My sister's computer had her video card die abruptly a couple of days ago, so she drops it off at my house so I can take a look at it and maybe fix it or go get a new card to replace the crappy one she's go....some junky Radeon x300se with Hypermemory piece of crap that HP put in. I hate being the only one in the family who knows squat about computers other than how to turn them on and click this 'n' that..........oh well.
Anyway, I was going to Atlanta yesterday, so I told her I'd get something under $100 that was half-decent to fix it and have it back to her today. Where we are you either buy online or retail from BB, CC, or CUSA. We all know what kind of "deals" we get from them....and what kind of prices they all usually charge.
But in ATL, there are two Fry's locations and a MicroCenter.....computer parts nirvana......at least as compared to Best Buy and CUSA. Honestly, I'd probably just have gone online to Newegg and bought an open box card and thrown it in when it arrived, but she wants it running Saturday for some unknown reason, so it's got to be bought retail because of time constraints.
I get to ATL in the morning and swing by the first Fry's location. See some junk but nothing cheap enough, at least not without doing some comparisons elsewhere. So, I hop back in the car and a couple of minutes later pull into MicroCenter.
I attack their clearance tables and lo and behold.......underneath one of them, in between a couple of computer cases almost like it was being hidden.....one case had its side panel leaning over it, like it really was being hidden.......
They had this as an open box/returned item. The box is creased up pretty well, looked sorta rough. You shook the box and could hear stuff moving around, so guessed something appropriate was inside.....and it weighed a bit.
It was shrink wrapped, but was an obvious rewrap as the plastic was VERY loose, not the same type as comes on the box originally (very flimsy), and was torn across one end. The yellow stickers on the front (it had a few like it'd been marked down several times) said all the parts were there, but you can never really trust that! I did peek inside though. I lifted the flap on the torn plastic end, forced the inner box open slightly and saw what appeared to be a card in an anti-static bag, so took it as what was advertised.
But, it was about the cheapest decent card they had, so I took a chance on it actually working and bought it. It had a 15-day return so I figured what the heck. Paid just over $55 for it with tax, so it was cheap enough.
I opened it up when I get home to stick in her computer.
But instead of the returned x1300 I expect to find, I find this!
I don't quite believe it but I find this on the back.....
Now then, what to do. The store is 2 1/2 hours away. Well, let's see if it first works. Pull my old x850XT out of its slot and stick this one in its place. Fire the 'puter up and I have video.
Interesting.
I reload the Catalyst Control Center/drivers and it comes up as..........a Radeon X1950 Pro, 256MB.
Very interesting.
I mess around with it for a bit.......unlock the overclocking utility in the CCC and it gets up to 621 core, 1592 memory (796 x 2.) Temp is a little up there at this setting......around 45C idle, but what the heck. It's the max settings the CCC allows. Fan is loud, though. Seems to be running at least half-speed constantly and zooms up to full speed very quickly when asked to do work. But it's been stable at these settings for a day and has kept the settings through a few reboots......the CCC always reestablishes the overclocked settings after every boot.
So I go on ATI's website and run the serial number as to register it......and it comes up in their system as a Radeon x1950 Pro, 256MB, built by ATI.
Even more interesting.
So now Janet, my sister, has a perfectly good, used, Radeon x700, 128MB, in her computer and is on her way to pick it up right now. My wife is now running a Radeon X850XT.....which is very much overkill for her sort of gaming......mahjong, solitare, puzzle games and stuff like that. I now have what appears to me to be a new x1950 Pro humming along quite happily in my case. (Well, it had no dust or dirt anywhere I could see....none of the fan blades, none on the heat sink fins, and it smelled like new electronic circuitry.)
And all its little parts were hidden under the foam in the bottom of the brown cardboard box and were still in the appropriate plastic baggies.....still sealed.
And speaking of the cardboard box, it was a bit odd.....it was just off in size as compared to the outer color box.....just a hair shorter than the outer box. It was a bit more than a 1/4" but not quite a 1/2" shorter than the outer color box. Almost like the outer box didn't really go with the box inside.
Seems like I had a good day...........how has yours been?
Anyway, I was going to Atlanta yesterday, so I told her I'd get something under $100 that was half-decent to fix it and have it back to her today. Where we are you either buy online or retail from BB, CC, or CUSA. We all know what kind of "deals" we get from them....and what kind of prices they all usually charge.
But in ATL, there are two Fry's locations and a MicroCenter.....computer parts nirvana......at least as compared to Best Buy and CUSA. Honestly, I'd probably just have gone online to Newegg and bought an open box card and thrown it in when it arrived, but she wants it running Saturday for some unknown reason, so it's got to be bought retail because of time constraints.
I get to ATL in the morning and swing by the first Fry's location. See some junk but nothing cheap enough, at least not without doing some comparisons elsewhere. So, I hop back in the car and a couple of minutes later pull into MicroCenter.
I attack their clearance tables and lo and behold.......underneath one of them, in between a couple of computer cases almost like it was being hidden.....one case had its side panel leaning over it, like it really was being hidden.......
They had this as an open box/returned item. The box is creased up pretty well, looked sorta rough. You shook the box and could hear stuff moving around, so guessed something appropriate was inside.....and it weighed a bit.
It was shrink wrapped, but was an obvious rewrap as the plastic was VERY loose, not the same type as comes on the box originally (very flimsy), and was torn across one end. The yellow stickers on the front (it had a few like it'd been marked down several times) said all the parts were there, but you can never really trust that! I did peek inside though. I lifted the flap on the torn plastic end, forced the inner box open slightly and saw what appeared to be a card in an anti-static bag, so took it as what was advertised.
But, it was about the cheapest decent card they had, so I took a chance on it actually working and bought it. It had a 15-day return so I figured what the heck. Paid just over $55 for it with tax, so it was cheap enough.
I opened it up when I get home to stick in her computer.
But instead of the returned x1300 I expect to find, I find this!
I don't quite believe it but I find this on the back.....
Now then, what to do. The store is 2 1/2 hours away. Well, let's see if it first works. Pull my old x850XT out of its slot and stick this one in its place. Fire the 'puter up and I have video.
Interesting.
I reload the Catalyst Control Center/drivers and it comes up as..........a Radeon X1950 Pro, 256MB.
Very interesting.
I mess around with it for a bit.......unlock the overclocking utility in the CCC and it gets up to 621 core, 1592 memory (796 x 2.) Temp is a little up there at this setting......around 45C idle, but what the heck. It's the max settings the CCC allows. Fan is loud, though. Seems to be running at least half-speed constantly and zooms up to full speed very quickly when asked to do work. But it's been stable at these settings for a day and has kept the settings through a few reboots......the CCC always reestablishes the overclocked settings after every boot.
So I go on ATI's website and run the serial number as to register it......and it comes up in their system as a Radeon x1950 Pro, 256MB, built by ATI.
Even more interesting.
So now Janet, my sister, has a perfectly good, used, Radeon x700, 128MB, in her computer and is on her way to pick it up right now. My wife is now running a Radeon X850XT.....which is very much overkill for her sort of gaming......mahjong, solitare, puzzle games and stuff like that. I now have what appears to me to be a new x1950 Pro humming along quite happily in my case. (Well, it had no dust or dirt anywhere I could see....none of the fan blades, none on the heat sink fins, and it smelled like new electronic circuitry.)
And all its little parts were hidden under the foam in the bottom of the brown cardboard box and were still in the appropriate plastic baggies.....still sealed.
And speaking of the cardboard box, it was a bit odd.....it was just off in size as compared to the outer color box.....just a hair shorter than the outer box. It was a bit more than a 1/4" but not quite a 1/2" shorter than the outer color box. Almost like the outer box didn't really go with the box inside.
Seems like I had a good day...........how has yours been?