I was browsing NewEgg and noticed this:

XFX Geforce 7950GX2 PVT71UZDL9 Video Card - Retail at Newegg.com

It's an XFX 7950GX2 card that runs at 500 core / 600 memory (1200 DDR). The price for this card is $539.

They also offer this card:

XFX Geforce 7950GX2 PVT71UZDF9 Xtreme Video Card - Retail at Newegg.com

It's the same card but runs at 520 core / 650 memory. The cost for this slightly overclocked card is $575.99.

Now, I'm no genius but doesn't that sound like a bit of a scam? A $35 dollar premium for a slight OC? Hell, I have the same card that has been running stable with stock cooling at 600 / 790 for quite a while now.

Here is a question for you math guru's, based upon the difference that XFX charges for their slight overclock, how much would XFX charge for the OC I have?

There is no other reason for this thread except to prove the point that you don't have to always buy the highest end hardware, you can sometimes make your hardware high end on your own at a greatly reduced cost.

As long as folks will pay it, why not charge it? If I could find a market for it, I'd sell my belly button lint for 20 dollars, and the really fuzzy one with extra hair for 30.

My point is this: god bless the folks that pay that premium. They're the profit margin and keep the "low end" stuff cheaper.

It's likely because a hardware volt mod was done. The OC on the OC'd one is likely to able to be OC'd furthur.....OC OC OC

.err, y1=.57x+539 for core

y2= 1.4x+539 for Mem (If I did it right, if not, it would be y = .7x+539.

Explination: x= # after orignal Overclock (works both ways) and y = Price.

So, If you did a 50 Mhz overclock on your core, It would be .57 (50)+539

(to get x just take the difference between the orignal and the new)

539 is the orignal price, .57 and 1.4 are the divisions between 20/35 and 50/35 respectivly


EDIT- Give me a second, I dont think my math is right.

ADD- Now I got it right.

For the first card (orignal price)

y1=1.8x+

y2=.9x+

Note: if x=0, that is the orignal price, ie it is the orignal clock speed.

Card 2

y1= 1.1x

y2= .88x

Well isnt that intresting, Even the the one with the higher speed is more expensive, the price per clock cycle is less expensive.

So now to answer your question:

with a 600 Core speed, you would get paid $180 and with a 790 mem speed you would get $171. Which would total $351 but include the price of the card ($539) and the final total comes with $890

I'm sorry nerdz, I didn't see a final answer.

Quote: Originally Posted by Nerdz err, y1=.57x+539 for core y2= 1.4x+539 for Mem (If I did it right, if not, it would be y = .7x+539. Explination: x= # after orignal Overclock (works both ways) and y = Price. So, If you did a 50 Mhz overclock on your core, It would be .57 (50)+539 (to get x just take the difference between the orignal and the new) 539 is the orignal price, .57 and 1.4 are the divisions between 20/35 and 50/35 respectivly. EDIT- Give me a second, I dont think my math is right.

Now compensate for the ever decreasing market price based upon the bi monthly releases of newer better cheaper cards.

Its where BFG owns the market, they sell the OCed cards with nifty names like, superclocked and then they rake in that extra 50 bucks of cheap profit, its where OCing really pays, thats one person flashing a bios for les than a hour you could flash what like 400 or so, its a good few hundred doallars an hour of profit.

On the other hand its a beautiful thing people do pay that money, we have less competitors, they buy pre worked stuff you do it yourself and get better clocks, you win they loose both ways.

But thats also where the different clocks and cores come to play, with the GPUs that are backclocked and locked to sell for less, but can do the same ie: GTO2

They pay no problem on my part, i just wont

with horrible math skills i came out with $891 for your card

Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita I'm sorry nerdz, I didn't see a final answer.

Did it now, Bottom line of my post

Quote: Originally Posted by me_john85 with horrible math skills i came out with $891 for your card

.

I come out with $890. I calculated how much each Mhz would cost, and then used the formula mx+b.

EDIT- My math was wrong, now corrected. Simple mistakes.:doh: The other answer (which was wrong) was 816..

$816 which is almost a $300 dollar premium over what the stock card costs. Apply that same line of thinking with CPU's. If I can buy an E6600 running at 2.4GHz for $315 dollars, and a Core Duo Extreme running at 2.94GHz for $949.50, yet run my E6600 at 3.7GHz, what is my CPU worth?

EDIT: You were on the mark, John.

Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita There is no other reason for this thread except to prove the point that you don't have to always buy the highest end hardware, you can sometimes make your hardware high end on your own at a greatly reduced cost.

I totally agree. That is one aspect of overclocking that was very important in the early days - getting high performance without paying top dollar. That was the reasoning that lead me to buying the last 2 video cards that I bought, the Ti-4200 and the GF6800. Both had the ability to overclock to levels that brought them to the performance of the top of the line cards for a lot less.

My Ti-4200 used to run at almost the same core speed as the 4600. My 6800 is running with core speeds that are way faster than the 6800 ultra reached. I wish it had faster memory but I can't really complain about a >200MHz overclock on the memory

In both cases I saved about $100 by getting a lower level card that could perform like it's higher end brothers with the kind assitance of the coolbits registry fix. I just love this $hit!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita $816 which is almost a $300 dollar premium over what the stock card costs. Apply that same line of thinking with CPU's. If I can buy an E6600 running at 2.4GHz for $315 dollars, and a Core Duo Extreme running at 2.94GHz for $949.50, yet run my E6600 at 3.7GHz, what is my CPU worth? EDIT: You were on the mark, John.

$354.37 from $315.

Dont quote me on these numbers, there is another way in which I get a different number.

Using a different method, I get $485.625. But I want to see what other people get..If I use the same method as the GPUs I get a very Larger number (Its something x ^15th Power!!!)

ADD- Either way, you still come out cheaper than a core 2 duo.

"Speed Binning" is all they are doing, and then flashing the Bios with the new settings and charging you a premium for the convienence.

That is exactly the same thing they do with Ram and CPU's as you well know.

For people who want to go fast without the fuss, that is the only way to go...for hardcore overclockers, it pretty much ensures you won't get a dud, and often means you stand a good chance of getting the cream of the crop with some headroom left....but often there is not much room left if they squeezed them hard to begin with.

Now "Budget" overclockers would NEVER pay for this service, since most parts will top out at the same level wether you paid the premium or not...you are "Gambling" that you will get a good core though.
My luck so far has been to get one that is in the middle..I have yet to get one that end up at the top end of the range!
(Nor have I ever gotten a dud..so I'll call it good!)

Your example of the 6600 is a prime example..it is known that quite a few of the 4MB cache Conroes have reached 3.6-4GHZ range with good air cooling, you can go the route you did and get 6600 and save a bunch of coin, or spend the long dollar get the 6800EE and increase your chances of reaching that level.

Hopefully, it will be towards the top end of the range ...but it is still not a garauntee, your buddies 6600 may well out do the 6800EE you broke the bank to get, but the safe bet would be on the 6800EE to reach the higher end of the spectrum...and if you don't OC, then you are paying for performance out of the box.

It gets realy disporportianate at the top end of the chain...It's certainly hard to justify that 600-700$ premium for another 500MHZ stock, and maybe another 200-300MHZ when fully Overclocked since both will end up in the same range since all CPU's come from the same wafers to start with.

Exactly my point here. However, instead of just stating a fact, I am looking for some of our more mathmatically inclined members to actually figure out the dollar value. This would be right up Alpha's type of thinking.

OOPS!

One of Digi's kids knocked on the door saying he needed the mouse and keyboard from his Mac back and brought me the one from my phase rig..so I only read half your post before replying and missed the math part due to the interuption...I thought I had read the whole thing

I don't think we need Alpha to figure this out...it looks like a basic Algebra problem to me

2400MHZ for 315$=$1.31 per MHZ
2940MHZ for 950$=$3.15 per MHZ

So a 3700MHZ CPU would cost $3515 based on the same rate per MHZ of the EE 6800

Using the cost per MHZ of your 6600, it would only be $484

Wich realy shows you how much you get screwed when buying the premium hardware...
(To the tune of $3031 in this scenario)

EDIT: OOPS #2 That would be using the rates Intel charges..be back in a few to recalculate the XFX pricing rates...man I am just not with it today! (I blame it on being Friday the 13th!)


The OC'd video cards specs would be 770x924, I just need a few to calculate the final price..

That's a 270x324MHZ increase above stock using the 54% OC of your CPU:

So..
270MHZ x1.04=280$
324MHZ x1.08=349$
349+280/2=314$

They would charge a $314 premium for a vid card at those specs with the default clocks that is priced at $539...so final cost would be $853