B grade items

tundra · 29 Jan 2009 at 19:17

what do u get with B grade items?
im guessing they were used in display instore or returned items but what im worried about is if they have things missing (i.e missing power mains, cd's, sata cables etc) and if they come with warranty.
if there could be missing bits is it possible to call ocuk and ask what is missing on specific items?

jak731 · 29 Jan 2009 at 19:20

bgrades can have missing bits like sata cables backplates etc, warranty length will depend upon each individual item and 14 days with OCUK

Clum · 29 Jan 2009 at 19:33

i bought a b-grade motherboard and it came in it's box with everything included as per the manufacturers website. Has worked flawlessly. The only thing i can think of that made it bgrade was there being no cellophane on the box.

Guess it's the luck of the draw and all that though.

WJA96 · 29 Jan 2009 at 19:38

Expect a bare motherboard in a brown cardboard box and anything else you get will be a bonus. They are still generally decent buys though. Most motherboard manufacturers will supply spare I/O shields for a few pounds and they all honour the warranty directly.

Do be aware though that a some of it doesn't work out of the box and you either have to send it back or RMA it to the manufacturer.

Pred · 29 Jan 2009 at 19:55

I've always found it's not worth the hassle just to save a few quid.
Get the item brand new with full guarantee.

Redgie · 29 Jan 2009 at 19:56

I've always had good luck with B grade so far, my HDD, GFX and DVD-RW are all B Grade and all work perfectly.

In some sence, you know OC have tested it to make sure it works before selling it. But there is still always the chance it died in transit

Ben M · 29 Jan 2009 at 19:57

It varies from item to item. If you are interested in a particular item, I suggest that you give the shop a call.

jak731 · 29 Jan 2009 at 20:04

Pred said:
I've always found it's not worth the hassle just to save a few quid.
Get the item brand new with full guarantee.

few days ago, i saw some Abit IP35-Pro XE MBs in bgrade for £45, new ones are £95, thats £50 off and thats more then enough to cover the cost of any cables and backplates that might be missing. so personally i say at times it is worth the hassle if the savings are significant enough, although say that there are times when new is cheaper then b-grade

Keyser Soze · 29 Jan 2009 at 20:10

Pred said:
I've always found it's not worth the hassle just to save a few quid.
Get the item brand new with full guarantee.

This may be true if it is just a couple of quid, as said above though sometimes real bargains can be had.

I got my 9800gtx+ for £92 when they were £150 new. Was fully boxed complete aswell

Had a B-grade hard drive aswell (which is basically OEM) for about £20 less than retail.

JTrickle · 29 Jan 2009 at 21:22

My IX38 came with nothing yesterday, bar its 14 day warranty. That makes it a little better than buying off the auction site... and tbh, the price wouldnt have been better 2nd hand anyway.

There was still a little bit of heat paste round the cpu socket, and even on a capacitor where the previous owner wasnt careful. One of the sata socket surrounds was snapped. Doesnt really give me confidence that the last owner treated it right before rma'ing it.

Seems to be working ok so far, but havent done extensive testing yet.

tundra · 31 Jan 2009 at 00:37

JTrickle said:
My IX38 came with nothing yesterday, bar its 14 day warranty. That makes it a little better than buying off the auction site... and tbh, the price wouldnt have been better 2nd hand anyway.

There was still a little bit of heat paste round the cpu socket, and even on a capacitor where the previous owner wasnt careful. One of the sata socket surrounds was snapped. Doesnt really give me confidence that the last owner treated it right before rma'ing it.

Seems to be working ok so far, but havent done extensive testing yet.

i really hope that my motherboard comes with all the bits and bobs and that it ofcourse works fine. id love ocuk foreverandeverandever!

reflux · 31 Jan 2009 at 00:38

JTrickle said:
My IX38 came with nothing yesterday, bar its 14 day warranty. That makes it a little better than buying off the auction site... and tbh, the price wouldnt have been better 2nd hand anyway.

There was still a little bit of heat paste round the cpu socket, and even on a capacitor where the previous owner wasnt careful. One of the sata socket surrounds was snapped. Doesnt really give me confidence that the last owner treated it right before rma'ing it.

Seems to be working ok so far, but havent done extensive testing yet.

I also have a b-grade IX38; bought it in August, has been working perfectly since

Nothing came with mine either though.

Katoom · 31 Jan 2009 at 00:45

I bought a 'B' grade MSI board, Worked fine for a month then died on me. NOT O/C FAULT. Fair enough, just waiting for my replacement now.
Would definitely buy again.
Cheap as chips

semi-pro waster · 31 Jan 2009 at 02:34

jak731 said:
few days ago, i saw some Abit IP35-Pro XE MBs in bgrade for £45, new ones are £95, thats £50 off and thats more then enough to cover the cost of any cables and backplates that might be missing. so personally i say at times it is worth the hassle if the savings are significant enough, although say that there are times when new is cheaper then b-grade

Just bought one myself, it came as the bare board with nothing else, I haven't had a chance to test it out fully yet but at the moment I'm saving £50 and I've already got spare SATA and IDE cables as well as front and rear USB/firewire connectors that I can use.

littlepuppy · 31 Jan 2009 at 13:10

I bought a b grade dark power.

It was obvious it had been opened, but was still really tidy and to be honest brilliant. I wasnt expecting it to even come boxed, its now running like a rock and I saved 30 quid.!

As we say a t work a WIN WIN!