new vs. refurbished

masque · August 9th, 2005

last topic on this was 1 year old

Basically i'd like to upgrade my video card, but I'm notoriously cheap (or frugal, take your pick). I was poking around the ATI website, and found their refurbished section. (http://shop.ati.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=39). Are there any big drawbacks to refurbished parts, especially when they were fixed by the original manufacturer?

Noxious Ninja · August 9th, 2005

As long as they offer a full warranty, there are usually no drawbacks. For something like a monitor, it may be a bit scratched, but a video card should be fine.

Squigi63 · August 9th, 2005

if it's a good deal than do it. refurbished is a nice way of saying used. No electronics can be sold as new after the boxs have been open. Theres a good chance someone could have just bought it tried to install but didn't have the right requirements and sent it back. it might have been used at all but you get it cheap. I don't like to think of it as it was broken at one point because I don't like buying something that was borked at one point. Last thing, I heard stay away from refurbished harddrives. If the were once broken then someone had to open it to fix it.

KillerShots · August 9th, 2005

Nah, no problem with refurb as long as you got warranty (even a short one). I saved $800 on my laptop because it was refurbished, and bought a 3 year accidental warranty. After a year, I still haven't used the warranty. Refurb isn't always a bad idea, particularly if you never see it if it's scratched.

D.D. · August 9th, 2005

open box also is great ^_^. i bought a MS wireless adapter for my xbox yesterday for $64 CAD when the original is $149 CAD >_>. It works perfect (low, low pings...3ms even though my wireless-g router hasnt arrived and im still on wirelessb>_>) but the price was cut to less than half just because it was open-box/refurb because someone bought it and returned it.

RF · August 10th, 2005

I hella ordered a refurb X800XT PE 256mb AGP card from ati's site today. With a 3 year warrenty, and with that price its a pretty nice deal even if they are in back order. For just over 300 cad, you cant go wrong. The local computer store which has the best prices in the city has 800XL's for $420 CAD, and any 6800GT is either $460 and over up to $550+.

Alias · August 10th, 2005

i think buying single parts refurb is okay, but some things refurb are just more of a headache then they're worth.

Despite what KillerShots said, I would avoid getting a laptop refurbed. There are just so many points of failure in a complete and enclosed system like that it's very likely that something will go wrong. Killershots, I feel, was lucky.

Still, if you don't mind hassling with warranty, it's a great way to save money.

August 9th, 2005	#1 (permalink)
masque Registered User Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Dixon CA Posts: 377	new vs. refurbished last topic on this was 1 year old Basically i'd like to upgrade my video card, but I'm notoriously cheap (or frugal, take your pick). I was poking around the ATI website, and found their refurbished section. (http://shop.ati.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=39). Are there any big drawbacks to refurbished parts, especially when they were fixed by the original manufacturer? __________________ Current Specs: NForce2 Chipset, Athlon XP 3000+, 1GB DDR400 RAM, 60GB Western Digital 8MB 7200RPM, Some cheap 80GB drive 7200RPM, Radeon 9600 128MB, WinXP Professional SP2

August 9th, 2005	#2 (permalink)
Noxious Ninja Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: teh intarweb Posts: 1,718	As long as they offer a full warranty, there are usually no drawbacks. For something like a monitor, it may be a bit scratched, but a video card should be fine. __________________ 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0

August 9th, 2005	#4 (permalink)
KillerShots War Games coder Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Florida Posts: 1,918	Nah, no problem with refurb as long as you got warranty (even a short one). I saved $800 on my laptop because it was refurbished, and bought a 3 year accidental warranty. After a year, I still haven't used the warranty. Refurb isn't always a bad idea, particularly if you never see it if it's scratched. __________________ Primary CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Mobo: Biostar N4SLI-A9 RAM: 2G Crucial (DDR400) Video: eVGA GeForce 7900 GTX (512M) Audio: HDA X-Mystique HD(s): Maxtor 300G SATA2, Samsung 400G SATA2 OS(s): WinXP x64 Pro, Vista x32 Ultimate, Gentoo x64 Monitor(s): Primary - 19" Flat Panel (1280x1024) Secondary - 19" Flat Panel (1280x1024) Tertiary - Zenith 42" Plasma TV (1024x768 res) Many other machines... sig too short

August 9th, 2005	#5 (permalink)
D.D. band Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: HERE Posts: 4,574	open box also is great ^_^. i bought a MS wireless adapter for my xbox yesterday for $64 CAD when the original is $149 CAD >_>. It works perfect (low, low pings...3ms even though my wireless-g router hasnt arrived and im still on wirelessb>_>) but the price was cut to less than half just because it was open-box/refurb because someone bought it and returned it. __________________ 1. Small, Cheap, Powerful - you can have only two 2. Everytime you engineer something foolproof, the world comes up with a better idiot. 3. 「学問とは虚栄である。」 The PS3 Cell Processor Explained Page, IBM Research's Introduction to Cell Multiprocessor and Cell Processor Programming Guide

August 10th, 2005	#6 (permalink)
RF Canadian Spaceman Join Date: May 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 8,594	I hella ordered a refurb X800XT PE 256mb AGP card from ati's site today. With a 3 year warrenty, and with that price its a pretty nice deal even if they are in back order. For just over 300 cad, you cant go wrong. The local computer store which has the best prices in the city has 800XL's for $420 CAD, and any 6800GT is either $460 and over up to $550+. __________________

August 9th, 2005	#3 (permalink)
Squigi63 Service Clerk Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: EL Posts: 356	if it's a good deal than do it. refurbished is a nice way of saying used. No electronics can be sold as new after the boxs have been open. Theres a good chance someone could have just bought it tried to install but didn't have the right requirements and sent it back. it might have been used at all but you get it cheap. I don't like to think of it as it was broken at one point because I don't like buying something that was borked at one point. Last thing, I heard stay away from refurbished harddrives. If the were once broken then someone had to open it to fix it.

August 10th, 2005	#7 (permalink)
Alias >_< Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: East Coast, USA Posts: 924	i think buying single parts refurb is okay, but some things refurb are just more of a headache then they're worth. Despite what KillerShots said, I would avoid getting a laptop refurbed. There are just so many points of failure in a complete and enclosed system like that it's very likely that something will go wrong. Killershots, I feel, was lucky. Still, if you don't mind hassling with warranty, it's a great way to save money. __________________ >_<

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode