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what do you think about Refurbished cards?

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Verse914

Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Fort Wayne, IN
Im looking for a new video card and have narrowed it down to these two. Just wondering what everyones opinion is about buying a refurbished card.

The refurbished card is from Newegg and is a 9800 Pro for $154
or
Sapphire RADEON 9700 ATLANTIS 128MB from allstarshop.com for $149

is it worth going with a 9800 Pro for $6 more even though its refurbished?


Thanks for your help.
 
Heh, I'd personally go with the 9800.

Edit: Actually... wait until after christmas and hopefully the x800 pro will be pretty cheap. :D
 
I guess that depends on your point of view regarding refurbished cards. The 9800 Pro would obviously be better, and that's a great price. Refurbished cards are tested and would probably work fine. Personally I wouldn't be too keen on getting a refurbished card, but that's just me. Newegg.com is a pretty reputable company so you would probably be OK. It is true that if you could wait a couple months, the prices would drop a lot, but I'm guessing you want something now.
 
I havent had any issues with any refurbs from newegg. I think the one drawbarck to video cards from there is that people buy them and return poor overclockers. The good thing is the price and the fact that it is going to do better than the 9700pro. Even clocked up the 9700 will probably just get to the 9800 speed and that is if your lucky. I would go for the 9800 for sure. You may get lucky and get a great 9800, but more than likely it wont be the XT core, or have the best memory. Its a shame people do that, but what the hell, if we can save a few bucks.
 
I'd go with the 9800pro and take my chances.... you should still be able to overclock it some if that's what you're into. I can't imagine buying a brand new 9700 atlantis.... also you might want to make sure that the 9700 is 256mbit apposed to the 128mbit card..... that atlantis might be a sucky card.
 
Yeah really...my 9700pro for 120 bucks was pretty cool IMO...beet anything you could buy retail anywhere. Also, it has a 30 day warranty so even if it's DOA you can return it. Most people here overclock and mod thier cards to void the warranty anyway so buying a retail seems pointless...unless you want those great 3 dollar games that come with cards
 
Thanks everyone. I think I will go with the refurbished card since its only a few more bucks. I do feel weird getting a refurbed card, but it sounds like several people have them without any problems, so Ill try one.

Thanks for all your help and Ill let you know how it works out.
 
i do not know what refurbished means but if its just 9800 vs 9700, then go for the 9800 by all means. :)

Can anyone enlighten me about "refurbishing" cards?
 
Kenshiro said:
Don't buy anything refurbish.


It's mainly warranty issues. Refurbish products usually means that damaged or broken items are restored to factory specification. So, you are buying buying damage items that were fixed. Manufacturers won't even provide full length warranty for it, so I suppose that they know that thing is not going to last. I thougth I saved some money when I buy a refurbish mobo (Abit NF7-S) died after 3 months of usage.
 
9800 pro is definitely way much better than the 9700 non pro, but like I said, you are just rolling the dice here, and hope that your card won't die. I was burnt once before, I will never buy refurbish products again, unless the refurbish product has the same full length warranty as the retail products.
 
newegg is pretty good about returning items including their refurbs. I had a MB that I got refurb from them and I returned it and they changed it no problem, and I later found that it was my sound card that was damaged. they didnt give me any problems. They have a solid reputation and have attained it by doing very well by their customers.
 
i bought a 9800 pro from neweggs refurbs a few months ago. came with everything except the box. card ran solid and was a decent overclocker. ran solid til the day i sold it last weekend.

when you guy refurbs it can be hit or miss. but if all your lookinf for is a working card its usually a hit from newegg. i've only heard of a couple instances where people bought refurbs that were dead. but if you ask around you'll find that thousands of us have gotten refurbs from newegg and gotten exactly what we wanted.
 
Jognt said:
i do not know what refurbished means but if its just 9800 vs 9700, then go for the 9800 by all means. :)

Can anyone enlighten me about "refurbishing" cards?

If someone sends a card back, they will test it's functionality and re-sell it. Basically it's used.
 
Nandro said:
newegg is pretty good about returning items including their refurbs. I had a MB that I got refurb from them and I returned it and they changed it no problem, and I later found that it was my sound card that was damaged. they didnt give me any problems. They have a solid reputation and have attained it by doing very well by their customers.

cant you buy extended warrenties for alot of stuff off newegg - even refurbs for liek $10 more or something.
 
some you win some you lose. I bought alot of refurbished items from newegg and about 1/3 of them i had to RMA cuase they were F.ed up and as you know newegg doesnt bother checking there refurbished items to see if they work or not. if you buy refurb just make certain it works fine real fast cause you only have 15 days to return it. I bought 2 TI4200 from egg not so long ago and both of them displayed artifacts. the last one i got seemed to be fine at first but after 3 weeks it started displaying artifacts as well so it seems the manufacture didnt do a good job on it and newegg wont help me out either.
 
I'm not too worry about the 15 days return policy. It's the warranty. Usually you get 30 days warranty. If you are lucky, you get 90 days. The problem is that this is too short of a period to determine if your items will break down. Like some of these guys said, it's either a hit or miss. If you miss, that's an extra $100 plus you wasted. Like my mobo, I saved $20 by buying a refurbish, but when it died, I actually lost $80. In order to save $20, I end up wasting $80.

With full warranty, you can just send it back to the manufacturer, and they will send you a brand new one as replacement. Video cards usually carries between 3 - 5 years warranty. Some even give life-time warranty on it.

Some of you said you receive items in a white box, I think you have mistaken the difference between a refurbish item and an OEM item. For refurbish items, if they never mention it, you WILL still get everythiing in the original box, CD, cable.....etc. Just like when you buy retail. The difference between retail and refurbish......., refurbish is a damaged item (or open item) restored back to factory specification. For OEM, usually the retailers buy them in bulk, just like Dell, Compact, IBM.......etc. do. For these computer retailers, they don't need the retail boxes because they are selling the whole computer unit. Without the nice retail packaging, they pay a lot less. Newegg also sell OEM items, which is equavilant to brand new item. The only difference between OEM and retail......, retail comes in the nice packaging just like you buy the items from best buy, compusa......, while OEM comes in a with the item in a white box, probably with the driver CD.

If it's OEM, by means go for it. But as for refurbish items, you are just taking your chance.

Well, its up to you. Good luck to you, and keep us posted regarding your decision.
 
Last night I ordered a 9700pro refurbished, and the night before that, my brother ordered a 9800 pro refurbished.
 
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