9800 xt discontinued ?

[gulo]

Hi
I work at Compusa and I was looking at our computer today, trying to figure out when will we finally get those damn x800s.
What I found out is that 9800 XT is gettting discountinued and it dropped from $499 to $449. But we are getting a new card - 9800 PRO 256 MB RAM for $299.
I guess they are trying to get rid of 9800xt to they can sell x800 instead. We will have 9800 Pro 256MB for 299, x800 pro for 399 and x800 XT for 499.
We also show Xtasy brand X800 Pro as a new product, but it's the same price/cost as the ATI card, so nothing exciting there

 

[Asus]

I wonder when they will finally ship them to the store. hehe
Then I can buy me one and put a replacement warranty on it.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

and ya know what? the 9800XT cards aren't that old either... :|
i dunno.. i guess im getting sort of annoyed at how fast video cards become almost obsolete.. its probably the suckiest market of computer products for a user in terms of purchases..

u buy a card.. and 5-6 months later its already being discontinued.. :angry:

 

[RTFMish]

I live about 5 miles from the CompUSA you work at ;/

 

[gulo]

how do you know which Compusa I work at ?
and yeah people - stop buying video cards online, just buy the most expensive one at Compusa with the replacement plan and then keep exchanging them every year

 

[ewilson248]

you know sometimes i think that the graphics companys do that crap on purpose.. they sell you something thats fast but not TOO fast so you need a new one in 6-12 months. you cant tell me that both ATI and Nvidia dont have the technology to make a $500 DX9 card that 4-6 times faster w more features than the 9800XT, they would rather just string you along every year. like a junkie.. i would LOVE to see some upstart company come and clean the floor with both of them.

 

[bosox188]

How much are your 128mb 9800 pros? What about 9600xts?

 

[RTFMish]

how do you know which Compusa I work at ?
and yeah people - stop buying video cards online, just buy the most expensive one at Compusa with the replacement plan and then keep exchanging them every year

Dallas doesn't have alot of CompUSA's.

 

[gulo]

9800 Pro 128 is $250 right now
9600 XT is $199

rtfmish: well there are quite a few in dallas are. I don't really work in Dallas store, I work at the one in Frisco

 

[RTFMish]

I live in Frisco, LOL!

I didn't think Dallas was far from Frisco but its actually about half an hour away from where I live.

 

[psyno]

I wonder when they will finally ship them to the store. hehe
Then I can buy me one and put a replacement warranty on it.

Well, if you mean the X800 Pro and not the XT, it may be there depending on where you live. Yesterday I was at the CompUSA in Totem Lake (Kirkland, Washington) and they had two. I can't justify dropping that much money on one though...

ewilson248, I really don't think that's the case, not in a practical sense anyway. How would you explain NV30 using that logic? Why would nVidia market a chip as it's latest, greatest, fastest consumer graphics product when it couldn't even beat the ATi's long-established leading chip if they were easily capable of releasing something 4-6 times faster? Why can't nVidia get NV40-based solution on the shelves? What about XGI? There's your startup...

Anyway, :cheers:

 

[mutt]

if you dont buy the latest cards and get the one thats just been replaced and reduced you can save money and i doubt u notice a whole lot of difference in game.

 

[gulo]

well that's exactly what I am doing - I have geforce 4 and I skipped the whole 9200-9800 / 5200-5900 series, and I will get X800

But now with the replacement plan I can easily upgrade once or even twice a year if something cool and new comes out.

rtfmish: well then you live close to our glorious store hehe
At least we got nice pre-order boxes

 

[ewilson248]

can someone give us ALL the details on this tradein/replacement deal , if it does what you say it does, it is a big deal for us here who live on the bleeding edge of graphics, which is to say ALL of us..

 

[gulo]

well it IS a big deal...it's just that we can't officialy really say how it works. Also if you encounter some bitchy person at customer service it might not work..
But here is the idea - if you buy the replacement plan, and your video card fails, we will replace it. Now, usually we dont have that card anymore so what they will do is giving you store credit for what you paid. So if I bought 9800XT last year for $499, now I can bring it in and get a store credit for $499 and just get X800 XT instead. I will also purchase another replacement plan on the new card so I am covered again.
Now the key point is how will you know your card will break ? Well, compusa doesnt really have a way to test it so they will just take your word for it
But like I said, in extreme case they might give you hard time, but if you know someone there or you are employee you just keep exchanging stuff all the time.
BTW store **LOVES** to sell replacement plans. We, the sales people are pressured extremly hard to sell them, and the managers are getting their bonuses based on how many they sell. The store makes a lot of money on them because most people will never use them...

 

[blahblahblah]

how much is it for a replacement plan? And can I use on things like CPU's, Motherboards, etc?

 

[Asus]

"Oh, my fan broke.
That X800XT looks like my replacement since I paid 500$ for my last card. Thx and have a nice day."

how much is it for a replacement plan? And can I use on things like CPU's, Motherboards, etc?

Most things you can. I don't think you can use them on CPUs but possibly motherboards. Those cost too much in the store anyway. We have a glass case and the things in there can't use these replacement plans. Some stores don't have that glass case. Ask to be sure what you can put it on. I put it on my logitech wireless duo keyboard/mouse and joystick. etc

The customer service ppl at my store say basicly it's a no questions asked replacement when basicly anything goes wrong with the product including accidental damage. Even if it still works but doesn't function like it did out of the box. Only thing I know it doesn't cover is visable water damage.

1yr.
0-49$ - 4.99$
50-99$ -11.99$
100-199$ - 17.99$
200-349$ - 27.99$
350-500$ - 39.99$

2yr.
0-49$ - 7.49$
50-99$ - 17.99$
100-199$ - 24.99$
200-349$ - 44.99$
350-500$ - 64.99$

The only down side is if you forget to use it or they still have that 9800pro you bought 1 year ago. lol
2yr is a safe bet obviously. But even if you could put it on CPUs it wouldn't work on those because if you bought an Athlon XP 2000+ back in the day, we still sell those and that's what you would get.
You could wait til we were just out of stock though. That would work. No choice but to give you the next best...2200+. lol

For instance my friend bought a CDRW back in the day with a replacement plan and returned it to get a DVD+/-RW drive for the same price.

BTW you can pay the difference if you want a higher costing product when you exchange the product.

 

[gulo]

yeah, like I said - if person at customer service wanna give you hard time they will just try to replace it for same thing which is useless to you.
but generally you can get store credit which means you will buy something better
i just upgraded my 160 GB HD that I bought in nov last year for new 250 GB for just few bucks

 

[Dr. Freeman]

You could wait til we were just out of stock though. That would work. No choice but to give you the next best...2200+. lol

For instance my friend bought a CDRW back in the day with a replacement plan and returned it to get a DVD+/-RW drive for the same price.

BTW you can pay the difference if you want a higher costing product when you exchange the product.

damn.. there are no CompUSA's here in Toronto :|
wish they would come here..

Asus, do ur Canadian pals a favour and talk to management for a push to Canada.. specifically, Toronto (Canada's largest city population wise) :dork: