Retail ATI Cards?

[dani_17]

I just bought myself a quite decently ATI Radeon 9600 Pro.

It was not too expensive,but hey, it's more than average or than a Radeon 9200 and GFX 5200 my friends bought....

Anyway, I couldn't find any branded cards so I just bought the retail ati card. The do the cards with their own chips, I guessed they must be good.. No exotic cooler and stuff buy it's okay. Although they are not cheaper than the others.

I open the nice package, and I see the card, a manual and a cd with drivers... Nothing more.

This is lame!!!!!!!!! My brother bought a Chaintech Geforce 5200 and it came with the extras like PowerDVD 5, a S-Video cable and a DVI-to-VGA adapter.

This is the first and last ATI retail card I buy. They should care more in what they sell. I'm dissapointed with them and I recommend noone buys a retail ATI card. Get a Saphire or any other good named brand and you'll get a nicer card with better cooling and a few ESSENTIAL extras as the S-Video cable and the dvi adapter.

 

[tripleione]

Are you sure you got a "retail" ATi card? Sounds more like you got an OEM.

Anyway, I don't see what the problem is. Chances are that your brother's Chaintech card costed more than just an OEM because of the additional equipment they crammed in with the card.

I personally prefer companies NOT to package their cards with other products because usually the price will go up. I just want the card, not a whole bunch of software I'll never use.

 

[dani_17]

It's the retail one (see picture)

I still disagree. Also, chaintech was one of the cheaper gerfore 5200 I found.

 

[Scol]

Well if you wanted bundles, u shouldve got 9600xt (hl2 voucher) or 5900se (ghost recon, call of duty, americas army).

sure bundles are good n all in their own sense, but at times though a card may come with many things, the games may be dated... like "wow it comes with 6 games! pong, pac man, dig dug.... " lol, okay maybe not that bad.

Anyway, did you buy this in store or through online? You'd probably find a much lower price online for that card, I'm sure.

Don't knock ATI just cuz you didn't get games or peripherals. How much does PowerDVD 5 cost, or even an S-video cable or DVI adapter? Those costs are probably negligible to the companies adding little to the price. Just be happy that you got product... and good product at that. 9600 pro is a good middle class card with good performance way over your friend's cards and interesting overclocking capabilities. It's good that you didn't get a 5200. The 5200 is to GeForce FX what MX was to GeForce4, in my opinion.

 

[tripleione]

Originally posted by dani_17
It's the retail one (see picture)

I still disagree. Also, chaintech was one of the cheaper gerfore 5200 I found.

Well, just take it back and get a different manufacturer's card and make sure it has a bundle. Heh.

On a side note, at least you got a Built-by-ATi card. They are supposed to be the best Radeons made (although that's a very arguable point).

EDIT: Here's a price list for 5200's at Newegg:

ASUS GeForceFX 5200 "RETAIL" 64MB DDR w/ TV-OUT
Cable/Accessories: Driver CD, Manual
Price: $59.99

Albatron GeForceFX 5200 "RETAIL" 128MB DDR w/ DVI/TV-OUT
Cable/Accessories: 2 Cables, VGA via DVI Adapter, WinDVD, Driver CD, Manual
Price: $60.00

CHAINTECH GeForceFX 5200 "RETAIL" 128MB DDR w/ TV-OUT
Cable/Accessories: 1 Cable, 1 CD, Manual
Price: $62.99

Although ASUS only gives you a driver CD and manual, you still get the fancy little box that retail products come in and it's cheaper. However, the Albatron gives you more cables, a DVI to VGA adapter, WinDVD and a CD and Manual... for less than the Chaintech!

 

[dani_17]

Wow, thats strange.

The chaintech I have came with the DVi adapter.

The built by ati is a reference designs (if I understood correctly). Means that it has stock speeds and no tweaking features. Also reference cooling.

In my case its not a problem cause I'm not going to OC it. But if you plan to overclock it and don't want to change the stock fan, then get another brand.

 

[XtR-X]

Sometimes they sell stuff like that retail without any extra software. Make sure you are supposed to have extra stuff.


Lol, or OEM with a Retail box.

 

[dani_17]

Im happy with the card... but i expected more from, lets say, the 'original' manufacturer.

 

[Scol]

You're right that ATI doesn't really do much in terms of provisions in their retail cards (except with this recent HL2 deal), but then again they are, as you said, the original manufacturer. nVidia doesn't even make their own cards nor sell them under their name, so you can't really say much in comparison with a 3rd party manufacturer. Each brand (Chaintech, BFG, Leadtek, Sapphire, Power Color, eVGA, PNY, etc, etc) will have their own bundles and their own promotions for their ish. This isn't entirely reliant on nVidia nor ATI, mind you.

 

[SubKamran]

I bought a Sapphire Atlantis 9800 Pro for $350. I got:

* S-Video cable
* DVI-to-VGA, Composite-to-S-video
* Overclocking software
* Drivers, manual
* Composite video cable
* PowerDVD 4 XP
* Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (multiplayer is the best!)
* Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Cheap for what I get if you ask me

 

[NoisySilence]

ATI is moving more & more away from producing cards. I actually thought they had stopped selling BBA cards in the retail market altogether to concentrate on OEMs.

 

[tripleione]

Makes sense, considering a lot of manufacturers are considering partnering with ATi to get in on their cash cow Radeon products.

 

[werty316]

Check the manual to see that everytihng that came with the card came with it. Mobo manuals have the same thing. the manual might have a check list.

 

[dani_17]

All stuff listed in the manual was in the box.

I also thing ATI isn't that interested in making their card's themself... Why? Just do a good chip and any manufacturer will want to make a card with it.

 

[agissi]

I never really enjoy bundles - it seems like a bunch of crap and old stuff I'll never use. Adapters are kinda nice but thats it. Im buying it for the card, not for the bundle.

 

[Masque]

Originally posted by ---agissi---
I never really enjoy bundles - it seems like a bunch of crap and old stuff I'll never use. Adapters are kinda nice but thats it. Im buying it for the card, not for the bundle.

I agree 100% here. Give me the meat.....much of the rest I can d/l on the software side. Most times you'll see the price diff between an OEM and retail and you can pick up the extra adapter (if you really need it) and still save some money. Buy smart.

 

[olefarte]

Originally posted by ---agissi---
I never really enjoy bundles - it seems like a bunch of crap and old stuff I'll never use. Adapters are kinda nice but thats it. Im buying it for the card, not for the bundle.

I agree also, but I almost bought a new Audidy 2 ZS Gamer, just because of the software. Here's what comes with it.

Star Wars® Jedi Knight®: Jedi Academy™
Halo® Combat Evolved
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness™
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® 3: Raven Shield™
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell® (Includes 3 additional missions)

I really wouldn't mind having any of those games, they are all pretty new, and maybe with exception of Tomb Raider, are all top notch, plus, I don't have any of them except Splinter Cell. The card cost $150, and the games alone are worth $200 to $250, if you bought them retail. To me, this is one of the few products that has a good software bundle with it.

 

[iss]

the bundle with the audigy 2 is an exception most bundles as pointed out contain games that are a year or two old. games which most people who are really into gaming would allready have.

 

[Scol]

Plus that's a soundcard and not a video card... nice bundle though. A lot of good games to benchmark your graphics performance.