Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 (Open box) $81.99 at newegg

[R64]

You will not get 2 sata cables and 1 PATA, 1 FDD cable. I am not sure about back panel.

 

[ProfessorT]

All oem barebones on Newegg are motherboard only. No cables or accessories. Can you post a link? Also the back plate is tge biggest let down besides some drivers, I hope you already have some sata and pata cables...

 

[ReMb]

No back panel would be hell.

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: ReMb
No back panel would be hell.

Usually if you email Gigabyte they'll send you a backplate. HOWEVER...

I personally will never buy an open box motherboard again. They are returned for a reason, and sometimes that reason is some niggling problem that won't be picked up by the people who test these before sending them out again. Generally if a motherboard posts it is considered good for resale. Bottom line: if you are a glutton for punishment and you like to gamble, then by all means buy one of these.

 

[lsman]

newegg Never test any return

 

[KF]

I have gotten a total of 5 refurbs from newegg over the last 3 years, two of which were flakey when booting to begin with and then died within a day or two by never booting again. A video board I got was good, but I think some one returned it because it didn't hardly OC, which was why it was OK. (Naturally I don't even attempt to OC an item until it has been working under maximally stressed normal conditions for several days, and I would not ask to get a replacement if I killed it by OCing.) Only one item came with any extras, even a box, and that one came with everything including several brackets, rounded cables and the original box. Unfortunately it was one of the items that died. One bare mobo that came with nothing was actually missing jumpers that normally are on the mobo (because they were needed!), but I have jumpers.

But I found out something cool about MSI, when a refurb video card I got from geeks.com died after a year and two months. (Which I never OCed because it definitely did not need it. I loved that card.) Geeks guaranteed it for six month only, but when I investigated at the MSI site, it was under warranty by MSI. MSI has a very easy-to-use, on-line RMA, which is something I have not found on other manufacturers sites. (Correct me if you know others.) MSI did not mind at all (evidently) that it was a refurb and the serial and other numbers didn't seem to conform to the systems they describe at the RMA page. I sent it at my expense, as required. They sent me a new video card, of the equivalent original price, that had the new and current chipset which had superseded the one I RMAed. Ooo, I like MSI!

After that I looked for MSI refurbs (now "open box" at newegg) or new. A couple of weeks ago I got an MSI "open box" mobo from newegg. Now, since I had been intensively researching this purchase for a month or two, I knew newegg did not carry this mobo at all new, so I don't know where they are getting this mobo as an "open box" item. This is one of the flakey duds I mentioned, and came with absolutely nothing, as I expected. I RMAed it to MSI, because if I returned it to newegg, they don't even have the item and I'd only get a refund (or that minus restocking fee) and I'd be back to square one, with my wallet $9 lighter for shipping. (Shipping was free my way, so I was not out that too.) MSI verified the mobo was bad, and whatever the replacement is is due for delivery today. Buying MSI has turned out to be good insurance for me so far. We'll see how it goes by the end of the day.

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: KF
MSI verified the mobo was bad, and whatever the replacement is is due for delivery today. Buying MSI has turned out to be good insurance for me so far. We'll see how it goes by the end of the day.

Let us know what happens.

 

[tallman45]

Refurbs at some places are not actually "refubished", they are simply "Open Box Returns" that have been returned becuase they do not work

 

[Basilisk]

Folks boast about the great Open Box deals they've had from NE; alas, I can't. I had problems with two m/b's, and procrastinated too long before building systems around them so... I was spared the hassle of returning the defective units! Those who've received all the parts are blessed! (I can sympathized a frustrated customer having to return a m/b and forgetting to knock out the backplate!)

From my -personal- cost/gain perspective, few of these units are discounted enough to merit the risk (delays/hassles/etc.). (That said, I agree with the earlier post that MSI is a good company to deal with if you have a problem.)

 

[Wag]

Well, it depends on how much the part is. If it's a $10 part with $5 shipping I might take the risk, anything over that, forget it.

I can honestly say almost every single "refurb" I've purchased from Newegg failed.

 

[Muscles]

Awhile ago I bought a refurbished oem CPU from newegg (P4 3.0c northwood) and it worked great. In fact, I had no problem overclocking it to 3.5 ghz. I would have no problem buying another open box or refurb from newegg again but only certain items. A motherboard would not be one I would consider since there are too many possibilities of one or more problems that can be overlooked by any etailer assuming they check it at all.

 

[KF]

Originally posted by: Zim

Originally posted by: KF
MSI verified the mobo was bad, and whatever the replacement is is due for delivery today. Buying MSI has turned out to be good insurance for me so far. We'll see how it goes by the end of the day.

Let us know what happens.

Actually they didn't verify the mobo was bad. I was assuming too much when the status showed "Your RMA is now in repair, testing or replacement." They returned the original mobo in its original condition. That is: dead. It doesn't beep and there is no video. The CPU fan spins and that's it. The power off button will not shut it down until you hold it for 5 seconds, which in my experience means the CPU is not responding.

There is nothing anywhere in human readable form about about what they may have found or what they may have done.
Error Code PC988
Repair Code U0H

There is no sign at their site or from a Google search of what that may mean. I'm guessing it means they returned the original item to the customer. If they did that because it worked for them, I have a mystery because I did the usual.

The CMOS has been reset by taking out the battery for an hour.

The memory and CPU were working in another mobo. I think it should beep even if the memory is bad.

A second, known-good PS. The first one was also known good.

I took all the connections apart and put them back, including the CPU.

mobo on a box to preclude shorts.

I did all this before I RMAed, now I'm doing it again. I might double check things back in another motherboard.

What else? Something weird? Did the first owner get Artic Silver down in the socket holes. There was some on the socket when I got the mobo. Why did it work for MSI -if it did- and nothing for me?

 

[Delbert]

Got another video card to eliminate that? An old pci version is good for times like this.

 

[tbogstad]

I guess i am one of the lucky ones, i orderered tis motherboard and it came full retail box with everyting still sealed includeing the motherboard, works flawlessly and ovrclocked my E6400 to 3.2GHZ easily.

I have also ordered about 20 open box or refrubs from newegg in the past 5 years, and only had 1 video card be bad, and i rma'ed that to leadtek and they replaced it with a new one, it was 5950ultra with HDTV, it was thew only good card back then that had HDTV out puts.
actually resold it for a $100.00 profit a 6 months after i purchased.

i order 3 other open box motherboards recently ansd they all came full retial box with everything, and all the needed was a bios flash and then they worked perfectly.

I did get one bare motherboard once, but it still worked OK.

 

[TruePaige]

mmm I've only bought two open box from Newegg. One was an FX5200 which worked flawlessly and even came with a box (just no driver cd).

The second...was questionable....it was a Toshiba DVD Burner back when they were first coming out, and it was, I kid you not, like 60% off, had to be the hugest open box discount I'd ever got from Newegg....I looked at the drive to figure out why it was powering up, would spin discs, but just not work...and then the firmware version....someone had mis-flashed the firmware....the drive after I reflashed it was good...coasted about 1/8th of the time, but meh....still pretty good....wonder what I ever did with that drive...

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Zim

Originally posted by: ReMb
No back panel would be hell.

Usually if you email Gigabyte they'll send you a backplate. HOWEVER...

I personally will never buy an open box motherboard again. They are returned for a reason, and sometimes that reason is some niggling problem that won't be picked up by the people who test these before sending them out again. Generally if a motherboard posts it is considered good for resale. Bottom line: if you are a glutton for punishment and you like to gamble, then by all means buy one of these.

Agreed. Motherboard problems are a b|tch to nail down. And since they usually only give you a shortened return period they just aren't worth it. Some items can be worth it to buy open box, but usually the small discount isn't worth the risk.

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

I once bought an ECS 848P-A "refurbished" from NewEgg. That board was great! It had all kinds of overclocking options with the single exception of vcore control, came with every retail accessory such as I/O shield and IDE cables, and worked perfectly in every respect.

But here's the interesting thing: The board was shiny and slick, and smelled of some kind of cleaning solution. I was very impressed that whoever repackaged the thing would take the time to do that.

The point is, there seems to be a *huge* difference between Newegg "refurbished" and "open box" items. I would buy refurbished again without hesitation, but I'm not sure about open box.