Question about buying "wholesale" ATI video cards

[Salvador]

Hi.

I was looking at picking up a ATI video card on Ebay and just got a response from a question. I asked why there isn't a retail box and the seller said that they buy the cards wholesale and they don't come with boxes, but everything else is identicle to the retail version. Should I believe this seller? I want to get what I pay for. I don't care about the box, I just want the card to be what I'd buy at Circuit City, etc..

Let me know what you think? If you have any questions for the seller that I could ask to make sure that the card is authentic, that would be great as well.

TIA,

Sal

 

[dakels]

yes he could be telling the truth. ATI and alot of other companies package what are called OEM products. they are meant to go in bulk quanitites to resellers to add them to a machine they are building or sell them off. OEM products are usually complete products and fully legit but lack all the fancy retail packaging or extra (like extra adapters or cables or CD's) that a retail product does.

I would not buy OEM from this person unless you are getting it for at least 25% less then retail. Thats just me though. There should still be the manufacturer's warranty card so you should still be able to get the warranty coverage from ATI.

 

[GRIFFIN1]

I would bet that it's an OEM card. It should come with any cables you will need and the minimum software. If the retail card includes extra software such as games, then you will not get those.

If you want to be sure about what you are getting, then you might want to pay a little more and buy it from some place like newegg. Newegg sells OEM cards, but they also have some really nice pictures so you can see what you are going to get. After you factor in shipping, I would be surprised if buying a card off ebay was really that much cheaper.

 

[TROGDORdBURNINATOR]

You will not get any kind of warranty from ATI for this card.

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: TROGDORdBURNINATOR
You will not get any kind of warranty from ATI for this card.

why?

 

[alius]

Because its being sold on ebay I believe.


(first post, yay)

 

[TROGDORdBURNINATOR]

No. It's because it's an OEM product. OEM products are warrantied through the OEM and not ATI. It's sort of like buying a part from Dell and getting the warranty from Dell rather than ATI.

 

[Salvador]

I'm not getting a straight answer out of this guy, so I think I'll pass. He keeps dancing around whether it's an OEM card or retail card, yet he claims that ATI will handle the warranty. He says that it does come with everything though like a retail card, but I think it's an OEM card. He won't come out and say this though. This Ebay seller is asking $170 plus $10 shipping. It seems like a decent deal, but since I can't get a straight answer from him, I don't know.

I would buy it from Newegg, but I don't see that they are selling the 9500 Pro any longer. I just see the 9600. Am I missing something? Are they still selling it? Where else would be a good place to buy the retail 9500 Pro for a decent price?

Thanks again.

Sal

 

[moogle077]

I got my 9500 pro from mwave for 172

 

[Vonkhan]

i'd pass ... u'd be better off getting one from the For Sale/Trade forum here

 

[Salvador]

I got my 9500 pro from mwave for 172

I just checked Mwave and it says OEM. What did you get from Mwave when you ordered it? I'd much rather order this card from Mwave than from someone off of Ebay for the same price.

Thanks again.

Sal

 

[benjamit]

look here

 

[JBT]

I would just buy a NEW OEM card from an online reseller and will be cheaper screw Ebay.

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: Salvador
I'm not getting a straight answer out of this guy, so I think I'll pass. He keeps dancing around whether it's an OEM card or retail card, yet he claims that ATI will handle the warranty. He says that it does come with everything though like a retail card, but I think it's an OEM card. He won't come out and say this though. This Ebay seller is asking $170 plus $10 shipping. It seems like a decent deal, but since I can't get a straight answer from him, I don't know.

I would buy it from Newegg, but I don't see that they are selling the 9500 Pro any longer. I just see the 9600. Am I missing something? Are they still selling it? Where else would be a good place to buy the retail 9500 Pro for a decent price?

Thanks again.

Sal

wow he wants $170+$10 for a 9500 pro? Thats a crappy deal. Good thing you passed.

and to my knowledge the 9500 is going to be phased out for the newer 9600's. I don't think its in effect yet though, you should still see 9500's. If it were me, I'd go for a 9500 pro over even the new 9600's. ATI did something kinda foolish with the 9500 pro that is a big advatage for the consumer. The 9500 is built with basically the same core and setup (Cheaper PCB tho) as the R9700 pro cards. This is why you see everyone buying 9500's and modding them to run as a 9700 or 9700 pro (Not guranteed to work but works for most). The 9600's are built on a whole new core specific for the lower -mid range cards they are making. The new core, while more streamlined, is not as powerful as older R300 core used on the 9500-9700 cards. That and the fact that the 9600's will probably push the price of the older 9500's down, I'd go with a 9500 Pro.

 

[dakels]

p.s. you will see alot of 9500's for sale used because people buy them try to softmod to a 9700 and fail, then they resell them to buy another.

 

[Salvador]

p.s. you will see alot of 9500's for sale used because people buy them try to softmod to a 9700 and fail, then they resell them to buy another.

I want the Pro, not the regular 9500. If I wanted to mess with the soft mod thing, I'd just buy one of those red pcb Sapphire 9500 NP cards and do it myself. I want the 9500PRO though.

I'm well versed on how good the 9500 Pro is. That's why I don't want a 9600 Pro The problem with buying it from FS/FT forums is that nobody has one to sell and when they do come available, it's snatched up in 5 minutes.

I'll probably just buy it new OEM from an online vendor or just buy the retail card at a CUSA, Circuit City or something. I did use the autonotify for the retail pro on Newegg's site, but they probably won't be getting any more in.

Thanks again.

Sal

 

[Kingofcomputer]

there are newegg, mwave, etc, why still consider ebay?
you're not buying vinyl.

 

[Salvador]

there are newegg, mwave, etc, why still consider ebay?

Well.. Newegg is out of stock and I forgot about mwave. Also, mwave doesn't have the retail card, just the OEM. I'll probably end up ordering the OEM from mwave if Newegg doesn't get more stock on the retail card. I was just considering Ebay because I didn't want to pay $220 for a retail card from Circuit City and because I'm having problems finding the card in stock at a decent price.

BTW.. I still don't have a clear answer on the difference between the OEM card at mwave and a retail card. Mwave doesn't give any specifics on what's included and as far as warranty goes, they say 3 yr limited from ATI. According to you guys, I won't get a ATI warranty though if I buy OEM. I'm confused.

Thanks again.

Sal

 

[ronnn]

I have ordered with my new system an ATI 9700pro oem for $355 canadian. I thought it was a great deal, now after reading this, maybe I made a mistake. I assumed a one year warrenty with ATI, not just the system warrenty. Does this mean no tech support from ATI?

 

[Workin']

I have an OEM ATI Radeon that I bought from newegg and it broke after about 1 year and ATI sent me a new one. No big deal.

 

[Salvador]

I have an OEM ATI Radeon that I bought from newegg and it broke after about 1 year and ATI sent me a new one. No big deal.

Hey Workin'. Long time, no hear. What have you been doing with yourself?

Sal

 

[alkemyst]

ATI is a real stand up company. They stand behind their products.

I had an almost 10 year old Graphics Ultra Pro (1990 era) and it died...I wasn't even the original owner, I called them up to buy another for a PS/2 Model 95 server I had....

They sent me a new one and even overnighted it (one of the things I was willing to pay for as it was my only machine at the time)....free!

can't beat that.

I did go TNT then TNT2 since that was the cards of the day at the time...but since ATI all the way

 

[Salvador]

The problem that I have with Nvidia cards is their lousy 2d. Even my GF4 Ti4200 PNY card has less than stellar 2d. I just decided to make the switch to an ATI card because their 2d has always been excellent.

Sal

 

[Blastman]

NCIX has the Sapphire 9500pro for $172. In stock too.

http://www.ncix.com/usa/

 

[Workin']

Hey Workin'. Long time, no hear. What have you been doing with yourself?

Sal

Oh, not much