OEM cards and software bundles

My friend was looking to buy an OEM version of the Sapphire radeon 9600 XT and he asked me what the OEM version doesn't include. Since I always buy stuff retail (mmm... fiddly bits) I couldn't help him.

So anyone care to enlighten me as to whether the OEM version of cards lacks anything apart from packaging?

sometimes retail comes with extra software, games etc. other than that for the most part oem=retail in an ugly box. some of the older oem cards have slighlty lower clock speeds as well. i dont think it is like that anymore though.

With OEM you will get just the card and sometimes not even a box. Some OEM will just ship in the antistatic bag with no software and drivers.

If ya are trying to build on the cheap and aren't worried about warranties this is the way to go. You can get the drivers online and if ya don't mind a 30 to 90 day warranty its alright.

Best bet is to ask the vendor what they are shipping with the card. That and ask for any warranty in writing on an OEM. There have been cases of people buying OEM from smaller vendors and there being NO warranty what-so-ever.

The retail 9600xt comes with a coupon for a free copy of half life 2. OEM does not.