12-19-2001, 02:44 PM
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#1 |
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Lieutenant
 
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 323
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OEM vs. Retail Box
Hi,
I am looking to buy a Creative Labs Live 5.1 Card. I looked on pricewatch and found some good prices but they were all OEM. Other than the box it comes in, what are the difference btw OEM and Retail? Any performance differences? Thanks, NFarzan |
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12-19-2001, 03:47 PM
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#2 |
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Lieutenant Junior Grade
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 165
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Usually, bundled software is different. In this case, they probably just included the driver on a CD for the OEM version. Also, other small things like CD audio cables probably might not be included.
Essentially, they include just enough for someone to install into a machine to get it working. No value-added extras like games (demos) or other third-party software. |
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12-19-2001, 04:31 PM
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#3 |
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Ruler-Of-All-Things-Beer
  
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Pasadena, CA
Posts: 10,249
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OEM is usually fine. The retail versions usually have extra crap you don't need. Look up what you want on a retail site and see if there's any extras you absolutely want in the retail version. Cables and stuff are usually cheap, so I wouldn't worry about that.
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respect beer. |
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12-25-2001, 12:36 AM
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#4 |
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Lieutenant Commander
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Salem, OR
Posts: 541
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that and OEM usually has jack for a warrenty. something like 30 days for OEM vs. a couple of years for retail box. that's the main difference in my opinion, plus software (which for a sound card can actually sometimes be nice to have)
But for sure with OEM you get all the basic hardware and the drivers.
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