Radeon 8500 OEM vs Retail

[PowerYoga]

Just curious... what's the difference between the Radeon 8500 OEM and the Retail version? I heard that the 2 clock speeds are different. I also heard that you can flash your OEM version to the retail version with a bios update, but that increases the heat output and can cause problems and artifacts? If you flash your OEM to the retail, shouldn't they be the same...? Or is the core different?

 

[Rand]

The OEM R8500 clockspeed is 250/250, the Retail's is 275/275.
That's the only real difference besides that the retail board comes with all the assoiated software etc while the OEM is just the plain board.

You can flash the OEM to the retail BIOS which will boost the clockspeeds and voltage delivered to the core/memory which will of course slightly increase heat and power consumption. Most OEM R8500's can easily hit the 275/275 speeds of the retail boards.

 

[PowerYoga]

i also heard that flashing the OEM bios to retail can significantly reduce the lifespan of your system. (read from reviews at newegg) Is that true?

 

[Killrose]

<< i also heard that flashing the OEM bios to retail can significantly reduce the lifespan of your system. (read from reviews at newegg) Is that true? >>



No, I doubt that, unless you try to go above the 275/275 speeds. You may have to increase the voltage to the ram chips on an OEM before flashing it to a retail bios. If you don't, the second it tries to run at the new 275/275 clock speeds, you may get a blank screen.

If you buy an OEM, use PowerStrip, or better yet the utility available at Rage3D to overclock it. It may not do the 275/275 dance, but I bet it gets awful close.

 

[WA261]

you can flash to 275, but you wont get much past it....thats why you buy retail, so you can start your oc @ 275

 

[Jen]

and OEM has less voltage than Retail which also goes to explain why OEM cant oc as high



Jen