9600XT OC Issues... Please Advise!

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Marsumane

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: chazdraves
Yeah... but it's just so easy to revert back, heh

- Chaz

And to think we wonder why prices are so high on the new cards. :frown:

That cant be the reason why. The real reason why, is because of the existance of the type of ppl that roam these forums. The majority of people that come to these forums will pay the price, and thats y they are so high. It actually costs them im sure less then $25 to make the actual card.

Uh-huh. Sure. You couldn't buy the *memory* for a next-gen card for $25, let alone the GPU, RAMDACs, custom 6-layer PCB, and assembly, packaging, and shipping costs... not to mention the millions that AMD and NVIDIA spent on R&D.

Admittedly, there's a lot of profit margin in these cards at their current prices, but I would be amazed if they were producing them at a cost of under $100 (and I'm sure the yields on the high-end cards are not great, either).

RMA abuse is not the only reason that video card prices keep going up, but it certainly doesn't make them lower. If they know that, say, 10% of the cards they sell will be RMAed for no good reason other than "it doesn't softmod/OC high enough", the cardmakers will raise their prices to compensate.

 

[chazdraves]

The good news is - it ain't gettin' RMA'd, it's going happily back to the shelf at Best Buy just the way I originally found it...

Anyhow, I hate to de-rail the current debate here, but are there any other possible things I could do to get just a little more juice outta this thing? I had mentioned the FastWrite and Aperature Size... will that make any differences? Thanks again for all the assisstance, it's scary all the new stuff I've got to remember!

- Chaz

 

[chazdraves]

Anybody?
- Chaz

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: chazdraves
The good news is - it ain't gettin' RMA'd, it's going happily back to the shelf at Best Buy just the way I originally found it...

No, it's probably not. It will probably end up rotting away in a pile of boxes in a warehouse somewhere. Best Buy cannot sell a graphics card that has been opened up, used, overclocked to the max, and modified. Congratulations, you just cost Best Buy $150 or so.

Was the card running fine at stock speeds? I asked you earlier and you avoided my question. If it was, then you are a scam artist, plain and simple.

 

[chazdraves]

My aversion to your question wasn't intentional, I must have plainly missed it...

Yes, it was running beautifully at stock speeds (which is to say, completely stable, not perfect FPS, obviously) and it will continue to run thusly for the next person to purchase it, I have no doubt. I know you guys come from towns slightly different (read: larger) than I so I will explain by saying simply: the card will definitely be sold again.

As a side note - any avoidance of such questions would be purely a subconscious attempt to kepp out of flame wars. I'm just here to ask questions, search for answers, and help other peeps when I actually know the facts myself... not here to fight with anybody.

God bless,

- Chaz

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: chazdraves
The good news is - it ain't gettin' RMA'd, it's going happily back to the shelf at Best Buy just the way I originally found it...

No, it's probably not. It will probably end up rotting away in a pile of boxes in a warehouse somewhere. Best Buy cannot sell a graphics card that has been opened up, used, overclocked to the max, and modified. Congratulations, you just cost Best Buy $150 or so.

More than likely not, BB will just send it back to their distributors and/or the mfg. The mfg will probably let it sit there and rot, and eventually either get destroyed for tax-writeoff purposes, or sold for pennies on the dollar to an "OEM junk dealer" as part of a larger lot, and then portions of that lot will be re-sold to smaller resellers like CompGeeks. (Where do you think that they get their "refurb" stock from? )

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Was the card running fine at stock speeds? I asked you earlier and you avoided my question. If it was, then you are a scam artist, plain and simple.

No comment on those issues, but it's sad that he thinks that he can return it, and it can just simply get re-sold at retail again. To do so (as new), at least in the US, would be against the law.

Then again, it wouldn't be the first time that someone has purchased expensive computer parts "new" at BB, and takes them home and opens them and finds out that they've been "pre-owned". Happened to a friend of mine, when I helped him pick out a Radeon 7500 on sale. Shrinkwrapped retail box on the shelf at BB, opened it up, it was clearly used, and the ATI warranty card was missing. Card worked fine though, so not a huge deal, but BB was obviously complicit in its deception, by the fact that it was shrink-wrapped. Plenty of larger retail outlets have shrink-wrap machines in the back room. Not strictly legal, but generally more profitable.

 

[chazdraves]

I will phrase this as simply as I can:

If Best Buy or ATI have a problem with any form of profit loss from folks returning video cards that work as new then they must themselves take the time to reconsider having such a return policy. I brought it back a couple days ago saying simply (as is true), "It works fine, I just want something a little faster." I never said, "No, I didn't use it", or "Well, I opened the box, but I never installed it."

That being said, I'd appreciate if we could drop the subject. Nothing I did was fraudulant nor illegal, I am not a "con artist" - I merely used a service that was freely offered; anything beyond that is something they need to deal with themselves. I appreciate you all taking a minor interest in my life, and I especially appreciate all the things I learned through this thread, but, given I don't even have the card any longer, I feel this topic has reached it's end.

Best wishes,
- Chaz