Question about OEM vs. retail.

[Mavmeister]

Hello, I recently ordered a (powered by) ATI Radeon 9700 Pro OEM from USSA.COM (I know, I've heard bad things about this company too), and I was just wondering one thing.

What's the actual difference between the retail video cards and OEM cards? Looking on the website, it was a $30 difference between the retail and oem and I was wondering if I should've shelled out an extra $30 or not? Is there a clock speed difference or just retail extras (i.e. games, special cds, etc...)?

I want to best of the best video card out right now (I plan on not upgrading for a long time), but I'm not sure if it's too late to cancel my order and get the retail if it's a big difference.

Thanks in advance,
J-bob!

 

[Ub3r_n00b]

<A HREF="http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20021104/index.html" target="_new">http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20021104/index.html</A>

This is the 'round-up' that THG did, and it shows that there is almost no performance difference between Retail and OEM's.

The main difference was what came bundled with it (sometimes, depending on who, the OEM has a better bundle with it; this is also explained in the link). That and for support you would have to go to whoever made your card for support (believe it or not, some companies have better supoort than others :tongue: )

<font color=red> Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people. </font color=red>

 

[Ghostdog]

OEM cards are always (or atleast should be) the same cards as the retail ones.
The exception is The Parhelia. The retail version is clocked higher then the Bulk-modell.

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Ghostdog on 12/20/02 09:49 PM.</EM></FONT></P>