Difference between OEM and Retail graphics cards? And other graphics card questions...

Syborg1211

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2000
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What are the differences besides maybe warranty and bundled software? This is specifically for the Creative Labs Annihilator 2 Ultra or the Guillemot/Hercules 3d Prophet 2 Ultra. And what are the differences between the prophet and the annihilator? Some say that the prophet has better/faster ram which overclocks bettter, is this right?
 

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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You guessed the differences basically. In addition Retail has a box, OEM is &quot;white boxed&quot;. The CLAP vs Prophet is simply the mfg's naming scheme. In addition the Prophet has a higher core / memory clock speed by default. They both have 6ns DDR SDRAM as far as I know. However the CLAP will o/c just as high most of the time.
 

Syborg1211

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Jul 29, 2000
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6 ns? I believe it is 4 ns. I might as well get the Creative Labs one then since the Guillemot one will cost an arm and a leg and then some versus the CL one costing only an arm and maybe part of a leg.
 

BigToque

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
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With the ATi Radeon the OEM card ships memory at 166 MHz while the Retail ships at 183 MHz. (not positive if its the memory or the core speed - someone fill me in)
 

DaddyG

Banned
Mar 24, 2000
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Graphics cards are the one item that you have to be very careful buying OEM. Lower quality components, besides memory are frequently used and the software package is often not available.
 

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Syborg I totally read your initial question WRONG. I did not notice the &quot;ultra&quot; part...I apologize.

AFAIK the ultras use 4ns DDR SDRAM.
 

Syborg1211

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2000
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So they both use the same speed ram, meaning that they both will overclock the same just depending on the batch and stuff?
 

Syborg1211

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Jul 29, 2000
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Alright guys I need your help deciding, should I get an oem or retail? I want to overclock it well so I am thinking retail, but I dont feel like spending the dough. What should I do?
 

ragiepew

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
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syboy... Retail comes w/ games/software and a warranty... OEM on the otherhand only has like a very limited warranty and no software plus it comes in a plain white box. Anyway, there might also be some other differences (like quality and/or clockrate, in the case of the radeon) but im not sure of such differences w/ the geforces.
 

Syborg1211

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Jul 29, 2000
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My logic is that since the Ultras are already so high in quality, they really cant skimp too much off of it. Both the ram and the core have to be of high quality to reach those types of speeds. Am I right?
 

ragiepew

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Oct 9, 1999
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so high in quality??? I dont think that is accurate... maybe they are so high performing but you its hard to say that they are &quot;so high in quality&quot;. Im sure all nvidia chips and creative boards are of good quality but im sure they can find stuff to skimp on... im not claiming that they are... just thinking that they could.
 

Rigoletto

Banned
Aug 6, 2000
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Not true that OEM doesn't come with software. It's variable. Graphics OEMs might not have games but usually have a DVD software player (appalling 3dfx excepted, not even in a retail, shocking...)
 

Syborg1211

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2000
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Isn't it true that nvidia pretests their cpus aand labels the higher clockable cores Ultra? And doesn't the Ultra use much faster and harder yo find 4ns ram?