If you want a Ti4600 early, barring cost... (not a hot deal - just FYI)

[DestruyaUR]

As I said in the topic, this really isn't a hot deal per se but if you're an nVidia zealot with a lot of cash on his/her hands, you might want to check out these three eBay auctions that are supposedly being run by nVidia themselves to "raise funds for the Children's Health Council." The "fun pack" consists of:

1 - GeForce4 Ti 4600 Graphics Processor (on what looks to be a "rare" reference board)
1 - NVIDIA Carrying Case signed by Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO and Founder of NVIDIA
1 - GeForce4 Ti Experience CD
1 - GeForce4 Ti T-Shirt

The info about the auction is here:

eGay nVidia Auctioneers info page

And the hideously overpriced auctions are here :

Auction 1
Auction 2
Auction 3

As I said before and am fully aware, eBay auction posters on this forum tend to get flamed and chewed out. Lemme just say that I'm NOT tied to this in any way, I saw it and thought that perhaps someone with more money than they know what to do with might find this interesting and help out a cause at the same time.

Edit: realized the "RIGHT NOW" in the title was misleading...changed it to "EARLY" to avoid flames/confusion. For people with the cash, this MIGHT be a hot deal. I just saw it, and considering how much of a tizzy this little chip sent the forum into - figured someone might be interested. Yeesh.

Edit 2: nVidia DOES say on both their auctioneer's info page and the auction pages themselves that this is a tax deductible donation. If that weren't true, it'd be fraudulent - or so I know - maybe a few of you are lawyers.... Keeping in mind to them these cards most likely cost around 50 bucks or less EACH to make in bulk, so if these things go up to a thousand apiece, they're not gonna take a huge hit. Now that I come to think of it - it is pretty crappy that they're not mentioning that they're giving some of their billions to this charity. That sucks.

 

[DogbertFuz]

Bump for rich people ...

edit:
this just hit me...they're ebaying 3 for charity?! This is the same NVidia that made a $200 million off just developing the Graphics card for the XBOX ... plus a piece of every XBOX going out ... . I sure hope the checks are matched 10 to 1 by Nvidia.

 

[SinnerWolf]

a reference board? not a deal for $500 plus in my opinion, but it is for charity and the money is tax deductible so it's not all bad but this will still get locked since the rules say no auctions...yet it is for charity and done by the manufacturer? grey area

 

[DestruyaUR]

Heh - 500 dollars? The auctions were just placed today and already the reserves are met on all three - I mean, seriously - money DOES burn a hole in people's pockets. I expect these things to be near 1000 once the hardware sites get a sniff.

I posted it because I thought it was interesting.

 

[BentValve]

I would love to have one of those reference cards, I am sure it will one day be a collectible item since there are not too many around..plus it is going to a damn good cause.

 

[BentValve]

<< Heh - 500 dollars? The auctions were just placed today and already the reserves are met on all three - I mean, seriously - money DOES burn a hole in people's pockets. I expect these things to be near 1000 once the hardware sites get a sniff.
>>



I bet they will go over a $1000 each. In general a grand is nothing to the kind of people who bid on this kind of item.

 

[Loricariidae]

<< I would love to have one of those reference cards, I am sure it will one day be a collectible item since there are not too many around..plus it is going to a damn good cause. >>



They won't be worth much except sedimental value - how many Intel 80286 processors have sold for more than $10 since 1998?

 

[DestruyaUR]

Q]I would love to have one of those reference cards, I am sure it will one day be a collectible item since there are not too many around..plus it is going to a damn good cause. [/i] >>



Heh - there sure ARE plenty around - just not for the public to own. nVidia was giving them out like swag to E3 guests to hardware reviewers before the 5th.

GF4 Ti4600 Reference boards /= one of the 250 known V5 6000s in existence.

(For the unenlightened, the /= means 'not equal to')

 

[Strawberrymom]

as long as you actually get to claim it on a tax return then maybe it would be free

 

[MrCornell]

Well donations to charities are indeed tax deductible, but you have to owe taxes to get it deducted. If you feel confident that you will owe more than the cost of that auction in taxes (and most people will ), then you can buy the card and then claim it as a tax writeoff. I'm not sure about the exact rules for charitable tax deductions, though. Go find your local H&R Blockhead and ask them.

 

[spamsk8r]

<< Q]I would love to have one of those reference cards, I am sure it will one day be a collectible item since there are not too many around..plus it is going to a damn good cause. >>



Heh - there sure ARE plenty around - just not for the public to own. nVidia was giving them out like swag to E3 guests to hardware reviewers before the 5th.

GF4 Ti4600 Reference boards /= one of the 250 known V5 6000s in existence.

(For the unenlightened, the /= means 'not equal to')[/i] >>



I believe that != means not equal to, at least in programming languages

 

[jfunk]

Guys, I'm pretty sure that when you buy something at a charity auction it is not tax deductible.

I think it's only deductible if you just GIVE the money to them, not if you BUY something from them. The whole point being that you are getting something in return for your money, so you are not really donating it.

NVIDIA is the one doing the donation here, not the buyer.



j

 

[VaG]

LEARN HOW TO READ. You know its not a hot deal & you know auctions tend to get flamed (because there not allow to be posted here).

 

[Jwyatt]

Couldnt you use this as a tax deduction if your using it for testing purposes. I buy and mess around with stuff all the time to keep up with the technology. Im thinking thats a tax write off itself.
granted I havnt bought any video cards thats gong to cost me my one good arm and the only leg i have to stand on

 

[toant103]

wow

 

[GetReal]

<< Well donations to charities are indeed tax deductible, but you have to owe taxes to get it deducted. If you feel confident that you will owe more than the cost of that auction in taxes (and most people will ), then you can buy the card and then claim it as a tax writeoff. I'm not sure about the exact rules for charitable tax deductions, though. Go find your local H&R Blockhead and ask them. >>



Yes donations to legitimate registered charities are tax dedctible, but if you recevie something in exchange for your "donation" then under tax law it is no longer considered a donation. They only eception to this rule is for raffles where you are not guaranteed to win or for item where you paid more than market value for their item received. For raffles, the non-winning ticket buyers can write off thier purchase as a donation. For people who pay more than the retail price for an item, they can deduct the difference between the retail price of the item received and the price that they payed. So in this instance if you pay more than $400 + the cost of the additional items then the difference would be tax deductible assuming that they party offering the item's is a legitimate registered charity with a Federal Tax ID.

 

[stoner87]

I think it's gonna be fun to watch all the uninformed pay big bucks for the Geforce4 MX's that'll start showing up on ebay soon. Get a card with the Geforce4 chipset!!! Same thing happened with the M64/Vanta's - using NVidia's TNT2-based chipset!!! Congratulations, marketing department.

Oh yeah...other auctions are already showing up for this card, you can get it a little sooner if you like. And NO, it's not my auction.

And for you ars guys...IN BEFORE TEH LOCK!

 

[Eugaet]

<< I believe that != means not equal to, at least in programming languages >>



Actually, it depends on which programming language you are using...

!=
/=
<>

...all mean 'not equal to' in their respective languages. I'm sure there's others, but these seem to be the most prevalent.

But back on topic, I agree with jfunk...I think it'll only work as a write-off for nVidia.

 

[skrill]

Gosh guys -- looks like some of you need a tax law lesson.

Charitible contributions are tax deductable. Meaning that if you earn $100,000 in a given year, and you donate $1000 to charity, then your taxable wages are $99,000 (assuming an avg. fed tax of say 33% -- you would still ove $33k in federal taxes). It does not mean you get a $1000 tax credit (i.e., you get to deduct a $1k off of your total tax liabilities).

Where people get in real trouble is when they buy something like this card at a charity auction. You can only deduct the amount of the auction price that exceeds the item's fair market value. The Ti4600 has an FMV of $400 -- here we will use its projected retail price as the FMV. Thus if you paid $1000 for this item, you can only deduct $600 from your taxable wages. Deducting the entire amount can get you in trouble if your ass gets audited.

And that concludes your tax law lesson for today.

 

[Davemeister]

getreal - what about those PBS fund drives? you make a donation and you get a CD or DVD of some performance they aired like Cirque or Three Tenors. does that disqualify your contribution as a charitable donation? aren't most charity auction items tax-deductible?

 

[GetReal]

<< getreal - what about those PBS fund drives? you make a donation and you get a CD or DVD of some performance they aired like Cirque or Three Tenors. does that disqualify your contribution as a charitable donation? aren't most charity auction items tax-deductible? >>



NO, If you receive something fo your "donation" then as far as the IRS is concerned it is no longer a donation. The person(s) who donated the merchandise to the charity can deduct 100% of their cost of the item not to exceed the current market value. For the buyer in a charity auction, the amount you pay over "fair value" is the amount that you can legally deduct.

BTW - This is also why you never see charities advertise in these auctions that 100% of your "donation" is tax deductible. The actual cash value of a deduction is equal to your current tax rate. If you spend a $1000 for a card in a charity auction and you are in a 30% tax bracket then your relized benefit would be $1000 - $400 MFW for the card) = $$600 x .30 tax bracket = $180.00

 

[skrill]

Get Real and Skrill are on the same page.