Well... Newegg lied, misleading memory speed info with my vid card

[DJQuanta]

Hello Guys,

Man this is frustrating. I got an Info-Tek/Gecube Radeon 9600 PRO along with the rest of the parts for my new system. Newegg advertised it as a 400 Mhz Core / 600 Mhz (300x2) Memory 128Mb 9600 PRO (The specs of a true 9600pro).

Yesterday after finishing the re-installing apps phase I ran 3DMark2003 and shocked with my resulting score: 2400 3DMarks..... I told myself..."Wasn't this card supposed to give around 3500-3700 3DMarks. ". When I checked the detailed results I noticed that the memory appeared clocked as 198 Mhz. I installed and ran ATI Tool and confirmed the thing. Newegg sent me a sort of "EZ" 9600Pro, with 400 Mhz (200x2) memory.

Also, the PCB has a "9550" tag printed, although the box refers to a 9600Pro and it's identified as a 9600 series by 3Dmark. I know this is not something to worry for, but is it possible to check if it's an actual 9600 pro without dismounting the HSF ?

The worst part is that I can't rma the card. All the parts were bought from Newegg and sent to my sister's address that lives in Miami, and then she sent me the stuff to Venezuela(south america). Sending the card back to Miami, plus sending it back to newegg from there, plus the %15 re-stocking fee, would transform my cheap $114 vid card into a more than $200 waste.

Man I really love Newegg (always buy stuff from them and never had a problem), and although I know I'm always at risk to receive a defective part, I never thought that my first bad experience with them would be buying a product with misleading specs.

I did a test overclock of the card (450 Mhz Core / 225 Mhz Mem) and it seemed to handle it pretty well (no artifacts reported by Atitool). I ran 3dMark 2003 and the score went up to 3450. The memory chips of the card are Hynix, dont have the exact code of the chips but it ends in "-5". Does this means this is a 5ns memory ?... I'm not expert with vid card memory but I think this sucks. Should I keep it running like this or this is going to kill the card in a short time ?

Thanks for reading about this frustrating experience. If you have any comment, advice, etc. please post.

Quanta

 

[MDE]

Why would you have to pay a restocking fee when they messed up? Just for laughs, email or call them and explain your situation. They might just take the card back and ship it to Venezuela for you if you have all of your sister's information handy.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: MDE
Why would you have to pay a restocking fee when they messed up? Just for laughs, email or call them and explain your situation. They might just take the card back and ship it to Venezuela for you if you have all of your sister's information handy.

You almost certainly wouldn't have to pay the restocking fee (since they sold you something that doesn't match the description they gave), but I doubt you'd get free shipping to Venezuela (especially since they don't ship internationally to begin with).

Unfortunately it sounds like you're sort of screwed here.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: MDE
Why would you have to pay a restocking fee when they messed up? Just for laughs, email or call them and explain your situation. They might just take the card back and ship it to Venezuela for you if you have all of your sister's information handy.

You almost certainly wouldn't have to pay the restocking fee (since they sold you something that doesn't match the description they gave), but I doubt you'd get free shipping to Venezuela (especially since they don't ship internationally to begin with).

Unfortunately it sounds like you're sort of screwed here.

This is Newegg, crazier things have happened.

 

[DJQuanta]

Yeahh... I'm gonna mail them just to check what they think, but I don't have much hope. Maybe I'll ask for a credit or something on my next video card purchase, who knows.

Any opinions regarding the overclock ?. I haven't had the time to test any games yet (too much work at the office) but with that wimpy 2400 3DMark2003 score I think that even the not-so-new games won't do very well.

 

[Pete]

You can at least ask them to refund part of the cost for both the wrong card and your troubles (and now, not in the form of a store credit).

 

[rogue1979]

Newegg is the best, I am sure it was an honest mistake.

I can't see them charging you a restocking fee, but I can see shipping will be expensive.

They accidently sent me a refurbished Radeon 9700 non-pro instead of a Pro, and were happy to refund the price difference to my credit card, no questions asked.

Newegg is simply the greatest, give them a chance to fix it.

 

[lenjack]

Of couse you can rma, and it shouldn't cost you shipping either.

 

[daveybrat]

Also, the PCB has a "9550" tag printed, although the box refers to a 9600Pro and it's identified as a 9600 series by 3Dmark. I know this is not something to worry for, but is it possible to check if it's an actual 9600 pro without dismounting the HSF ?

Hmmmm.......this sounds like another one of those 'fake' 9600pro's that were circulating at one time. It's a 9550 that's been hacked into a 9600pro through the bios then overclocked.

Newegg should have no problem taking this back.

 

[NYHoustonman]

This just in... Whatever the vast majority of this board seems to think, Newegg is not, in fact, jesus.

 

[rogue1979]

Originally posted by: NYHoustonman
This just in... Whatever the vast majority of this board seems to think, Newegg is not, in fact, jesus.

In the past 3 years I have ordered at least $10,000 in parts from Newegg. A few issues along the way that were always taken care of promptly and to my satisfaction. Close enough to Jesus for me!

 

[JBT]

You shouldn't have to pay for shipping back or the 15% restocking fee. Call them and I'm sure they will be willing to work with you. Whether or not they will ship to you there is another question.