Vid Card Brands. Someone fill me in

[jay2tall]

I figured I'd call all cars on this question. I have always been a fan of Sapphire for ATI cards and XFX for Nvidia. I like eVGA as well and MSI recently because they seem to be on the ball with coolers. My question is, I see these other brands and have heard some good things coming from them. I am all for compention, I just want to be informed. I see the Palit brand has some followers but what about the rest on both the Nvidia and ATI side.

Nvidia:
ECS
Zotac
Leadtek (I've seen them around for years but know nothing about them)
Chaintech (I've seen them around for years but know nothing about them)
Zogis

ATI
Powercolor
Visiontek
Gecube

 

[jitpublisher]

Well, I can say I owned 1 Leadtek card several years ago.
It was what prompted me to move to ATI cards. I don't even remember what it was, but I hated that thing! Hot, noisey, unstable, I wish I could remember exactly what card it was.....I just remember "Leadtek, never ever again"
However, since my recent BFG 8800gts g92 aquisition, I feel nvidia has redeemed its self in my eyes, and made me into a BFG believer.

 

[DiscoDuck]

Most cards follow a reference design pretty closely but there can be variations in the manufacturing quality. One of the greatest variables is the cooling, warranty, and customer service experience. I like to go for a lifetime warranty because i keep stuff in service for a long time, it just passes down the line to another system unitl no longer useful. Now I have an agp card collection, its awesome!

 

[jay2tall]

I realize many of these cards are reference cards not even produced by the "manufacture" that sells them. I take it some have better warranties and better tech support than others. I see some put their own cooler designs on them or even after market coolers from another company and stick their logo on them. It seems Nvidia have more of a Reference card look to all their cards and ATI cards seem to have more variations in the different brands.

Just educating myself here a bit though discussion.

 

[dechy]

BFG Lifetime Warranty.

'nuff said.

 

[firetatoo]

yes, BFGtech FTW.

 

[smbergie200]

Evga offers a step-up program 90 days after purchase if a better card comes out. Great customer support also. Other than that all card manufacturers are pretty much the same. They just slap their sticker on the card.

 

[jay2tall]

Notice BFG and eVGA were not on my list. They have already made a name for themselves. I was curious about these new brands. Well maybe not new but less known. I know certain Manufacturer of reference boards have come out with their own brands as well, like Foxconn.

 

[FrozenGpu]

actually chain tech is the lower devision of BFG tech, they both are both owned by the same parent company its just that chaintech, and considered their cheaper alternatives, usually with less of a warranty and so on.

Zogis

Who We Are
We at ZOGIS® are made up of gamers, graphics artists and computer enthusiasts just like you. This is why our commitment to customer satisfaction and producing quality products is our number one priority. We know what it's like to build your first PC; purchasing that graphics card to run a game at its highest setting and the feeling of satisfaction after completing the MOD you've been working on for months. We unfortunately also know the feeling of being put on hold when calling customer service or tech support, waiting for that mail-in-rebate to arrive you submitted 6 months ago and dealing with frustrating returns and service. All our products are backed with our commitment-to-excellence guarantee. Our customer service, RMA and tech support teams are behind every product you purchase. Buy ZOGIS® with confidence.

About ZOGIS®
ZOGIS® is a registered trademark of JV Logic, Inc. An Authorized Board Partner of NVIDIA, ZOGIS® is a leading PC graphics card provider. Based in the United States, ZOGIS® offers top-to-bottom award winning solutions that aim to serve distribution, online retailers and system builders worldwide. With office locations in Los Angeles and Miami and localized sales representatives around the world, our global team is able to fully service our customers in the most efficient and effective way possible. Committed to customer satisfaction and producing the highest quality products available, all our products are backed by our commitment-to-excellence guarantee.

according to that ZOGIS SOUNDS, GGRRRRREAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!! :lol:

ZOTAC - It's time to Play!
ZOTAC International (MCO) Limited was established in 2006 with a mission to deliver superb quality of NVIDIA graphic solutions to the industry. It has strong backup from parent group, PC Partner Ltd. Headquartered in Hong Kong, factory in Mainland China and regional sales offices in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. The support ZOTAC provides is currently the largest of its kind around the world.
With 40 SMT lines, 6,000 workers and 100,000 square-feet meter, ZOTAC features a full array of state-of-the-art facilities and machineries. In addition, ZOTAC has over 130 R&D professionals in Hong Kong, China and warranty and service center in strategic countries to enable effective and efficient worldwide as well as localized sales and marketing supports.

ZOTAC with NVIDIA not only means superb quality, it also means high performance, absolute reliability and great value. In the past year, ZOTAC was compared and tested by several influential members in the media and have proven its products are good quality, worth-to-buy graphic cards in the market. With the product features of overclocked performance, excellent cooling properties and unique packaging ZOTAC products definitely exceed users’ expectations.

ZOTAC’s commitment to our user is to bring the latest products quickly to the market with the best value. Doubtless to say ZOTAC is the right choice for those who require high-quality graphic solutions.

according to zotac they are ggggrrreaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttt, b/c mike rowe said so!

visiontek, I think actually used to make nvidian cards back in the day, they offer on some Ati cards [hard to find] lifetime warranties, they are the only ati card maker to do so, so they do have some great products.

 

[jay2tall]

b/c mike rowe said so!

Someone has to add that in every so often don't they? haha , That's my gamer handle as assigned by my fellow LAN partiers.

 

[pauldh]

BFG Lifetime Warranty.

'nuff said.

Nah, BFG's lifetime warranty is void if you overclock or take off the factory heatsink. I have done both on my two BFG 8800GT OC's, so technically I gave up the warranty. EVGA and XFX lifetime warranties are better than BFG. PNY's lifetime is a joke as when they stop making/selling the card new, it's lifetime is over.

 

[pauldh]

For the right price Jay, I'd go with any of those brands. I've used/owned all of the ones you mentioned except ecs(vga), zogiz, and zotac. The thing is, if you don't have to RMA a card, it's hard to get a feel for the brand.

If price is about the same I like the HIS iceQ's for Radeons and EVGA or XFX for Geforce. But if those take more money from my pocket, I tend to switch brands.

 

[jay2tall]

The thing is, if you don't have to RMA a card, it's hard to get a feel for the brand.

You know that is totally true. I mean some have non stock cooling, some come with more connectors and such, and games. Like my card came with Company of Hero's which was a nice extra incentive, but didn't have any other connectors for the video card, not even a dvi to vga adapter. I mean I don't need it but I did notice that.

 

[pauldh]

Yes, good point, the bundle varies. Some HD2600 boxes don't have the HDMI adaptor.

One example for me is the palit 9600GT. It was a great price a month ago when I ordered it. It works and it's quiet. It even surprised me with Tomb Raider Anniversay included (they didn't advertise that back then like now). So so far my first Palit is great. But I have not OC'ed it to know how it does and have no idea how Palit is to deal with if there is a problem. Hopefully, I'll never need to know.