Do you trust Monarchs low priced OEM Opterons?

vertigofm

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Jan 31, 2006
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I was about to order the 170 Opteron from Monarch with the coupon. I am gonna be OCing and it struck me... how do we know these are not refurbished that would not OC well... or how do we know these are not really cheap because they are from a week that is not known for OCing? any input?
 

Fallengod

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2001
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Refurbished oem opterons? Opterons are in such high demand, they get turned over fast. They are all new.... Ive bought about 10 oem opterons from monarch, all were new.

In terms of ocing, feel free to contact some of the people that have reached 2.7ghz on theirs. :p
 

Avalon

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Jul 16, 2001
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Monarch is not the kind of outfit to intentionally give you used/bum hardware under the guise of OEM.
 
Mar 19, 2003
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Originally posted by: robertk2012
Mine was oem from monarch.

Same here. 2.6 is rock stable, and 2.7 probably is too but my board has BIOS quirks that prevent me from easily running 270x10 or 300x9. I do know that 2.75 and 2.80 weren't stable though :p

(I bought mine back in November - and I have no reason to believe that they'd have started passing off refurbs as OEM's since then)
 

vertigofm

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Jan 31, 2006
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Originally posted by: Avalon
Monarch is not the kind of outfit to intentionally give you used/bum hardware under the guise of OEM.


I hope so... it still makes me nervous though, I meanm why are they selling them so cheap?
 

Fallengod

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Jul 2, 2001
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They arnt? I think you are paranoid. If youre referring to the coupon deals, those arnt public you know? They are meant for a specific forum. Not everyone gets those prices.

Also if youre unaware, AMD just dropped prices again, so prices are going to go down. Not to mention AM2 is coming out. Also, monarch is known for having low prices anyways.....
 

buzzsaw13

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Apr 30, 2004
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Originally posted by: vertigofm
Originally posted by: Avalon
Monarch is not the kind of outfit to intentionally give you used/bum hardware under the guise of OEM.


I hope so... it still makes me nervous though, I meanm why are they selling them so cheap?

Monarch is not shady, I've ordered stuff from them before. I prefer them over Newegg even though their prices may be a bit higher.
 

anandtechrocks

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Dec 7, 2004
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I dunno about Monarch... I bought my X800 GTO from them and the seal on the anti-static bag was broken. The metal around the DVI output was scratched up too. I was a little worried about getting a used card so I asked 3DConnect abou it. They said the seal should have been in-tact and the scratchs around the video outputs were suspicious. I e-mailed Monarch twice but got no reply. I guess I'm not that worried, but I'm a little paranoid about my computer equipment.
 

furballi

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Apr 6, 2005
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I know that Monarch does sell refurbished goods as OEM. My AX8 OEM board had about a dozen re-soldered joints.
 

Avalon

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Jul 16, 2001
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Originally posted by: modempower
They arnt? I think you are paranoid. If youre referring to the coupon deals, those arnt public you know? They are meant for a specific forum. Not everyone gets those prices.

Also if youre unaware, AMD just dropped prices again, so prices are going to go down. Not to mention AM2 is coming out. Also, monarch is known for having low prices anyways.....

Monarch had a deal going where if you bought an Opteron 1xx/mobo combo, you could choose an Opty 144 for $130 with whatever mobo. It was much better than the coupon deals.
 

thegimp03

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2004
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Monarch is one of the best online retailers out there in my opinion. Never had a problem with them and their customer service seems to be very good.
 

vertigofm

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Jan 31, 2006
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Originally posted by: furballi
I know that Monarch does sell refurbished goods as OEM. My AX8 OEM board had about a dozen re-soldered joints.


I can't buy from Monarch knowing that... not with a processor I am gonna OC
 

Fallengod

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Jul 2, 2001
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Ive never seen it done with a processor. Ive never heard of anyone getting anything but a new processor..... Maybe a motherboard. Feel free to pay more money and purchase somewhere else if you arnt comfortable.
 

themusgrat

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Nov 2, 2005
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I like Monarch. I got my 165 from them, and it was new, does 2.8 @ 1.5v. If I go higher, it gets to 3.0. Go with them without any doubt if they are the lowest price.
 

Fallengod

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Jul 2, 2001
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Amazingly, it seems like all opteron 165's oem and retail do about 2.7-2.8ghz these days.
 

vertigofm

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Jan 31, 2006
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Originally posted by: themusgrat
I like Monarch. I got my 165 from them, and it was new, does 2.8 @ 1.5v. If I go higher, it gets to 3.0. Go with them without any doubt if they are the lowest price.


yeah but it was new
 

Fallengod

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2001
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Originally posted by: vertigofm
Originally posted by: themusgrat
I like Monarch. I got my 165 from them, and it was new, does 2.8 @ 1.5v. If I go higher, it gets to 3.0. Go with them without any doubt if they are the lowest price.


yeah but it was new



Uhhh? They are all new......
 

TrevorRC

Senior member
Jan 8, 2006
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Originally posted by: Avalon
Monarch is not the kind of outfit to intentionally give you used/bum hardware under the guise of OEM.

Not true. They actually have done that on several occasions before..
 

fbrdphreak

Lifer
Apr 17, 2004
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I wouldn't worry about it being used or refurb, but call before you order. Their website doesn't update stock in real time, and they will take their time letting you know an item is OOS. You can read my ordeal involving a month long refund procedure on ResellerRatings under fbrdphreak or PM me for more details.

I'd buy from them if it was a really good deal and I didn't need it soon. Take it for what it's worth :)
 

Phew

Senior member
May 19, 2004
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I got my 170 from Monarch, and it does 2.5 GHz on stock voltage. 2.6-2.65 requires a big jump in voltage, but it's stable. Any higher pushes the limits of my low-noise cooling, but I have every reason to believe with a faster (read: louder) fan and lower ambient temps I could do 2.7 no problem. So I don't think Monarch OEM Opterons are somehow inferior, since multiple people in this thread seem to O/C quite well with them.
 

robertk2012

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Dec 14, 2004
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Originally posted by: vertigofm
Originally posted by: modempower
Amazingly, it seems like all opteron 165's oem and retail do about 2.7-2.8ghz these days.


damn... is that better then the 170's?

Havent we been through this before. I already told you the 165 will top out the same as a 170/175 if you have the right motherboard.