Generic vs Brand name hardware....

[RabeaticSquirrel]

I keep hearing people talk about picking up a GeForce2 for around $150. And of course, when I hit pricewatch I see the card their talking about and it turns out to be a generic card. Are these actually OEM cards, or perhaps cheaper manfacturing process? I assume the Nvidia chips are along the same quality, unless Nvidia is offering OEM chips. Perhaps the PCB is of a lower manfacturing process? Are these cards along the same quality when compared to the same card but of a brand name. Like a Creative or WinFast?

 

[MCS]

Which makes are you talking about specifically?

 

[Yoshi]

Here is my best guess...

First of, all nVidia chips are OEM because all they do is supply chips to manufacturers. Ever gone into a store and seen a retail package GeForce2 chip?? The generic cards on price watch are probably off brand cards. They may or may not be as good as a Creative, Asus, etc. The only risk I could see is poor support and customer service. The best thing to do is check the site that is advertising on pricewatch and see what brand the card is.

 

[hans007]

well visiontek is considered a generic, and usually is the cheapest card. Then again they make elsas cards and are exactly the same and elsa is supposed to be a brand name. Its all the same anyways.