is exactly the same as far as memory chips and clock speed.

You are correct. I had one of the first retail Radeons and I think it was 183Mhz. The OEM Radeons were a lower clock speed and were much harder to oc. I think ATI stopped doing that after or with the 8500 series.

[JayisunJ]

If you do any research about your card AT ALL, you should have no trouble with an OEM card. Most reputable companies post the products core and memory frequencies right on the product page or at least link to it. If the OEM has lower clockspeeds than the Retail, DON'T BUY IT! But if it has the same clockspeeds and the OEM is reasonably cheaper than the Retail version, then you are getting a hell of a deal by buying OEM, so buy it! If you need the crappy bundled games and an extra cable or two, buy the Retail. Moral of the story: Research the damn card before you buy it! 99% of OEMs have the same clockspeeds as the Retail cards do, and are therefore safe to buy 100% of the time if you just take the time to do some research.

[Fossil]

Jayisunj. I think your referring to OEM cards like Sapphire or Atlantis and sure that would be easy to research. What I am referring to is just a card with no box. OEM built by ATI.

Thanks Pointreyes. I really didn't want to spend $50 on a box and a copy of SOF2 or Half Life.

[JayisunJ]

Jayisunj. I think your referring to OEM cards like Sapphire or Atlantis and sure that would be easy to research. What I am referring to is just a card with no box. OEM built by ATI.
Actually I was referring to ALL OEM cards. Any brand (Built by ATI, Sapphire, Powercolor, Gigabyte) can have an OEM version of thier card. By OEM I am reffering to any packaging that is a stripped down version of the retail packaging (exe. no box, bare minimum extras). No matter what brand OEM you buy (including Built by ATI) you can still find the specs for it somewhere. Sorry for the confusion. :wave:

[Jojo1971]

OEM- is the way to go if youre going to void the warranty by modding the hardware...

[JayisunJ]

Yo Fossil! My brother just bought a Powercolor EvilCommando2 9700 Pro from newegg.com - Retail. Just as suspected, it came with a bunch of beer-coaster-quality games. Most of them "lite" versions anyway. It also came with alot of useless cables that I could buy at Radio Shack for 3 $bucks$. But, strangely, it was cheaper than the OEM of many other brands. So, in this case, I would reccomend this retail card over the OEM of any other brand. The card is the basic ATI reference design too and is clocked appropriatly (not underclocked). But, o man, the box art is soooooo gay! Looks like a five minute photoshop job. Great card though. :wave:

[Cogar]

As JayisunJ mentioned, the key is doing some research. Even so, it is possible to get hosed occasionally, since the OEM cards normally arrive in a static resistant bag with a CD attached to it with a rubber band. I have received some cracked CDs this way and I always wonder if the card also received some damage, but just not enough to cause it to fail.

[Fossil]

Actually, when I went to purchase the card, I ask the main salesman for a OEM 9800 Pro. He said he was waiting for ATI to deliver his 250 lot order. So with the following infomation:

All prices in Canadian $.

9700 Pro - OEM $449
9700 Pro - box $469

The price on the box version has dropped where the OEM has stayed the same.

9800 Pro - OEM $ ?
9800 Pro - Box $525.00

So I asked how much he was willing to sell the 9800 OEM version for. He was quiet for a second, then he said well how much are you looking to spend? I replied, " Well I find it hard to justify paying over $400.00 for any video card and I usually buy my hardware at the end of the product cycle, but in this case, I really would like the 9800 Pro" I slowly grabbed my wallet and pulled out 5 crisp $100 dollar bills and replied "What will this get me?"

I walked out of the store with a 9800 Pro Box version for $435.00 plus tax = $500.25 and a promise to be back to purchase an Abit IC7 MAX3 and 2.6C processor.

Not sure if you can haggle like that when making an online purchase, but watching this guys eyes google at those crisp new $100 bills put me, the customer, in the driving seat.

[Cogar]

Good story. It never hurts to ask if you are speaking to someone in authority. :)

[Fossil]

Cogar: The story, which is a reality, is slightly different than I described. Instead of doing an edit on my post, I will fill in a few details. He took the the boxed 9800 Pro and opened it and gave me the card, driver cd, and cables. I am sure he will replace everything once his OEM cards show up.

Being the end of the month and all, I think he needed the money and I can bet our Gov't will never see the sales tax. This should be lesson to all of people who visit this message board that if you buy on-line you pay on-line prices. You miss the excitement of the barter / haggle game that free enterprise thrives on. Now get out of your basement and enter a computer store for once.

[JayisunJ]

Now get out of your basement and enter a computer store for once. Most computer stores here sell 1 to 2 year old parts for outrageous prices. The stores that have slightly up to date products charge an outrageous premium for them - plus tax. Buying computer parts online can save money, time, and gas. Plus, if I leave my basement, I may be exposed to direct sunlight which could cause my skin to turn from this beautiful bleached white color to an unhealthy tan or brown. Wouldn't want that! ;)

[Cogar]

Originally posted by Fossil
Cogar: The story, which is a reality, is slightly different than I described. Instead of doing an edit on my post, I will fill in a few details. He took the the boxed 9800 Pro and opened it and gave me the card, driver cd, and cables. I am sure he will replace everything once his OEM cards show up.

Being the end of the month and all, I think he needed the money and I can bet our Gov't will never see the sales tax. This should be lesson to all of people who visit this message board that if you buy on-line you pay on-line prices. You miss the excitement of the barter / haggle game that free enterprise thrives on. Now get out of your basement and enter a computer store for once.
Very interesting. Thank you for the embellishment Fossil. I find it interesting that the retailer will provide an OEM card in the retail box for the next person. What is a concern is that there are some cases where the OEM card is different physically from the retail product. I will give two examples:

1. The Audigy 2 OEM uses the "colored" jacks, whereas the retail version uses the gold-plated ones. There have also been reports (unconfirmed) that the OEM cards will not accept the standard Creative driver updates. This may be limited to manufacturer-specific OEM cards, such as one you would get from Dell, rather than the OEM cards we might get from a retailer like newegg.
2. Although it may not be the case any longer, when the Radeon was first introduced (we are talking 7200 here), the OEM cards were clocked slower than the retail ones. This may have also been true of later cards, but as the Radeon has been made by more manufacturers, I have given up trying to keep track.

Edit: I just noticed that both you and pointreyes mentioned the situation regarding the earlier ATI cards. I guess I am getting lazy or something, but I do not always reread an entire thread to make sure I do not repeat what someone else has already said. :rolleyes: