Buying vid card....what does this mean?? Please help!

[Shockwave]

I'm getting ready to buy a video card off the internet and have a question...What does a bare card mean? Heres the description as listed on the website....

RADEON 32MB the 3D gaming powerhouse powered by the ATI RADEON GPU with 32MB DDR (Double Data Rate) memory, featuring the Charisma Engine, robust T&L acceleration and Pixel Tapestry graphics architecture. RADEON 32MB delivers phenomenal 32-bit color 3D graphics, accelerates all popular DirectX and OpenGL-based 3D games and also accelerates full-screen, full-motion DVD video playback

Package includes:

1 ATI RADEON 32MB DDRAM 2X/4X AGP (bare card)
1 CD with Drivers

And heres the website....


http://www.gogocity.com//product_de...&mscssid=GJW6J5AVM2S92JEP00JP42PFC4FWBRJD

I would like to get this, but I dont want to buy a card that doesnt come with everything its supposed to....So.....Whats a (bare card).....

 

[denon]

oem more than likely

 

[Goi]

It probably means its a "white box" OEM version rather than the full retail boxed version. It won't have the software bundle and other extras, but will come with only the bare essentials, i.e. the card itself and the shipping drivers.

 

[Muadib]

I'm not sure what ships with the boxed retail version of the Radeon, but if it's like most you aren't missing anything. Find a site that sells the retail version & see if the software that comes with it is worth the extra green. Most times it's not IMO.

 

[HellRaven]

The main difference is usually software and warranty.

In this case I believe all you will be missing is the DVD player software that comes with the Radeon.

 

[The Rock]

If you can afford the difference between an OEM version(thats what it sounds like to me) and a retail version(comes with "everything&quot, then by all means get the retail version! Besides coming with "everything" retail cards have full warranty and will meet manufacturers specs. In recent articles on Radeon cards(and other OEM video cards!)it was discovered that OEM cards do not in most case meet manufacturers specs for that model! Example: Radeon cpu manuf. spec is 183mz which most if not all retail versions meet! OEM cards for the most part reach around the 166mz range. OEM cards are meant to go in systems built by OEM computer makers but are available to general public by vendors fot those looking to save money. Is the savings worth it? In the case for the Radeon I say NO!

 

[Buddha Bart]

my roomate bought a laptop hard drive from gogocity two weeks ago.
It was rattleing when it came out of the box.
He mailed it back over a week ago, and no word on its replacement.

bart

 

[bolomite]

By all means get it retail, if the price diff is not too severe. It will put your mind at ease.

 

[Rigoletto]

Unfortunately yes, PC manufacturers do cheat with being able to use a big company's name to sell their box, and ATi are accomplices.
Only the other day I was looking idly at a low end system that claimed ATi 3D graphics. I thought "that covers a range of possiblities"... and what did I see when real close? A 4Mb adaptor! Hahahahahahah!

 

[Howard]

All retail DDR 64MB Radeons are clocked at 183/183, and all the other types are clocked at 166/166.

 

[Rand]

Basically means it's an OEM card. NO fancy box or software bundle that comes with it.
Otheriwse it's the same as the retail 32MB DDR RADEON, both are clocked at 166MHz.
ONLY the Retail 64MB DDR Radeon is clocked at 183MHz, the OEM 64MB RADEON and all other RADEON cards are clocked at 166MHz.

 

[Shockwave]

Well, I bought the retail version......Included is.....
1 video card
1 cd with drivers
3 little peices of paper
1 fancy box

In the OEM version....
1 video card
1 cd with drivers
1 plain box

So I guess the ONLY difference is the speed of the its clocked at.....Oh well..... BUT!! While I'm spewing worthless bits of info...Maybe someone could spit at me for a minute....I installed the card, installed Win98-SE plus HD, CD-Rom and thats it. It boots fine, but when I try to set a screen saver I can use the Flying Windows, but if I try to use any of the 3D S.S., I get all sorts of error messages...Such as 3d pipes etc. Any ideas as to why 3d screen savers go ploop?

 

[Muadib]

Shockwave,

I don't know if you still have the problem, it been a few days, but before you installed the drivers for the RADEON did you uninstall the drivers of your old card & install the standard 98 VGA drivers first?

 

[Shockwave]

Well, I didnt have a vid card before this, this is a first time build (Asin new system/my first pc)....