Video Card Brand

[sophor]

Searches here for "best video card brand" and variations of that phrase seem inconclusive to me. Is there an effective way to compare different brands of the same GPU other than tallying up positive reviews? For instance, I want a Radeon HD 7850. To pick two out of a hat let's say,

GigaByte AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=20700960&findingMethod=rr

XFX Force AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Double Dissipation Edition Graphics Card.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=20925423&findingMethod=rr

The choice of Wal-Mart links was arbitrary.

Phrases like "double dissipation" mean nothing to me, but my impression is that both XFX and Gigabyte are quality manufacturers.

I currently have an XFX Radeon HD 5770, which I've been happy with, but something tells me to reach out for more substantial information than past experience with a given brand.

 

[amuffin]

Walmart?

Walmart sells GPU's.


Don't buy from Walmart.




ASUS?

 

[kajabla]

The XFX has a lifetime warranty, but the Gigabyte's is only three years. When performance and price are identical, move on to features.

 

[sophor]

A quick follow-up to my own post. I suppose one point of comparison would be size, but I suspect my Antec 900 case can handle any card I attempt to install.

 

[amuffin]

Yes.

 

[sophor]

Certainly warranty is a valuable feature, and thanks for pointing that out, but I'm finding it hard to discern other features across different brands based on the write-ups. For instance, what does "double dissipation" actually mean or is it merely ad jargon designed to inflate the relative value of the card?

 

[crisan_tiberiu]

ASUS makes the quitest video cards with their DIRECT CU Coolers

 

[raytseng]

what games come bundled with it?

i go to techpowerup and look at the reviews for acoustics/noise.

 

[sophor]

Thanks to both above responders regarding noise. That's certainly something I can objectively research.

 

[amuffin]

Certainly warranty is a valuable feature, and thanks for pointing that out, but I'm finding it hard to discern other features across different brands based on the write-ups. For instance, what does "double dissipation" actually mean or is it merely ad jargon designed to inflate the relative value of the card?

There are two fans, thus double dissipation. It can dissipate heat twice as much as the reference edition XFX card which only features one fan.

 

[kajabla]

When in doubt, go by benchmarks. Googling should probably turn up some for each of these cards on things like temperature and noise.