R9700 problem

Why is it that I always have to RMA to newegg in order to get something that works? happened with my last vid card too

I get this card on friday, it's the atlantis saphire non-pro, came in a plain white box. it did not come with the power cable though. Now the metal thing that screws on to the case, what do you call that anyhow, it was bent on the bottom, i'd say about 20 degrees, so right away i'm like uh-oh. I plug it in, turn the computer on and she don't post right, it takes like 5 seconds, and then one long beep. if i reset it, it boots and windows loads, however, it crashes and the screen is all jacked-up and only a reset gets me back. I did get it to make it through a 3dmark2k1 run and it scored 8851, wtf? also, I installed rage3d tweak and it says the card is clocked at 325/310 which is pro speed, but this card isn't supposed to be a pro. I'm guessing some dude flashed his bios and screwed it up and RMA'd it and i ended up with it.

So before I RMA it, I just have question, although i'm prettty sure I already know the answer. The power cable, I mean power is power right, but is that power cable required? I have it running off an extra floppy power connector, it's the same thing no?

Lastly, newegg will credit me $198 if I want instead, so am I better off with a 9600 pro instead of a 9700 non-pro?