Hey, Im sure im not the only one who notices the huge price difference between retail motherboards and OEM motherboards. Usually im all over OEM/open box items, after all its just an item thats been inspected by experts and tested to be completely satisfactory, and cheaper^^.
So, previous OEM items come naked, which is essentially what OEM means, but to what extent does this apply to a motherboard? It has to come in the original manufacturer case (because they cant just throw it in a box like a cd drive or hard drive and ship it) and it also needs static protection and come with some sort of safety packaging.. its a motherboard!
So, even if its oem, and it comes in the original box, does that still mean they ditch the manual?? What if the mobo comes with a wifi antenna thats not essentially "part of the motherboard"....? Driver cd? What about coming with a rear I/O panel shield that only fits that mobo??
SATA and IDE cables and that stuff im not worried about. ANybody ever buy OEM/open box mobos?