Quote:I'm looking at getting a Raedeon 9200 for a second system that I'm going to build.

I don't think there is a lot of difference in the actual card. You might have to check what accessories/manuals come with it. The OEM might not come with any cables or adapters that might be included with the retail version. I don't know where you are planning on buying it but I know newegg will usually show an image of exactly what is included.

I know I have bought OEM CD drives that didn't come with the cable to the sound card or screws. Works great though.

Sometimes OEM cards ship with lower clock speeds, for the memory and core. However, if the speeds are the same, buying OEM will save you a fair amount of money.
 
In rare occasions, OEM models sometimes have different memory bit paths, eg. the ATI Xpert 2000 PRO oem came with a 64-bit data path instead of 128-bit, but I don't think that is the case with any Radeon today. Just stay away from the "SE" models of the Radeons. They are just bad investments, eg. Radeon 9200 SE and Radeon 9600 SE both have 64-bit memory paths. Terrible.

The warranty for OEM is only from where you bought it. thats the bigest drawback.

Well thanks everyone with your replys. It's going on a Gigabyte GA-7S748. I hope it keeps very thing inexpensive.

what is your price range?
 
and 64mb 8500 Radeon performs better then a 9200.

Quote:Sometimes OEM cards ship with lower clock speeds, for the memory and core. However, if the speeds are the same, buying OEM will save you a fair amount of money.

In rare occasions, OEM models sometimes have different memory bit paths, eg. the ATI Xpert 2000 PRO oem came with a 64-bit data path instead of 128-bit, but I don't think that is the case with any Radeon today.

OK, dumb question, but how do you find this out? Is there a utility that will tell you what the memory bit paths and clock speed is?

The retail ATI 9200 was on the higher end of what I wanted to spend on this system($100 USD or less). As it was, I ended up getting an MSI FX 5200 Videocard for it. It wasn't a bad price and it was from a vendor in San Antonio that I've dealt with for 7 years(January 1997). I'd spend more if it was my primary system. BTW, is a 256 MB Raedeon 9600 a good deal? At $145 locally from the vendor in question( http://www.askacs.com), it's less expensive than what I spent on this GF4 Ti4200 in Oct. 2002.
 

Quote:what is your price range? 
and 64mb 8500 Radeon performs better then a 9200.

Powerstrip can you tell what the speed of your card's memory and engine are, it might be able to tell you the data rate as well. Browse the net and you should find something, but I think Powerstrip will do the trick.
 
The Radeon 8500 is better than all the 9000 series up to 9200, the 8500 has been renamed to the 9100. The 9000, and 9200 are built off of the 8500 core, however, the 9000 has a lower clock speed, and the 9200 is a 9000 with AGP 8x.