A dilemma?

[darthnVader]

So I picked up a PC ATI branded Radeon 9200 PCI for $19.99. Seller said it was new and posted pictures of the box, it looked like the box wasn't sealed, so I figured someone had bought it by mistake and opened it, only to find they couldn't use it.

Package arrived yesterday only for me time find it's still sealed with the factory selifan wrapping,

Thus the dilemma, do I open it so I can flash it to Mac and play with it, or do I keep it sealed until they become  rare and somewhat valuable for resale?

Looking at the prices people are getting for used Voodoo cards, and knowing how these things go, when the cost of shipping becomes more than the price people can sell old hardware for, most people just throw things away, rather than making only a few dollars for the time and expense of selling and shipping them.

Then, they get rare, because so many people just toss them out, and some people start to get nostalgic for the good old days, and you can find people willing to pay a lot more for old hardware. 

I don't think a Radeon 9200 PCI will ever have the appeal a Voodoo card does, but the value will go up in a few years, and maybe I can get $75 or $100 for one new in a sealed box.

So, what do you think, open it and play with it, or buy another cheap used one to play with, and save this one to try and turn a small but tidy profit?

[MacTron]

I don't think that a 9200 deserves so much attention. A few year ago I find a PC Radeon 8500 in a unopen box, flashed it to Mac without any contemplation. 
A very different thing was a MDD in an unopened box!  found by a forum member a few years ago... I don't remember who was ...

[reader50]

For only $20? A real (used) Mac Edition just sold on eBay for $40. That investment idea is sounding good.

[darthnVader]

I think I'll just hold off opening it, unless I run into something I need to open it for.

Once I open it, I can't change my mind, tho if I don't, I can open it anytime I want to.

It's a cool piece of art to me as it is, sitting there on my Ether rig stuffed with Radeons.

[IIO]

for voodoo dont forget that they stopped supporting anything later than OSX 10.2

[darthnVader]

I opened the card, you knew it would get the better of me

Anyway, if your going to flash one of these( VGA and S-Vid Only ) L-Shaped card with 128MB VRam, don't forget to move R229 to R230, somewhere on the back of the card.

If you remove the resister from R229, but it's too small to solder for you( like me ) Just use a graphite pencil and make 3 or 4 hard passes between the contacts for R230.