Is dell pulling a fast one?

[iam4u2nv]

I posted this in video but I thought I might get more responses here. I bought a few video cards from Dell.
They were ATI 9800 Pro cards. They arrived labeled 9800 Pro and the drivers that installed called it a 9800 Pro. Every application I use to read the chipset of the card says it is a 9800 Pro. The core clock is 324 and the memory is 290. These are the settings for a non pro card... WTF?
I am going to call Dell but I wondered if anyone has heard of this before I call them. Maybe the cards are supposed to clocked this way.... not sure.

 

[vi edit]

I am going to call Dell but I wondered if anyone has heard of this before I call them. Maybe the cards are supposed to clocked this way.... not sure.

You could call, but my feelings are that you'll have to speak with about 50 different people before you get someone there that knows WTF the clock speeds on a video card mean and/or should be.

 

[fs5]

yes dell, a multi million dollar company, is trying to screw you over.

 

[iam4u2nv]

Not me.. how many other cards are they selling that way.

Thank you for posting though.. it shows me I have to be VERY clear in how I post. I think Dell.. the same mulit million dollar company sold OTHER video cards and maybe that is how they became a multi million dollar company.

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: fivespeed5
yes dell, a multi million dollar company, is trying to screw you over.

How do you think they got to be a multi million dollar company?

 

[TechnoKid]

Isn' the ram speed really doubled because of the DDR thingy? I may have this wrong...and what should the speeds be?

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: TechnoKid
Isn' the ram speed really doubled because of the DDR thingy? I may have this wrong...and what should the speeds be?

378/337.5

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Is it an OEM or retail 9800Pro?

 

[iam4u2nv]

Actually I did not know the speed of the cards myself. My real question was has anyone else heard of anything like this. It was not just one card but 5 for me. All the same.

 

[iam4u2nv]

OEM

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: iam4u2nv
OEM

That might be it. Kinda like how the Radeon 8500's were. Have you tried the produce/serial numbers on the card itself and referred to Nvidia?

 

[TechnoKid]

Hmm..run the serials on ati's website and see if they come up as pros also. Have you tried that yet? I'm starting to wonder if the OEM pros are clocked differently than the retail pros (from ATI that is, not talking about third party vendors).

 

[iam4u2nv]

I searched online for OEM speeds and ATI 9800 but I have not looked up a serial number per say. I will try that on ATI's site.

 

[iam4u2nv]

I wonder too.. mine were specifically ATI with the red board and ATI sticker. They were OEM though not retail like you say.
I thought it was weird myself...

 

[Nyical]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: iam4u2nv
OEM

That might be it. Kinda like how the Radeon 8500's were. Have you tried the produce/serial numbers on the card itself and referred to Nvidia?

I am sure Nvidia wouldnt say much or anything at all about those ATI Radeon 9800pro's
but hey you never know

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: iam4u2nv
I wonder too.. mine were specifically ATI with the red board and ATI sticker. They were OEM though not retail like you say.
I thought it was weird myself...

This isn't to say that the retail and oem pros aren't the same hardware, but maybe just clocked differently from the factory.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: iam4u2nv
OEM

It's not uncommon for OEM versions of ATi cards to be clocked slightly lower then the retail counterpart. In all likelihood that video card will overclock to normal retail speeds, but I'm not sure you want to go down that route. Call up Dell and complain that it was advertised as a regularly clocked card.

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: Nyical

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: iam4u2nv
OEM

That might be it. Kinda like how the Radeon 8500's were. Have you tried the produce/serial numbers on the card itself and referred to Nvidia?

I am sure Nvidia wouldnt say much or anything at all about those ATI Radeon 9800pro's
but hey you never know

Dunno what I was thinking. You know its all just a big conspiracy and they're one company.

 

[iam4u2nv]

I wonder too.. mine were specifically ATI with the red board and ATI sticker. They were OEM though not retail like you say.
I thought it was weird myself...

 

[Joker81]

how much did they cost?

 

[IamElectro]

When I worked for Gateway 3 years ago we ran into things like this.

Not with video cards but with sound cards. The sound blaster live cards they sold looked completely different from a soundblaster live you would buy from a vendor oem or retail (smaller card less components on the board and the PCB was not as rigid). When installed it looked like nothing was different (same software etc) They claimed it was a retail unit but I would question that.

Its possible that companies make a lesser unit for companies like Dell and Gateway that are not quite up to par but they are still able to pass it off as the real deal. Basically they use the chipset with cheaper ram and less parts (just enough to get it to work).

If you think about it, is thier average customer going to know to check the clock speed or even understand what clockspeed is.

 

[iam4u2nv]

As I say I just wondered. I assume other companies do this too. The card was supposed to be a Pro is all I know. I do not remeber the cost but they were over 300. Well thanks for the posts and info.
I will let you know what Dell says.
Later

 

[DoobieOnline]

You've got 9800 non-pro cards there. 9800 Pro clocks are 380/340, 9800np clocks are 325/290. If they have Samsung RAM, you should be able to overclock them to 380/340 no problem. If they have Infineon RAM, the core will overclock to Pro levels but the memory will max out at about 320-330. 9800 Pro and 9800np have the same core so they both show up as 9800 Pro, but the difference is in the memory chips used and voltage supplied to the chips (dictated by the card's bios). Hope that helps!

Doobie