Newegg's refurbished video cards

L

Larry Roberts

With hurricane Rita throwing a "monkey" into my Athlon64
upgrade "wrench", I haven't been able to throw much funds at it. My
place has now been repaired, and I'll soon be back to making purchases
for the system. With any decent upgrades over my current 6600GT still
costing near $200.00 new, I'm looking to cut this cost down to
$150.00, or more. What I found is that Newegg has some interesting
refurbished deals. Haven't seen any 6800GT, or 6800GS for the price
I'm looking at, but I have found refurbished vanilla 6800 cards for
less. I also have found refurbished ATI X800GTO OC editions for around
the same price as the refurbished 6800.. Which one of these would be
better considering my limited budget? However by the time I make the
videocard purchase, maybe I can get a 6800GT, 6800GS, or X800 GTO2
refurbish for $150.00, or less.
Also, has anyone any opinion about Newegg's refurbished
videocards? They claim that most are cards that where just open box
returns found to be in working order. I figure it still would be safer
than buying second hand from eBay.
 
F

farmuse

Larry said:
With hurricane Rita throwing a "monkey" into my Athlon64
upgrade "wrench", I haven't been able to throw much funds at it. My
place has now been repaired, and I'll soon be back to making purchases
for the system. With any decent upgrades over my current 6600GT still
costing near $200.00 new, I'm looking to cut this cost down to
$150.00, or more. What I found is that Newegg has some interesting
refurbished deals. Haven't seen any 6800GT, or 6800GS for the price
I'm looking at, but I have found refurbished vanilla 6800 cards for
less. I also have found refurbished ATI X800GTO OC editions for around
the same price as the refurbished 6800.. Which one of these would be
better considering my limited budget? However by the time I make the
videocard purchase, maybe I can get a 6800GT, 6800GS, or X800 GTO2
refurbish for $150.00, or less.
Also, has anyone any opinion about Newegg's refurbished
videocards? They claim that most are cards that where just open box
returns found to be in working order. I figure it still would be safer
than buying second hand from eBay.
Click to expand...

I have a 6800nu eVGA that has all 16 pipes unlocked, like it a lot.
Have not tried neweggs refurbished stuff, but yes they are probably
cards that people try ond overclock like crazy and they didn't do so
well. I would guess they are safer than ebay, but if you are careful
about what the seller feedback is then you should be fine. That is where
I bought the 6800 from last year, shipped with all original things that
came with card. But then again I have bought several things from ebay
that were just broken. Now I always ask does it work. Simple question,
simple answer. Let us know what you decide and if you go the newegg
route. I bet you can find a good deal, but you have to jump on it fast.
And they sometimes have the same item with different prices, or outdated
prices. Good luck.
 
A

Andy

Also, has anyone any opinion about Newegg's refurbished
videocards? They claim that most are cards that where just open box
returns found to be in working order. I figure it still would be safer
than buying second hand from eBay.
Click to expand...

I just returned for refund a refurbished Sapphire 9250 AGP card.
Although it worked okay just running Windows, it caused problems when
I ran applications, in particular, a TV tuner. I tried it with three
different motherboards, fresh Windows installation each time. When I
replaced the card with an older Sapphire 7000 AGP, no problem.
Refurbished means nothing other than other people had their hands on
the product.

I'm swearing off buying refurbished items. I have a refurbished Fuji
digital camera. It works most of the time, but occasionally when I
press the shutter release button, it doesn't take the picture. Most
times there's probably a good reason why people return things.
 
K

Ken Maltby

Andy said:
I just returned for refund a refurbished Sapphire 9250 AGP card.
Although it worked okay just running Windows, it caused problems when
I ran applications, in particular, a TV tuner. I tried it with three
different motherboards, fresh Windows installation each time. When I
replaced the card with an older Sapphire 7000 AGP, no problem.
Refurbished means nothing other than other people had their hands on
the product.

I'm swearing off buying refurbished items. I have a refurbished Fuji
digital camera. It works most of the time, but occasionally when I
press the shutter release button, it doesn't take the picture. Most
times there's probably a good reason why people return things.
Click to expand...

There is also "Factory Refurbished", where the manufacturer or one
of their contracted support facilities test and "Rebuild" an item. This
can be a real benefit.

Sometimes, there may be a low instance of failure part, discovered
after the initial production run, that a better replacement part will be
used to fix any that return with the related complaint.

Sometimes feature availability/performance can the issue that
causes a number of returns, and there may be a fix that can be
applied to the hardware discovered after the start of production.

Generally the "Factory" refurbishing process is: a minimal testing
to find if the item is repairable, and to quickly isolate the major
component(s) that can be replaced with current production parts,
solving the problem. Then if firmware is involved that would be
updated to the current version. Then another quick automated
test, before it is repackaged and made available to resellers.

You might even get lucky and find that they replaced a part
with something that has additional capabilities. Most parts
manufacturers, make upgraded versions of their ICs "Pin
Compatible", if they can, to make them more appealing to
the OEMs. So a small change in a driver or firmware could
add a whole new feature.

Luck;
Ken
 
B

Benjamin Gawert

Andy said:
I'm swearing off buying refurbished items. I have a refurbished Fuji
digital camera. It works most of the time, but occasionally when I
press the shutter release button, it doesn't take the picture. Most
times there's probably a good reason why people return things.
Click to expand...

The problem is that there is a lot of nonsense done with the term
"refurbished". Dealers usually call everything "refurbished" which has
been used but doesn't show any obvious signs of wear (i.e. scratches
etc). These items can be returns that people didn't like, but they also
can be returns because something is faulty. Since dealers usually don't
really test the items but just repack them and sell them as
"refurbished" you easily can get a lemon.

But there are real "refurbished" items such as factory refurbished
computers (i.e. HP RENEW). These items usually undergo intensive testing
at the factory, everything is carefully cleaned (even PCBs!), and every
part that shows wear has been replaced. The resulting product looks like
new, feels like new and smells like new but it had a former life and
thus costs only a fraction of the price of a "really new" unit.

I really doubt the videocards are really "refurbished". They probably
are just used units that if you're lucky had been tested of basic
functionality (if they have been tested at all)...

Benjamin
 
K

Kent_Diego

">...... What I found is that Newegg has some interesting
refurbished deals. .....
Click to expand...

I tried that once. The card had problems and had to return. Big waste of
time. It was returned for a reason. Likely someone tried to unlock or
overclock and failed or screwed up. Same with used on eBay. Don't waste the
next month doing this.

Newegg is the best but only get "Retail" and better yet "Made by ATI".
Insure the manufacture will support RMA for three years and does not have a
"Must register when bought" policy on RMAs.
Learn from my mistakes.
Kent
 
D

DCT

I'd be careful about 'refurbished cards', and Newegg.com in general. I just
purchased a new (non-refurbished) Sapphire x800 PRO from newegg and its
obviously defective.

Interestingly enough, a guy in the Sapphire user forum was complaining that
he previously had to RMA two of the same cards because of 'tearing' and
purple/green pixelations appearing as vertical lines on the display. Thats
exactly what was happening on my system!!!

So, either the Sapphire x800 PRO is a bad batch out of the factory, or
Newegg simply sent me that guy's card...disguised as a 'new' product.

DCT
 
F

farmuse

DCT said:
I'd be careful about 'refurbished cards', and Newegg.com in general. I just
purchased a new (non-refurbished) Sapphire x800 PRO from newegg and its
obviously defective.

Interestingly enough, a guy in the Sapphire user forum was complaining that
he previously had to RMA two of the same cards because of 'tearing' and
purple/green pixelations appearing as vertical lines on the display. Thats
exactly what was happening on my system!!!

So, either the Sapphire x800 PRO is a bad batch out of the factory, or
Newegg simply sent me that guy's card...disguised as a 'new' product.

DCT
Click to expand...
my sons works fine but it was BBA, the 9800 pro it replaced was
from Sapphire, no more Sapphire for me. The 9800 pro was defective, and
I do not hear good things about them much at all. Refurb is simply parts
returned and cannot be sold as new. Like others have said, some refurbs
really are refurb, but you really believe newegg has dedicated techs
soldering on these boards ? no way. If it boots they resell it.

my 1 cents worth
 
U

user22

farmuse said:
my sons works fine but it was BBA, the 9800 pro it replaced was
from Sapphire, no more Sapphire for me. The 9800 pro was defective, and
I do not hear good things about them much at all. Refurb is simply parts
returned and cannot be sold as new. Like others have said, some refurbs
really are refurb, but you really believe newegg has dedicated techs
soldering on these boards ? no way. If it boots they resell it.

my 1 cents worth
Click to expand...
Well, this is their policy on refurbs

http://www.newegg.com/home/Clearance.asp?Type=Clearance

According to them, they dont test anything. They claim that items are
tested by the manufacturer. So, my returned x700 was sent back to
saphire for testing? I dont think so. They sell it cheap and dont care
if its broken. When you go to buy a refurb product there you have to
pass at least 2 large disclaimer screens before you can pay for it. They
basically tell that the item may be crap and they are not responsible.
 
J

John Doe

I doubt you can find a factory sealed piece of hardware from eBay
for less than what I can get it for at a legitimate online store.
There is also "Factory Refurbished", where the manufacturer or
one
of their contracted support facilities test and "Rebuild" an item.
This can be a real benefit.
Click to expand...

You bet! I bought a big beautiful ViewSonic PF 790 (19 inch
perfectly flat Trinitron) for about $175 total from Tech Depot, sold
for $500 new. It came via UPS in a dilapidated box that was more
round than square but the monitor was undamaged. It has
"refurbished" stamped on the back bottom side of the monitor. I got
lucky and I am still loving it.

I think it depends on what Newegg means by a "refurbished".

Personally, I don't like buying non factory sealed hardware.

Good luck.
 
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