Retail 9800 Pro $299 @ BB

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: QuicknDirty

Originally posted by: Bad_Dude

Originally posted by: QuicknDirty
LOL...

True, however I've stopped worrying about that since the last return I did at BestBuy, the customer service person turned to the guy next to her and said "Here, can you take this in the back and shrinkwrap it for me?"...

So what's your point here, they do shrink wrap from that? So why would that stop worrying you?
Thanks.

It means I stopped worrying about the wierd stares when I open the box up instore (as opposed to doing it outside), and yes MY BestBuy does in fact shrinkwrap returns.

Good for you. You are protecting yourself. But what about if you are buying Xmas gift for some one, do you have to open it first too?

QnD

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: Sircoop
Just bought mine On-line
Set it up to pick up the item IN-STORE
Printed out the Half Life 2 Rebate form
Printed out the $50.00 Rebate for card
Printed Order confimration screens

Is there anything else I need to do?

When I go to Best Buy tonight to pick up the card and I open it...What should I look for to prove this card is indeed brand new and the one I ordered?

Sircoop

You should go by the card being red. The heatsink should be silver with two gold pins to hold it on. Goto ATI website for the board part number. The plastic will be softer compare to the reshrinked, but this is base experience so I don't know if this helps.
Good luck. Basically, if you open it up and it's red with silver heatsink, chances are it's correct.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: Cnemie
With all of the concerns over reshrink wrapping and previously opened in-store boxes does it not make more sense to simply order it directly online? This way the prodcut comes straight from the distribution center and never has a chance to be tampered with in-store.

Since both coupons are available from the web site a shipping delay is the only potential caveat I can imagine.

You are not really safe this way either b/c the stores will send the returned products and they reshrink them at central locations. It's better at the store at least you can open in front of them. Online order, it's your words against theirs. And you lose out. Credit card has a slim chance of dispute here also.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: zodder
So far the card has been great. I installed the Catalyst 3.8 drivers, Powerstrip, and away she went at 400/350. I haven't noticed too much of a difference between the 9700 Pro and the 9800 Pro. I think because it's not that big of a technological jump. So far I'm very happy with it, though.

Mine clearly stated "9800 Pro" on the card itself.

Do you mean on the sticker on the back or the actual printing on the card?

 

[zodder]

The sticker on the back. I'm not sure whether it's silkscreened on the board or not.

 

[Sircoop]

I guess I will be opening this tonight at the store.

Sircoop

 

[uwannawhat]

Be careful if you're using the 3.8 cat. drivers for this card. Seems they are buring up cards & monitors! :Q

Here's more info.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: zodder
The sticker on the back. I'm not sure whether it's silkscreened on the board or not.

What's the memory chips reading?

 

[zodder]

I'll check it out when I get home. I hope the damn thing is still working! I need to get the 3.7 drivers back on there before it goes up in flames.

 

[FatCity]

Thanks for the links to the drivers and Powerstrip. BTW, were you using the Catalyst 3.8's in your 9700 Pro before it fried?

 

[zodder]

That's a very good question. I don't think so, but I can't be sure.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: zodder
I'll check it out when I get home. I hope the damn thing is still working! I need to get the 3.7 drivers back on there before it goes up in flames.

Zodder,
If you go to Rage3d discussion forums, there's a long post regarding the Cat 3.8 burning up video cards and monitors. There is proof that the complaints only came from two guys. The rest of the other members did not have problems but simply panic. Therefore there is no hard evidence. My friend has the Radeon 9800 PRO for about 3 months now and he's running CAT 3.8 without problems. The temp is a little higher like 1-2C but no problem at all. I think this is nothing more than a hoax. I have tried with my Dell's 9800np overclock to pro speed for about 2 weeks and it's running in my friend system now for 3 days. This dude really play games and no problem yet.
So don't go by the rumors.
Doesn't your Radeon 9700 PRO has a warranty on it? Send it back for warranty. How did it fried? You might want to find out the problem b/c it could be something else. It might fry your new 9800 PRO. I wish that I have the card I supposely bought from Scum City, but I am still waiting for the problem to resolve by corporate office. It will take about 3 weeks.

 

[Sircoop]

OK JUST GOT BACK FROM BEST BUY!

Picked my order up from the desk, but first went to the video card section to see how many they had left "in case" I got the wrong card in my Skrink wrapped box. They had 1 left.

I then opened the box the counter and here is a picture of the card which was in it. (The screws were black not gold, the back sticker looked like someone just put it on, it was peeling off, and there was sticky stuff all over the back of the card near the sticker, as if someone tried to completely take off the first sticker and then clean the evidence.)

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage...09-03.JPG/14-142-009-01.JPG/14-142-009-04.JPG

I started to laugh and talked to 2 different guys explained the situation and they said "IMPOSSIBLE" and we do not shrink wrap "like this"here. (He pointed out the corners of the new sealed box). Then I talked to a more tech type guy, who understood what I was talking about examined the card and said it looks good to him, but to be safe he said he would exchange this one for no fees and give me the last one on the shelf. I explained how the retail version of this card has gold screw, silver heatsink etc...I said he we can open this one together and what do you think we see when he opened it.....

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage...86-04.JPG/14-102-286-03.JPG/14-102-286-01.JPG

He is like wow! I heard of this but I guess you were right. I said, hey I just wanted to be safe...Even the NP load PRO Drivers etc...

Then we talked for a little bit.. He said two other employees bought 9600 PRO and when they got home there was 9700 PRO in their box... Go figure..(OR maybe they already switched them??????)

What do you guys think? Was the first card a 9800 PRO? Box were in retial boxes..

Sircoop

 

[zodder]

So far I'm having no problems with the 3.8s. Played MOH for about an hour and everything is fine. Ran 3DMark2003 overclocked at 400/350 and it ran fine. No tearing, smoking, crashing.........

I fried my 9700 Pro by accidently knocking the power connector off the card. I got a big, red blinking warning at boot that I had to connect it, looked in my case window, and the capacitors on it were actually smoking! They were ones under the silver heat shield, closest to the window on the front of the card. The card lasted about 30 minutes after I rebooted, and then died a tragic death.

 

[faZZter]

Hell, I couldn't resist anymore.....went and bought one!

Question: I have an Asus A7N8X Deluxe, do I need to download any special AGP driver to run this card or is it included in the NForce 2 drivers?

The reason I ask is the manual (can't believe I looked at it before installing the card!) said you needed a special driver for non intel chipsets??

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: Sircoop
OK JUST GOT BACK FROM BEST BUY!

Picked my order up from the desk, but first went to the video card section to see how many they had left "in case" I got the wrong card in my Skrink wrapped box. They had 1 left.

I then opened the box the counter and here is a picture of the card which was in it. (The screws were black not gold, the back sticker looked like someone just put it on, it was peeling off, and there was sticky stuff all over the back of the card near the sticker, as if someone tried to completely take off the first sticker and then clean the evidence.)

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=14-142-009-02.JPG/14-142-009-03.JPG/14-142-009-01.JPG/14-142-009-04.JPG

I started to laugh and talked to 2 different guys explained the situation and they said "IMPOSSIBLE" and we do not shrink wrap "like this"here. (He pointed out the corners of the new sealed box). Then I talked to a more tech type guy, who understood what I was talking about examined the card and said it looks good to him, but to be safe he said he would exchange this one for no fees and give me the last one on the shelf. I explained how the retail version of this card has gold screw, silver heatsink etc...I said he we can open this one together and what do you think we see when he opened it.....

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=14-102-286-05.JPG/14-102-286-04.JPG/14-102-286-03.JPG/14-102-286-01.JPG

He is like wow! I heard of this but I guess you were right. I said, hey I just wanted to be safe...Even the NP load PRO Drivers etc...

Then we talked for a little bit.. He said two other employees bought 9600 PRO and when they got home there was 9700 PRO in their box... Go figure..(OR maybe they already switched them??????)

What do you guys think? Was the first card a 9800 PRO? Box were in retial boxes..

Sircoop

Both of those cards were not retail PRO cards. Trust me, when I had the problem with Circuit City, the cashier had opened two cars up just to make sure my story was true. But the stupid manager does not know his hardware refused the exchange. I am mad as hell, but cannot do anything. The pic from Newegg looks like the 9800 np b/c that's what I sold to my friend recently.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: zodder
So far I'm having no problems with the 3.8s. Played MOH for about an hour and everything is fine. Ran 3DMark2003 overclocked at 400/350 and it ran fine. No tearing, smoking, crashing.........

I fried my 9700 Pro by accidently knocking the power connector off the card. I got a big, red blinking warning at boot that I had to connect it, looked in my case window, and the capacitors on it were actually smoking! They were ones under the silver heat shield, closest to the window on the front of the card. The card lasted about 30 minutes after I rebooted, and then died a tragic death.

Hey Zodder,
I think you can still RMA it.
What does your 9800 PRO looks like? Does it have the gold two pins to hold the silver heatsink in place?

 

[Unforgiven]

this may sound like a stupid question but if your operating system recognizes the card as a radeon 9800 pro, is there any way of telling (other than looking at the hardware) if you got a legit card?

 

[QuicknDirty]

Get one of the clocking utilities and check the clocking on the card. If it is a real 9800Pro, you should see 380/340 clocking on the card default.

QnD

 

[Sircoop]

Oh no...What else can I check? Does anyone have a picture of the retail 9800PRO?

I will install this card tonight and check the clock speeds and report back.

Sircoop

MY 2nd Link (above) is the exact box and exact card that was in the box. I think it is a retail card..Any other thoughts?

 

[Unforgiven]

im reading some stuff on some sites i found on google stating that the clock speeds are measured at 378/338 is that accurate or is that a "fake" ati built card?

 

[NYHoustonman]

Those are the clock speeds of mine, and it's a built by ATI from Newegg.

 

[QuicknDirty]

Originally posted by: plankton
im reading some stuff on some sites i found on google stating that the clock speeds are measured at 378/338 is that accurate or is that a "fake" ati built card?

Sounds close, but ATI's on product page shows it to be 380/340 (680/2 on mem speed)...not sure why it's showing a couple off on yours-


ATI 9800Pro Specs

 

[Unforgiven]

yeah i even installed rivatuner to check and its still reading that....i wonder why that is. oh well, the bottom line is that this card hauls ass and im very happy with it. i had a 9800 pro AIW about 4 months ago and it was a piece of crap because it keep locking up, so far so good with this card! very happy with it!

 

[QuicknDirty]

Have you tried just clocking it up to the 380/340 to verify that it will run it?