ATI Radeon 8500 (OEM vs. Retail)

[nittany]

Can someone please tell me what software is included in the retail version vs. the OEM version. Is there anything else I should be concerned about with the OEM version? Thanks for any info.

[resnullius]

generaly speaking you can see all differences between the oem and retail on their web site as for the software unless your taking 8500dv you wont see much difference, it's drivers and mmc...

[sommersby]

You will also find that allot of the oem versions being sold do not give the same performance of the retail version, we had the subject posted before on the forum, allot of shaddy sellers on ebay have sold these oem version as full fledged 8500dv when they have scaled back clocks that can be as much as 30% slower than retail, just a word of warning, if I remember there is something printed on the card that tells you this, if someone knows how to tell the difference now might be a good time to repost it....Gary

[nittany]

Thanks for the input thus far.

[resnullius]

Well on cards built by ati you'll see the built by ati logo which is good as ati bsically will only help you if you see that logo.

[nittany]

It appears that on the ATI web site, you can't download the additional software for the ATI 8500 (ATI MMC 7.2, Hydravision, and DVD Player). Is this correct? If the OEM product does not include it, does anyone know where I can get them?

[nittany]

Any takers on my last question?

[resnullius]

actually that's the sort of stuff you'll get with the card. the only prob might be the dvd player but you can get windvd or such and it works with ati cards.