Refurbished GPU???

[JoeJ615]

hi all im kind of new into PC gaming and have my first halfway decent system ... AMD 64 3000+, 1 Gig DDR400 RAM, 120Gig HDD w/8MB Cache .. basically a budget gaming system ... the weak point of which is my Radeon 9600 Pro 256MB DDR AGP GPU which is decent it runs everything at medium to high settings but i want to see the eye candy for once lol so im loking to upgrade ... was looking at a 6800nu for $189 but a friend recently pointed me to a card i REALLY wanted but didnt think i could afford an ATI Radeon X800 Pro ... for $179!!!! the kicker is it's refurbished .. which i always heard was pretty risky BUT it's refurbished BY ATI ... and comes with the limited 3 year warranty still ... any input on this choice? the X800 Pro seems to fall solidly between the 6800 GT and the 6800 Ultra on the benchmarks i've seen ... so it seems to deffinately be th better card over the 6800nu .. or am i overlooking something here? and i would like to get some ideas about how you guys feel about refurbs and like i said keep in mind this is an ATI card refurbished BY ATI not a powercolor sapphire etc. etc. ... and also these cards im looking at are AGP if that makes a difference ... my mobo doesnt support PCIE

 

[hu_xu]

If the card is refurbed by ATI you can be assured that it is re-certified and quality tested. Although a lot of their refurbed products are results of RMAs, some are also due to their trade in program.

Also, you can actually flash a X800 Pro VIVO to a X800XT PE. So if the refurbed X800 Pro is actually a X800 Pro VIVO then you are essentially buying a X800XT PE at the price of a X800 Pro.

Here are the instructions on how to flash it to a X800XT PE and how to identify if is a X800 Pro VIVO:

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/100

Flashing it of course voids your warranty so be careful.

 

[JoeJ615]

well i read in some forums that flash can run a pretty high chance of destroying your card so im kinda scared to screw around with that, plus like i said im ALMOST but not quite happy with the performance of my 9600 Pro so im sure a stock X800 Pro will be VERY nice for my needs for quite some time to come ... but thanks for the reassurances on the whole buying a refurb thing ... my friend was pretty much telling me the same thing that if it's refurbished by the original manufacturer it is as good as new (but more than $100 cheaper) anyone else have anything to add? like i said im pretty new to being a PC geek and all lol so if im overlooking anything on buying this card over a 6800nu please feel free to speak up .. but both have 12 pixel pipelines and the 6800nu has 128MB DDR where as the X800 Pro has 256MB DDR3 ... but how much difference is there really between these 2 cards?

 

[dhw200]

The X800 Pro is a ripoff. It goes for the same price as the 6800 GT with 4 fewer pipelines. Just as beedubya. I would definitly go with the 6800 over the X800 PRo. Hell, id go witha 6600 GT over the x800 Pro

 

[JoeJ615]

so these benchmarks are innacurate? http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050705/vga-charts-pcie-02.html#3d_mark_2005
in all those the X800Pro hung with or exceeded the 6800GT and pretty much blew the 6800nu and the 6600GT out of the water .... and as far as the X800 Pro and the 6800GT being the same price if you know where i can get a reliable 6800GT for the same price as this X800 Pro im looking at ($179) please post a link .. but i've never seen a 6800GT for under $300

 

[dhw200]

u have to understand that all futuremark benchies are biased towards ATI, and Half Life 2 is ATI optimized. IF you are willing to spend more money, definitly go with the 6800 GT.

http://www.buyxg.com/store/item.asp?key=VC-129-114

Also, the X800 PRo lacks PSM 3.0 which is VITAL for playing newer games on higher settings with the graphical glory turned on. All of the Radeon X800/X850 series cards lack this component. The geforce 6600/6800 cards do not.

 

[beedubaya]

I am the only active poster here with an X800 Pro, and I have to say it is the worst card for the money of all time. I was a noob when i bought mine and paid $425 for it instead of a 6800GT because i was told how much better it was. It has been my most regretted purchase of all time. Sure, it wins in 3DMark05, but 3DMark isn't a fun game to me, and I don't think you would want to spend hours playing it either. There is a reason there has been such a price drop on the X800 Pro yet the 6800GT has stayed relatively expensive.

Here are two cards I recommend over the X800 Pro that won't break your wallet

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150089

The 6600 GT performs about equal to the X800 Pro in most games except HL2, which is ATI optimized. There are several instances where the 6600 GT lays waste to the X800 Pro.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130202

The regular 6800 runs circles around the X800 Pro, and its a steal for the price that it is.

Basically, to sum this up, the X800 Pro plain sucks. While its better than the 9800 Pro, it is far inferior to the other cards this generation. Please consider another card.

 

[JoeJ615]

yeah the 6800nu was what i was looking at to begin with as i said in my original post .. but the benchmarks and the fact that the X800 series had 256MBDDR3 where as the 6800nu has 128MBDDR made me think it was far inferior to the X800 .... but given these posts i guess i'll have to rethink that ... so with $220 being my absolute LIMIT of my budget (since my generic 420W 13amps on the 12+V rail PSU also needs to be replaced for this upgrade) what is the best bang for my money? the 6800nu?? i'm not a fanboi either way .. i've only owned ATI so far but have no problem trying out an nvidia card .. also as i was saying i have to replace the PSU for this upgrade so it's a bit of topic but could anyone please check out this PSU and let me know if you think it will be sufficient for one of the better GPU's? (keep in mind i only have 1 HDD and 1 optical drive also) the price just seems too low for a 500W PSU with 25amps on the 12+V rail so please someone lemme know http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817170002
and like i said im new to PC's so will this PSU be fine for a ATX mobo with a socket 754 AMD Athlon 64 3000+?

 

[PoisonPorkchop]

I bought my Rosewill 550 W PSU for 45 bucks, so that seems like a good price. As for if it is compatible, I have no idea.

 

[dhw200]

Memory doesnt mean anything in terms of performace Joe. Its clock speeds, and pipelines that matter.

I wouldnt get the Logiys or the Rosewill PSU. If you have an AGP setup, get a Thermaltake Silent Purepower 480 watt PSU. If your going for PCIE, get the OCZ Modstream 450 watt PSU