I just impulse-bought a 9800 NP open box at Beastbuy - should I return it?

[The Sauce]

They had $50 off on an open box 9800 NP, making it $249 so I snapped it up. It has the slower Infineon memory chips it seems (3.0ns). It looks like whoever returned it just opened it up, saw the Infineon, and returned it as the software was still sealed and there were no scratches on the pins from installation. I am upgrading from a Ti200. 3dMark'03 score is right around 5000 with an AthlonXP 2800 system.

Do you guys think that this was an ok deal or was it a bad impulse buy? I know I won't be able to o/c the infineon memory very much, but frankly, i did overclock a bit (core to 350, memory to 310) and the 3dmark scores did not increase at all. Stayed exactly the same. ATI gurus, tell me what to do.

 

[jacktesterson]

keep it, it will work. no need to overclock it.

 

[Nebor]

Best buy open box discounts are some of the best prices you'll find anywhere.

 

[Viper96720]

Don't know if 9800's are the same as 9700's but is the bios unlocked? 3ns is 333Mhz so maybe able to get close to 9800Pro speeds.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Nebor
Best buy open box discounts are some of the best prices you'll find anywhere.

Risky too. Some people will buy an expensive card, like a Radeon 9700, and they can put a dead S3 PCI card in, and the customer service people will take it back, and it'll go back on the shelf as an Open Box product.:|

 

[Nebor]

If you know someone who does that.... either A) Throw a quarter near a curb, then when they rush to get it, and they will, because they are SO cheap, you kick their head into the curb and stomp on it. Or B) Just post their address here.... we'll take care of the rest.

 

[junkerman123]

My 3dmark score was about 5900 with a p4 3.0 and a radeon 9800. Assuming your athlon, 5000 is probably t he score you would be getting with a new Radeon. So I'd say you got a good deal, keep it!

 

[MoobyTheGoldenCalf]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Nebor
Best buy open box discounts are some of the best prices you'll find anywhere.

Risky too. Some people will buy an expensive card, like a Radeon 9700, and they can put a dead S3 PCI card in, and the customer service people will take it back, and it'll go back on the shelf as an Open Box product.:|

Everytime I've returned anything to best buy, it seems like they go through a 100 point inspection of EVERYTHING in the box and tried it all to make sure it works. Seems like I'm up at the counter waiting for hours while some "techie" in the back is checking everything out....

 

[bendixG15]

Ditto

Best Buy In Massachusetts goes through the return with a fine toothcomb
to make sure all the stuff is correct........

 

[The Sauce]

Originally posted by: junkerman123
My 3dmark score was about 5900 with a p4 3.0 and a radeon 9800. Assuming your athlon, 5000 is probably t he score you would be getting with a new Radeon. So I'd say you got a good deal, keep it!

Yah, like I said, I overclocked it and the score did not go up so I have to think, based on that, that the limitation at this point is the rest of the system anyway. Glad I didn't spend the extra $150 for the Pro.

 

[hdeck]

wow, sweet deal =)

 

[dmw16]

Well, speaking as a former BB employee, going over stuff has become standard policy. People go to a lot of trouble to rip stores off w/ returns, so they are careful.
-doug

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

other stores like Best Buy and WalMart are now selling some products, including a Ti4200 they were getting rid of (128MB) some time back for $45 which I did post about in the Hot Deals thread. People can easily get those, put old cards and return them without them noticing.