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Poll: Do you see value in graphics card bundles?
Author: Tim SmalleyPublished: 10th March 2008
Is warranty important to you? What about bundled games and cables/connectors?
Some add-in card partners think that bare bundles are the way forwards because maybe some users already have what they want and are just looking for more performance -- anything extra pushes up the price.
On the other hand, there are some partners advertising extended warranties---and even lifetime in some cases. Do you think there is value in having a longer warranty, or do you void the warranty as soon as your graphics card comes out of the box?
Finally, there are still a few partners that fill the box to the brim with extras sometimes making the card more expensive than its competitors. Does that matter to you and, more to the point, does a full-featured bundle really attract you to one product over another?
Let us know your thoughts by voting in our latest poll!
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Comments (72)Stats: 0.128 seconds
I won't avoid a card that comes with a game, but I won't go for the one with the game if it costs more.
Unless of course it was a game I was going to buy anyway - but that doesn't come along very often...
I'd take slightly more notice of a single great game than a few second-rate ones. The only bundle games I recall playing were ones I would have bought anyway: COD2 and HL2. Even then, the games weren't a deciding factor in picking a card, just a nice bonus when the card arrived.
if its got some kind of proprietary video in/out dongle thingy then that should be in the box but otherwise, just dont give a **** :)
I'm not to fussed about Stickers, T-Shirts and games.
You can never have too many cables or connectors
If there are any proprietary connectors, I'd expect those to be in the box, but I don't expect anything else.
If a manufacturer released a version of a card with the junk and without the junk, I'd plump for the "without junk" option every time.
Warranty does matter to me, haven't really changed any but HDDs, but as long as the price doesn't bump too much, I go for a warranty longer than 12 months.
EDIT: I would like to see OEM and retails versions really. One with just the video output cable/adapter and one with current bundle. Dunno how much this would lower the cost, though.
Same here, especially since I use Linux, drivers for which are NEVER on the CD, and the games probably won't run anyway. (I only just got Far Cry to work 3 months ago!)
The games included with cards, are almost always games which have been out for a while anyway, and which we'll likely already own - if it's our type of game.
OK... so many of the games included with cards are 'optimized', to help emphasise the card's capabilities.
But I'd imagine the 'standard' game played with the same card installed, can be made to look equally as good, simply by tweaking the graphics settings
RwD
Heck, I didn't need my DVI>Hdmi connector, but I just got an HDTV yesterday, and I had spent some time looking for that adapter.
Then they has the SC with Crysis bundle or the SSC without any bundle at the same price I rather took the faster version of the card
I'd like to have the option to choose between oem and retail (naming scheme stolen from hdd's) just like with harddisks, i mean there i get to choose if i need the waste with it or not, so why not with graphicscards?
After all, provided the card works flawlessly after 30 days, I'm bound to stick a water block on it and attack it with a soldering iron :D
As such, I would prefer just the card in a white box. I don't even want the crappy driver CD with 6 month old drivers. I will just buy the cheapest card available, regardless of what is bundled or warranty.
If your given a choice of game rather than have one title forced on you, its slightly better, but really I'd rather save a few quid and not have a bundled game.
It should have been "Yes - But I only want the required cables/connectors. I don't want a game bundle."
And all the talk of warranty, in the UK you have a standard 1 year warranty with the retailer anyway regardless, after that time the graphics card is worth about 25% of what you paid in the first place.
Games are pointless IMO, usually they're not all that great, but sometimes you get one you want, but that's more a happy coincidence.
Warranty is nice, but you get a year minimum in the UK anyway, and usually, if it's faulty, it will break within that one year.
TBH though, if it reduces the cost by say, £30 or more on a high end card, I'd be happy with just the card in a brown cardboard box (with sufficient protective packaging of course). One thing I think card makers waste a lot of money is on the boxes, I don't know many people who buy GFX cards off the shelf now, I don't know many people who are influenced by mascots and fancy packaging with lots of details about it's hyper realistic pixel ****.
This doesn't just apply to GFX cards though, my mobo came in an overly fancy box, as did my CPU, it's just not needed as most people aren't sold by packaging anymore when it comes to this stuff.
I was thinking the same. The only other thing in the box, other than the card itself, that I bother with is that 'new card smell'.
The main factors when buying a new graphics card for me are; low power consumption, good image quality and speed balanced against cost. I'm not loyal to any particular manufacturer and don't care for bundled games.
For me the factors, in order of importance, are:
1) Performance / Price
2) Cooler performance / Noise
2) Warranty & company reputation
...
...
4) Special features
5) Cables etc.
...
...
...
dead last) Games & box ornamentation. A keychain / sticker / ... would be as useful / useless.
QFT.
That being said, if I don't have a game that's offered in a bundle, and I'm interested in the game, and the cost of bare card + retail game is more than the cost of the bundle, I would go for the bundle instead.
From what I've seen, however, cards with bundles are priced the same (Give or take a few pounds) at retail as cards without, so the bundle does add value. The RRP may be different, but when it comes to the storefront, it's the listed price that makes a difference.
As for games, it really depends. Some cards come with Crysis which turns out to be cheaper then buying the game separetly. So in that case I would consider it. Then again, if you already own the game, there is no real point (except selling it on ebay).
And the longer the warranty, the better. 3 to 5 years being ideal as it would be enough to have a warranty until a next possible upgrade and then still be abale to sell the card with a warranty, which is something people here in Switzerland tend on like.
But then you go out and buy your graphics card, and its just a bare box (well, with the gfx card ofc)
On the other hand, sometimes they do bundle stuff with the card, but then they always succeed in messing it up
Eg. my 8800GTX came with GRAW - GRAW ffs, come on XFX, bundle a decent, up to date game in your box with this beast
So, i would like the whole shebang, but then as they always mess it up anyway, probably just cables and connectors
Having said that if its a stand out recent title that im going to be buying i will take that into account. eg Crysis, cod4 etc, or the ati valve black box bundle....
2. 90-days step-up program
throw away the rest, im happy.
Bundled games rarely come into my decision; unless there's no price difference or I wanted that game anyways.
In terms of bundled cables/adapters; the proprietary ones are a must. These days DVI-VGA adapters aren't really necessary since most people are using LCDs and they'll invariably have a DVI port. I find the molex to PCI-e power cables a waste; I feel that the user should have a PSU that natively supports the correct amount of PCI-e power connectors required by the card(s) , as a new card can over stress older power supplies (i.e. running a pair of 8800GTXs on a 550W PSU)
i would like the step-up program but evga doesnt offer it in nz and as far as i know, they are the only company that offer it (more should thou)
Just a antistatic plastic bag with card and cables that are absolutly needed/necessary. I dont even want a driver cd, because I download the latest driver anyway. This will save (hopefuly me) money for packaging, package design, cd, cd pressing, graphics. They can ship more cards in a box. And all this would probably make the card 100 dollar cheaper, takes less from the environment. Plus it saves me extra money because of the 'briliant idea' from my Dutch covernment to charge packaging 'environment' taxes from manufactures, who in turn will pass this along the the consumer.
factory overclocks piss me off, why charge more for something that is free!
However, I don't care for the game bundles. I've had three copies of the same game now, and I've run out of people to give these things to. In all honesty, warranty and a white box, possibly some connection converters (Although not essential) would be my preferred buy.
I'd buy a white box card if it had a minimum of 2 years warranty. If it came with only 1 year (legal minimum in UK), I'd have to pay extra for a retail box.
Hexus are reporting that Zotac have upped their 2-year "Return to dealer" warranty to a 5-year "Return to Zotac" one!
it gets annoying when the warranty is abroad, eg, evga in germany, ibm hdds in holland etc. Stuff like that needs to be made more obvious, or someone needs to compile a nice database of it...
if i recall correctly Corsair stuff has to be sent back to the usa (tho i could be wrong on that), makes their 5 year psu warranties pretty pointless imho... (mind you posting a psu to the uk is going to be extortionate unless you get one of those ebay/dhl deals)
Unfortunately, they're in Hong Kong.
the manufacturer may be paying extra for higher binned chips to put into the factory overclocked models. (at least i think that happens. maybe not)