Zotac vs Gainward vs Gigabyte vs POV vs PNY

[Vadorsystems]

General discussion on the Nvidia range of cards, which brand do you think is better out of the ones listed in the title? and why do you think that manufacturer is better, do they offer cooler running at a cheaper prices? do you think they are more reliable? Just wondering what the general public thinks.

Personally I'm stuck between Zotac and Gainward, though ive never actually had a Gigabyte or PNY card installed in a system that ive had personaly and used alot so im not too sure on those brands. So, feel free to give you're oppinions

 

[jonpaul37]

potato/pota'to tomato/toma'to my friend, of all you listed i would personally choose Gigabyte, they are a brand that has been excelling lately in the discrete GPU segment along with ASUS and MSI

 

[OvrClkr]

If I were to choose between Zotac and Gainward I guess I would go with whichever has the best warranty. I normally stay away from GB and PNY when it comes to GPU's.

Why no EVGA or ASUS options?

 

[Vadorsystems]

Well, I did forget ASUS to be fair, I always forget about them when it comes to graphics cause i tend to only really think of them for motherboards.. which is a little funny cause they do loads of other stuff and the reason I didnt mention EVGA is because they dont have major distribution in the UK so I tend to never really see EVGA stuff around, they do seem pretty cool but very few places stock them as it has to be imported here

 

[OvrClkr]

Asus has a great selection of cards out at the moment, how much are you going to spend? What is the primary use of your PC?

 

[Vadorsystems]

I'm not looking to buy a card just looking to get peoples oppinions on which brands they prefer and their reasons really.

 

[jonpaul37]

If ASUS is a consideration and EVGA is not an option among the list you mentioned, i would certainly go for the ASUS brand, i have had ASUS brand ATI and Nvidia cards and not one issue comes to memory...

I have had good experiences with Gigabyte as well but like i said, it's all a matter of preference and tough to judge as someone may post that they had 3 different horrible experiences with ASUS...

 

[17seconds]

I have been impressed with the Zotac cards which use custom cooling from Zalman.

With that said, you are lucky to be able to purchase a card from Gainward, which are not available in the U.S. Gainward really seems to be creative and cutting edge on most of their graphics card designs. For example, I see that they make a 2GB version of the GTX 460 with Gainward-designed custom cooling. That is a pretty rare configuration, and the thought of getting that in SLI makes me drool. They also use high quality components and offer the "Golden Sample" cards, which are specifically tested to overclock above and beyond regular cards. I have owned a Gainward card in the past (Bliss 7800GS+, one of the only AGP cards that used a 7900GT chip) and wish we could buy them in the US.