Graphics Card - Differences Between Manufacturers?

[msh123]

Hi,

Apologies if this has been asked before. I've had a search, but couldn't find anything on the topic.

Are there any great differences between the assorted 3rd party versions of graphics cards? E.g. XFX vs Sapphire vs etc?

Reliability? Support (XFX seem to be mentioned as good here)? Better/quieter cooling (seem to recall reading about Sapphire's Vapor-X here)? Better build quality?

I'm looking to get a 5850, and was wondering if there was a 'best' one to get, or whether they were all pretty much the same.

Thanks,

Mark.

 

[zach538467]

Right now all the 5850's are the same as far as manufacturing/design but XFX gives you a longer warranty.

 

[JofaMang]

I wouldn't claim that XFX has better quality, but their customer service and double lifetime warrantly are definitely top shelf. I personally have gone through 2 XFX cards this year (granted, they were 4870x2s, hot and busy) but the aforementioned features made dealing with it quite easy.