ATI Radeon 32MB DDR OEM for $122

[JuJubabe]

Just fixin the link CNETPC

 

[ChannelX]

FWIW some sites I've looked at (heres one: radeon review) *all* OEM radeons run at 166 (both 32 and 64mb) and the retail 32 also runs at 166. only the retail 64 ran at 183. Apparently the site in question used Powerstrip to find the speeds. Also the board appears to be overclockable to 183 very easily (even 190). Will work just fine for me for $122

 

[lakemalcom]

okay, now i'm worried...as far as the past goes, i've heard lots of crap with ati, especially as how they had crappy driver support. i just got a gf2 yesterday with the old staples deal and i'm curious now? HOW much difference is there between a gf2 and a radeon(image quality)? and does the radeon have video out? if i find out enough i might just fleabay the gf2 and go for a cheaper radeon...

also, dvd playback: viper II is what i have right now (s3 savage 2k) and its dvd is very nice. does gf2 stutter at all, will image quality be kind of bad with dvd's? (duron 800, 128mb pc133, i haven't got the motivation to oc yet

 

[lakemalcom]

just thought of this as i typed...any way you guys could get a video2000 (image quality) benchmark between your radeon and gf2 systems? i'll do one on my viperII and we can compare scores...plz!!

 

[lakemalcom]

lol last reply i promise: anyway we can pm this at staples and use a coupon? bring it down a bit? does staples even sell radeons? (we all kno they sell gladiacs...)

 

[JuJubabe]

Just called Staples. They don't carry the Radeon cards in the Boston area warehouses. The CSR could not find it in their system. Oh well, Takin back my Fury Maxx for a Radeon, what was I thinking, musta had a brain burp when I bought the Maxx??

 

[RobsTV]

ChannelX, sure you can return the card if it's SDR instead of DDR as advertised. But, how many buyers would know the difference between an SDR and a DDR card? How long would it take before they realized they have the wrong type of card? Looks like newegg offers money back (except return shipping) for 30 days. This is just a warning to verify what you get right away, as many sites make errors in discriptions all the time.

Many online retailers (including these 2) simply copy and paste manufacturers info to their page, and what you get is not what is shown. At least with the newegg specs page, this is clearly the case, as they show "Retail Packaging, and Specs", not OEM white box. This alone still doesn't mean it's not DDR, but newegg is indeed mixing parts of OEM and Retail here, by showing retail.

ATI's web site shows the Radeon 32 Available Configurations as Retail, Multipak, and OEM.ATI Radeon SDR
For the Radeon 32 DDR, they list no OEM or white box.

The Radeon at the Aussi site looks like some sort of 64meg All In Wonder, as it has ViVo, which is nothing like what you are talking about here, and in no way reflects OEM whitebox cards. ViVo in an OEM whitebox is virtually unheard of, except in rare exceptions.

I have had the bad luck of getting burned like this by a different company. uniteddistribution.com charged a 20% restocking fee, and I had to pay for shipping, because they said it was not there fault, and they simply copied the info from the manufacturers website.

 

[1greatguy]

good deal if it is a ddr . ..

 

[MontyBurns]

Again: If you already have a GF2 GTS and you're thinking about shelling out extra money to "upgrade" to a Radeon, DO NOT. Despite the differing opinions, that is FAR from a clear upgrade. Look at the benchmarks. The Radeon wins some, loses some.

The only reason I would upgrade from a GF2 GTS to a Radeon is if I was having problems with the GeForce. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[dougjnn]

Does anyone know what the timeline is for the PCI version of the Radeon 32meg DDR? I'm planning a dual monitor system, using to video cards in W2k.

Also, does PCI hurt performance much, real world? Only 3d performance, or also 2d?

Which would be a better video card for Photoshop photo and Pemiere video editing, this Radeon, or a Geforce2 GTS 32 meg? I guess I can't hack a Radeon into a quadro type workstation card the way I can a Radeon -- but I don't know how much diff that makes in Photoshop and Premiere?

I want the card to be able to do 3D games well also, but I'm definitely not a hard core gamer.

 

[MontyBurns]

dougjnn: Others will likely tow one line or the other, but honestly, buy whichever card is cheaper. You're not going to notice a substantial change.

I use PhotoShop constantly on both my machines (One radeon, one GTS), and I can't tell any difference.

 

[mrEvil]

I think I'd rather spend the extra $6 or so at Buy.Com and get the retail 32MB DDR board. That and I trust Buy.Com just a tad bit more than these two....that's just my 2 cents worth.

 

[dougjnn]

MontyBurns:

<>I use PhotoShop constantly on both my machines (One radeon, one GTS), and I can't tell any difference.>>

Valuable perspective. Does one or the other LOOK better for things like Photoshop? Or games?

 

[MontyBurns]

Again, I swear I can't tell a difference. And I use both heavily. But, you'll see a couple people above who swear the Radeon beats the GTS in 2D.

You can check anand's reviews for benchmarks. As I read the reviews, it seems like a toss-up, with the tie if anything going to the GeForce2 cards. (But again, I'm a big fan of the Radeon, if for no other reason than that ATI didn't try to rip people off on price from the beginning.)

As you'll see in the reviews, your computer setup is going to play a big role. A fast CPU will, of course, really help both of these cards shine at high resolutions.

My advice: Avoid OEM regardless. I know, I know, it's cheaper. But there are lots of flavors of these cards out there, and you could easily run into some sticky driver situations. I paid $169 for my Radeon some time ago. Price have got to be dropping on that card.

But the bottom line: Both of these cards completely rock with photoshop. You're not going to be disappointed.

(Sorry, guess I'm not being a heck of a lot of help in choosing...)

 

[ChannelX]

Look at:
Anandtech Radeon 32MB SDR review.

Chart at the bottom of the first page indicates there is in fact an OEM 32MB DDR board. Should be getting mine in tomorrow. Will post here when I do get it.

 

[TuOni]

that si a good price

 

[ChannelX]

I can verify that the OEM Radeon board I received from newegg.com is indeed 32MB DDR.

Samsung memory part # on the chips is:K4D62323HA

As can be seen here this conforms to the 64 Mbit DDR SDRAM.

 

[Rosebud]

I got a shipping conf &amp; fedex # today, and $120 was charged to my nextcard.
Soon we will know if this is a ddr or sdr card.

BTW
Whats the best way to test this?

 

[dougjnn]

Is the oem version clocked lower on this card than the retail? I know that is true of one current hot card. I think it's the radeon. Although probably you could overclock back up to the retail speeed or beyond.

OEM 166/166
Retail 183/183 (or so)

That's from memory. I might not be right. What say you that just got the oem ddr card??

 

[ChannelX]

The way to test it is looking at the ram chips and then looking at the manufacturer website for those part #s.

As to the clock speed from what I've seen the only 183 card is the 64mb ddr *retail*. The rest (32mb ddr/sdr oem/retail, etc) are all 166 but can be overclocked pretty decently. the benchmarks show that there isnt any significant performance benefit so why bother.

 

[ChannelX]

Rosebud-

If you ordered from newegg.com is there some reason you think they'd send me a DDR board and not send you one?

As I said...best way to test is to look up the ram part #s. thats the *only* way to tell for sure.

 

[Radarman]

I received my ATI Radeon from NewEgg.com yesterday. It is the OEM ( bulk Pack version for $123.00 shipped via FedEx 3 day. It is a 32mb DDR card w/ the Samsung 6 ns memory. The only thing missing is the fan on the hs. I had a fam from an old Pentium Heatsink and it fits perfecto. Not bad for $123.00 shipped.

 

[Martijnos]

ChannelX, I have a couple of questions . Did you get your Ati Radeon oem in a white box or in the normal Ati box? What else is concluded?

Could somebody else who ordered this card at Newegg confirm that it is indeed the ddr version.
I want to export some cards to Holland, Europe and make some profit. These cards cost $260 here in Holland

 

[ChannelX]

Card came in a white box. only other thing it had was a installation cd. How many replies are you going to expect saying they're shipping ddr before you believe its ddr?

 

[Martijnos]

Thanks for answer Channelx. I don't know, but you never can be careful enough. For you guys it's easy to ship the card back, but I live in Holland and the cards will be going there, so I won't be able to check the cards until they are in Holland. But it seem to be ddr cards. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.