nVidea Retail vs. OEM

[beebernitz]

Anyone have hands on experience with a Creative or Hercules OEM video cards? I'm talking about the Creative GF2 Ultra and Hercules 3D Prophet Pro and Ultra. These are all available at MWave. Are they actually the same as retail minus a pretty box?

Same bios? Does a video bios screen post on startup with oem boards? Should I stick with retail?

The OEM specs seem identical to the retail cards spec. I am not concerned with video in & outs. I'm going to purchase one soon, any help to clarify this oem vs. retail would be appreciated.

Thanks

beebernitz

 

[Finality]

Exactly the same performance wise.

Some OEM cards take out certain features like TV-out etc. Main difference is the warranty. OEMs typically have 30 day warranty periods with retail being much longer 1+ year usually.

However why are you wasting you money on a GeForce Ultra? In 1 month it will be obsolete, with the oncoming NV20.

 

[beebernitz]

A GF2 Ultra or Pro will make a fine match with a P3 gigahertz system I am putting together. Who knows, I may wait for the next big thing, but two months and another $150 or more for the NV20 is more video card than I need.

By the way, do you have an OEM card? Happy with it?

beebernitz

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Er, Finality, a new card coming out doesn't necessarily make the old one obsolete.
When I had the Prophet 2, I didn't say,"Damn thing is obsolete now that the Ultra is out- can't even play Q3 anymore!"
Now that I have a VIVO, I won't throw it away when the Radeon 2 comes out.

 

[Big Lar]

I run an Oem CLAP, and it runs fine on my P3 800 at 1064. I've had an Asus V7700 Gts, and it gave me fits, as well as many other vid cards, Including a V5 5500, both Oem & Retail, so far the Only vid card I found that really shows a Major Difference between Oem & Retail, is the G400. Hope this Helps.

 

[Finality]

You know what I mean Jethro.

Spending $400 on a video card that is going to be king of the hill for only another month or so? Not the wisest decision. I personally would prefer a GTS or Radeon over a GF2 Ultra.

Besides I learned a long time ago that buying the fastest (read highest price point) isn't necessarily the best route. I remember spending $900 on a 450Mhz P2 just because it was the fastest where as gettinga 400Mhz chip would have cost me half that.

Forgot to add that ATI's OEM and retail Radeon parts differ in clock speeds. Basically the OEM ATI is slower. Nothing that cant be fixed with a little overclocking utility.

 

[beebernitz]

$289.00 for a Hercules Prophet II Pro at mwave, not a bad deal at all from my perspective. The only thing that I question is that it's an OEM board. Need to call them and get warranty info.
Anyone have one of these Hercules oem boards?

beebernitz

 

[Cyberjac]

I have the Hercules geforce 2 PRO and love it. Its the OEM version, and everything is exactly the same as the retail. It even came with the same CD as the retail. I even got the DVD software that came with the retail card (PowerDVD). I paid $285 at micropro.com. 1 of my friends bought the PRo from Best Buys for $389 and I can't tell the difference. Oh, he got a flashy box, thats it, LOL!

 

[beebernitz]

Thanks Cyberjack, glad to hear it.
Do you get a hercules (or Guillemot) bios screen on boot up?

beebernitz

 

[Cyberjac]

I get a Hercules Bios screen on boot up. I'm telling ya, there is NO difference between the retail and the OEM besides the flashy box... And of course the price!

 

[BlvdKing]

My OEM Prophet 2 MX came with 7ns RAM instead of 5.5ns. Doesn't really matter since the card overclocks well.