radeon 8500, how do you know if it's an OEM???

[boonmar]

I ordered my from Dell. I checked the part number (part# 100-431001) from dell and ATI. They both have the same part number. Went to Pricewatch.com, they have an OEM version with the same Part number. So how do you know if you're getting a retail if you order online?

[Wicked Klown]

an OEM one will come in a little baggy and the driver. A retail one will be in the ATI box.

[Ghaz]

Unless they post the memory and GPU clocks in mhz, then you dont know. Unless they say OEM or retail. I ordered from dell as well, hoping its retail, or I will cancel the order. If anyone knows if the DELL VERSION OF THE ATI RADEON 8500 IS OEM OR RETAIL, PLZ POST HERE.

[boonmar]

I just call Dell and the salesperson said it's a retail, non OEM. I hope that they will ship my today. When I call Dell just now, I said I was interested in buying one and ask if they had any in stock. He said it's on back-order and if I order one today it will take 12 weeks to get it. So lets hope we get ours soon, like ship today or tomorrow.

[]-[itman]

An OEM will not come in the retail Radeon8500 box. If you don't know what that looks like I'll post a pic here. If you already have the card then download powerstrip here (http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10106-100-7656924.html?tag=st.dl.10001-103-1.lst-7-1.7656924) and check the clock frequency. From what I hear not all the OEM's come at lower frequencies but most do. If it's 250/250 then it's definitely OEM. If it's 275/275 it could be either depending on the OEM.

EDIT: I went to Dell's site and looked around. It looks to me that they sell the retail but not positive.

[boonmar]

I saw the retail version at BestBuy. The retail version came bundle with 3 HalfLife games. Wonder if Dell going to bundle the game, if it's truely Retail.

[]-[itman]

On the Dell site they have a 3 year warranty(OEM's have shorter warranties) and they list ATI as the vendor so I'd say it's the retail version. Just my opinion.

[Ghaz]

Ya thought it was retail, I read through all the specs, saw ATI as the retailer and stuff but wanted to make sure.

[boonmar]

Dell just called, it will be another week 11/8 before it ship. Hope this is the last ship date. It already changed twice for me.

[Ghaz]

Yep, 11/8 is when they will ship, I too got that message, sucks.

[boonmar]

sorry for off topic, but do you guys know what will be causing DVD playback to be jerky. Mine is doing that. The only difference I notice was that when I put together my system, during win98se install, I don't remember it ask me for the drivers to my motherboard, such as agp port driver. It used its own driver. Could this have been the problem? I did not used the mo agp port driver that came with the motherboard. The motherboard just came out when I bought it 3 months ago. Sorry for Off Topic question...

[boonmar]

Oh, I currently have Geforce 2 GTS 32 megs ram

[Yodums]

Originally posted by boonmar
sorry for off topic, but do you guys know what will be causing DVD playback to be jerky. Mine is doing that. The only difference I notice was that when I put together my system, during win98se install, I don't remember it ask me for the drivers to my motherboard, such as agp port driver. It used its own driver. Could this have been the problem? I did not used the mo agp port driver that came with the motherboard. The motherboard just came out when I bought it 3 months ago. Sorry for Off Topic question...

Hmmm ... It usually doesn't ask you does it?

Wouldn't you be able to update it in the system devices ?

[boonmar]

The driver that came with the motherboard is an exe. I just have to run that. Every thing on my system works great except the DVD playback. Afraid that by upgrading may affect something else. But I will try it. The ASUS website has the latest driver to download. Hope this will fix it.

[Ghaz]

I finally canceled the stupid order. They said it wouldnt be till 12/3 now, the 3rd change in date. I have given up, will buy it somewhere else.

[boonmar]

when did you place you orginally order? Mine was oct. 4 then I cancel, but order it again on Oct. 8th.

[Ghaz]

I ordered it long before that my friend. Was mid september, when they first had it for sale, so I give up on them.

[Ghaz]

Can anyone give me a link of somewhere I can order a Retail Radeon 8500 that is actually in stock? I gave up on dell.

[Microsoft]

dell will keep putting off the ship date unless you have a stink and make a scene

[Ghaz]

I work for them doing tech support. I never buy from them because I see all the **** that goes wrong and it kinda turns me off from buying from them. I only did it because it was 20% off at the time. They put the date off several times, I just want to move on and buy it from someone else. Anyone that has a link to someone that is selling retail versions, please post.

[]-[itman]

Here you go CompUSA (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=286896) has them.

you could also buy straight from ATI (http://www.shopati.com/product.asp?sku=1842661)

These are both $300 I'll search around and try and find a cheaper price.