Opinions on best video card maker, fall 2010

[titansdali]

XFX, EVGA, PNY? I'm thinking about building my first new system in a few years and looking for information on which way to go. Also, nVideo or Radeon?

 

[reccy]

This particular thread is pretty pointless, peoples opinions are different from day to day.

Ive got 2 Nvidia cards - ASUS GTX470's - I can only say these are brilliant as its all i own.

Thing is, its what your actually looking for to be built or researched onto then we can give our opinions to the best possible scenario for the best bang for buck at the time.

For me its any Nvidia Card, apart from PALIT.

Not suggesting ATI/AMD are bad, i just dont own one so cant comment.

 

[ATi RaDEoN]

+1^

out of the choices EVGA and nvidia respectively

 

[skolpo]

This particular thread is pretty pointless, peoples opinions are different from day to day.

Ive got 2 Nvidia cards - ASUS GTX470's - I can only say these are brilliant as its all i own.

Thing is, its what your actually looking for to be built or researched onto then we can give our opinions to the best possible scenario for the best bang for buck at the time.

For me its any Nvidia Card, apart from PALIT.

Not suggesting ATI/AMD are bad, i just dont own one so cant comment.

What? Giving an answer is pretty straightforward. And people's opinions are ALWAYS different for any subject matter, but there is always a general ground to any topic unless there are only two choices (eg ATi vs nVidia). As for manufacturers, many will suggest eVGA and XFX because of their warranty and customer support and sometimes their cooling. When it comes down to manufacturers, you're looking at warranties, customer support, custom cooling, and price. There's not much else to it. Can people be subjective? Of course they can, but it doesn't change the fact that some have better warranties than others or better cooling design than others. In general, eVGA and XFX are the better of the bunch with MSI, Diamond, Gigabyte, etc. trailing slightly behind.

 

[jaguarskx]

BFG!!!!

Oh wait, they're going out of business...

 

[reccy]

What? Giving an answer is pretty straightforward. And people's opinions are ALWAYS different for any subject matter, but there is always a general ground to any topic unless there are only two choices (eg ATi vs nVidia). As for manufacturers, many will suggest eVGA and XFX because of their warranty and customer support and sometimes their cooling. When it comes down to manufacturers, you're looking at warranties, customer support, custom cooling, and price. There's not much else to it. Can people be subjective? Of course they can, but it doesn't change the fact that some have better warranties than others or better cooling design than others. In general, eVGA and XFX are the better of the bunch with MSI, Diamond, Gigabyte, etc. trailing slightly behind.

And i have give an answer havent i?

How can i comment on other brands when ive never owned them? Im basing my answer from my own experiance with the system and brands i currently have, pretty much ASUS.

Palit are shite to say the least due to 2 GTX 470's fan blades breaking off, POV seem to be a good make also (GTX465)

The old XFX 6800GS card is ok i guess, still running but never had to ring up XFX themselves, as in the UK, we go directly to the wholeseller, rather than the manufacturers themselves, being pointless to comment on customer services as ive had no dealings with them.

Again, peoples opinions vary from day to day stuff, given the fact that to me this is a pointless thread, as its based on the user themselves to suggests whats best for them, not anyone else to convince them otherwise.

 

[deweycd]

I have to say that MSI made a great 6800GT that I'm sure will still be one of the best cards for fall 2010, well atleast for an AGP system.

As for PCI-E, wait until ATI 6000 series release and the info will change but for now the Sapphire HD5850 or EVGA GTX460 are best price/performance in my books.

 

[skolpo]

And i have give an answer havent i?

How can i comment on other brands when ive never owned them? Im basing my answer from my own experiance with the system and brands i currently have, pretty much ASUS.

Palit are shite to say the least due to 2 GTX 470's fan blades breaking off, POV seem to be a good make also (GTX465)

The old XFX 6800GS card is ok i guess, still running but never had to ring up XFX themselves, as in the UK, we go directly to the wholeseller, rather than the manufacturers themselves, being pointless to comment on customer services as ive had no dealings with them.

Again, peoples opinions vary from day to day stuff, given the fact that to me this is a pointless thread, as its based on the user themselves to suggests whats best for them, not anyone else to convince them otherwise.

Most manufacturers simply use the referenced cooler and just slap a company sticker onto the card. There is no physical difference in MOST cards regardless of manufacturers. When it comes to custom cooling, that is a different matter. No company is known for consistently having awesome custom coolers since they can be a hit and miss. For many people, the most important aspects are price, warranties and customer support (simply because video cards are notorious for easily breaking down). Not owning another card outside of a certain company doesn't change anything (unless we're talking about custom coolers) because the cards are hardly any different. If you personally cannot comment on some of the stuff, it doesn't hurt to actually research and figure out what the general consensus have reported. And if you couldn't comment in the first place due to lack of experience, why post in a thread like this at all?

 

[reccy]

Most manufacturers simply use the referenced cooler and just slap a company sticker onto the card. There is no physical difference in MOST cards regardless of manufacturers. When it comes to custom cooling, that is a different matter. No company is known for consistently having awesome custom coolers since they can be a hit and miss. For many people, the most important aspects are price, warranties and customer support (simply because video cards are notorious for easily breaking down). Not owning another card outside of a certain company doesn't change anything (unless we're talking about custom coolers) because the cards are hardly any different. If you personally cannot comment on some of the stuff, it doesn't hurt to actually research and figure out what the general consensus have reported. And if you couldn't comment in the first place due to lack of experience, why post in a thread like this at all?

So your telling me, because i don't own each different brand of GPU out there, i shouldnt post with my experiance on what i have got??

Thing is, your telling me to research into something i need not to?? Shouldnt you be telling the OP to research into different brands and the such??

Ive given my experiance and my view on the matter, and my view is that i can only comment on what i own personally, and that this thread seems to be of the pointless catergory.. Given there must be thousands of these threads...

Google is a web search engine, it holds the interweb and all the fairy magically things, including info on such matters..
Whats better Brown or White bread?? hmmm

 

[skolpo]

If there's so much info on it, why not ask a forum of people that just happen to have that knowledge? There's nothing wrong with that. What's so pointless about the question? It's funny how you were only able to pick up one ONE thing in my response. My point is, if you're not going to give a detailed answer and just simply telling the OP that the thread is pointless even though it is not, then don't post at all. There's a lot of factors when it comes down to picking a manufacturer (as I listed) and not simply all based on opinions. And even so, people's opinions do not change repeatedly. There's always been a steady ground when it comes to choosing a manufacturer in MOST cases.

 

[reccy]

If there's so much info on it, why not ask a forum of people that just happen to have that knowledge? There's nothing wrong with that. What's so pointless about the question? It's funny how you were only able to pick up one ONE thing in my response. My point is, if you're not going to give a detailed answer and just simply telling the OP that the thread is pointless even though it is not, then don't post at all. There's a lot of factors when it comes down to picking a manufacturer (as I listed) and not simply all based on opinions. And even so, people's opinions do not change repeatedly. There's always been a steady ground when it comes to choosing a manufacturer in MOST cases.

You obviously havent read MY first post very well and have just picked up on 1 line of it.

So i'll explain again and give my view/opinion.

Nvidia is all i own, and its a ASUS GTX470 (2 of them actually) These seem to be brilliant.
I would avoid Palit, as i have had 2 cards from them and on both times ive had the Fan fins been broken. One in transit and the other whilst happily playing Assassin Creed II.

Does this warrant that Palit are bad? Not at all, just ive had 2 bad cards and both times the same issue. So i move to the cheaper ASUS variation. Seemed to be holding its own so far.

I cant comment on the ATI side of things as i dont own any - Do i want to spend my time researching something i do not need to know, and should leave that to the OP?? If its a technical question then im happily commited to help the best way i can, or offer the advice..

But to say onto which i should research whats the better card, Nvidia or ATI, where as both these have a HUGE range of cards out there for sale, is just wasting time on something pointless..

 

[skolpo]

I'm saying that the choice between manufacturers are more clear-cut than many people think it is. Does experience matter? Of course it does. But so does luck and chance. When it comes down to it, ignoring experience and chance, other aspects of choosing a manufacturer tends to favor only certain manufacturers such as eVGA and XFX. Does that mean that no one will experience a bad time with eVGA or XFX? No it doesn't, but XFX and eVGA have a better reputation in helping people solve their issues than others. Almost all manufacturers have the same card fail rate, it's just a matter of how they handle the issue and if they're willing to make sure their customers are compensated for.

 

[reccy]

I'm saying that the choice between manufacturers are more clear-cut than many people think it is. Does experience matter? Of course it does. But so does luck and chance. When it comes down to it, ignoring experience and chance, other aspects of choosing a manufacturer tends to favor only certain manufacturers such as eVGA and XFX. Does that mean that no one will experience a bad time with eVGA or XFX? No it doesn't, but XFX and eVGA have a better reputation in helping people solve their issues than others. Almost all manufacturers have the same card fail rate, it's just a matter of how they handle the issue and if they're willing to make sure their customers are compensated for.

Again, here in the UK we have to go straight to the wholeseller whos sells this card, rather than the manufactuer themselves. Eg - overclockers.co.uk.

So customer support is based on the seller ratehr than the manufactuer of the card.

A good point you made was with regards to the Reference cards. All of them are pretty much identical in both performance and looks. Usually just a sticker which makes them different, and with this, you start to look at what the card comes with. How much warranty? Game Bundles? Accessories? Price?

The custom cards are completely different as they are based on performance and looks mainly. Again, after these factors, you then seek to find out the above.

Ive spoken to XFX on serveral occastions and each time (this is for my XFX 6800GS) they've always pointed to the "Place of Purchase" - Given to me this is bad customer support, but then again, they not need to help me, but the wholeseller does.

 

[17seconds]

EVGA is a pretty solid manufacturer. They use high quality components and offer the best warranty and trade-up program. Their cards are pretty widely available.

 

[notty22]

I don't think this topic is clear cut. I don't want to critique other peoples opinions, I think thats pointless. I don't think as highly of xfx as some do.
I think most aib's are 'ok', because this is policed by Nvidia and AMD themselves. If a company turned out junk or defective product on any kind of regular basis, this would give a bad image to them(NV, AMD).

 

[deweycd]

I don't think this topic is clear cut. I don't want to critique other peoples opinions, I think thats pointless. I don't think as highly of xfx as some do.
I think most aib's are 'ok', because this is policed by Nvidia and AMD themselves. If a company turned out junk or defective product on any kind of regular basis, this would give a bad image to them(NV, AMD).

It tends not to be the products they provide but rather the services, support, software, customer support. I do find that a few put in extra effort for cooling, but this can be so hit an miss that it's hard to tell who will do it best next.

 

[17seconds]

It's my understanding that different manufacturers use different grade components or different binning. For example, most of us have heard that MSI uses "Military Grade" components. Even for reference designs there may be differences in quality. The chip maker sets the design, but the card vendor chooses the components.