Noob question: ECU chips, is there a big difference?

[FireFight]

hey gents, this has been the first car that has a plug and play ECU,
and needless to say i want to give it a try.

so my question is i see Chips for my 325e on ebay for $40 bucks, but i see them on E30 parts sites for $200+. they both say they do the same for the HP incresse, is there a big difference?

thanks gents

[bmwguy325is]

The difference between the $200 and the Ebay stuff is they are copies of the name brand $200 chips. So its kinda a mystery whos tune you have when you buy a Ebay chip. When I first got my Chip it was an Ebay one. It ran alright. I say if $200 is not outlandish for you invest in a Miller MAF and WAR chip combo. The WAR chip can be programed and custom tunes for your car. You have do get it tunes but miller provides base tunes to get you going.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Pay now, or pay later.

[dubdub]

No one really knows what is on the ebay chips and you have no recourse if there is a problem... that is why they are so cheap. In theory, one can copy and reflash a chip, but did the seller do it correctly? Is it the same mapped info?

Also, do you care about copyright materials? This just paying someone who stole something from a genuine vendor.

I will say, a 3.73lsd and chip made a huge difference in my es. Huge.