Thoughts on Refurbished Video Cards

[Saxito Pau]

Recently I came across Crucial.com selling refurbished video cards. They only sell ATI cards though.

Some mad prices too.

Radeon X1900 GT 256MB PCI Express (512/1314) for US$90.00!! (Can't say if it's Crossfire capable or not at this time.)
Radeon X1600 Pro 512MB AGP (500/800) for US$70.00!!

http://www.crucial.com/store/refurb.aspx

Only 30 days warranty on said cards.

Anyone thinks it be worth the purchase/risk?

[Arcmanov]

Ha.  The former users probably OC the bejeezus outta them cards.
I think thats a 'purchase at your own risk' affair.

[Spazosaurus]

Either they oC the bejeezus, or the cards could not oc at all, which is considered a defect by some. I echo Arc's sentiments, but if its a really good deal, its prolly worth a try.

[SPK]

I'd say try it, maybe it would work good still.

[W1nTry]

There are other manufacturer 'defects' that can lead a customer to return the package, such as a Failed cooling fan (I had this happen to my first X800XT) it could also be due to hardware incompatibilities (this one is rare but sometimes certain mobos DO NOT react well to certain vid cards), it could also be that the packaging was damaged in delivery and the person was displeased and returned it. In the US ppl buy dresses, wear it, damage it and return it a day after citing it was damaged. Ppl up there are wasteful like that so just because its' a 'refurbished' doesn't necessarily mean its a bad deal.

[disciple]

^^  yup

law prevents them from listin the item as anything but refurbished


u could send it back unopened, and they hadda say it refurbished

[Prowl]

99% of "refurbished" stuff are just open boxed returns, old stock oem etc, once you get a decent return time go for it!

[daniboy79]

99% of "refurbished" stuff are just open boxed returns, old stock oem etc, once you get a decent return time go for it!

if you think about the typical production routine, in 20 items produced, 2 get pulled randomly for testing, and that is where it is determined that the odds are that all the others are fine (new stuff right) ...refurbished stuff gets a 1 on 1 'once-over' to make sure it's 'within factory spec.' i've had pretty good experiences with refurbished stuff.

i'd say that if the warranty is good, thten it's gonna be more economical to go refurb.