computer components & hardware - is re-badging of PCI-E cards common?

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June 13th 20 03:32 AM

is re-badging of PCI-E cards common?

I was looking for 2.5GBASE-T ethernet cards, and there seem to be several
more available than a year ago.
But I noticed (on Chinese market sites) there are 3 with brand names I never
heard of, and the pictures of the cards look the same. So are there firms
that get a factory to make a generic product and then stick there own name
on it? Rather like supermarkets selling their home-brand soap and soda pop.

Paul[_28_]

June 13th 20 04:03 AM

is re-badging of PCI-E cards common?

wrote:
I was looking for 2.5GBASE-T ethernet cards, and there seem to be several
more available than a year ago.
But I noticed (on Chinese market sites) there are 3 with brand names I never
heard of, and the pictures of the cards look the same. So are there firms
that get a factory to make a generic product and then stick there own name
on it? Rather like supermarkets selling their home-brand soap and soda pop.

Absolutely.

Competitors stereo systems used to come off the
same factory production line.

PCI sound cards, I have two here by "competitors",
where the "Inspected By" sticker on the two cards
is *identical* and quite distinctive.

OEMing is alive and well.

In some cases, they change the VEN/DEV or VID/PID in an
attempt to disguise what is going on.

At a guess, this has been going on for fifty years,
and quite possibly back to a time close to the
end of the second world war.

If you buy a "really cheap" Seasonic, it may have been
manufactured by one of Seasonics competitors. Any time
a PSU maker needs to hit a particular price point,
this remains as an option, contracting it out.
As far as I know, all of Antecs products are via
contract manufacturing (Delta, CMI, ...)

This may have happened a time or two, for motherboards.
They need a $39.95 motherboard, and they can't meet
that price point themselves. PCChips used to make motherboards
with no markings whatsoever on them, with evil intent.
Think how easy it is to OEM a generic motherboard.
Think how much driver support the victim gets, when
there aren't enough markings to figure out who made it :-)

Paul

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