Does brand matter?

i have heard a couple things about nvidia cards
that all the cards are pretty much the same from the same seriel
like a aopen 5200
would be PRETTY much the same as a
PNY or asylum

is this correct?

if so i want to buy a 5700 ultra

but from what manufacturer?

Not to threadjack, but you may want to consider a 5900 series card as they're a bit more $$$. You can get a BFG @ newegg for about $175. The performance of the 5900 will be significantly better than the 5700 (256 bit RAM interface).

The BFG is currently out of stock but you can also get it @ GameVE (I've never dealt with them).

BFG is a good company, eVGA, ChainTech, Gainward.

XFX is a good company, they do tend to use lesser RAM but it will run at posted speeds.

PNY has some issues, check the forum & you'll see a thread.

I've never had any problems w/ my PNY card. Although after reading that thread, I hope I don't!

If I were you, I'd go w/ BFG. They seem to be the most popular/best accross the board. I've heard they make great overclockers too!

BFG all the way

I used Leadtek never had a problem with them and all their cards i've owned. BFG is good too.

I've heard a lot of good things about Leadtek too... that would prolly be my second choice...

1- BFG
2- Leadtek

I'd pick BFG first, only because I've heard a higher quantity of good things about them...

IMHO its the ram you have to look at, then the manufacturer. For some reason I am a hardcore Asus fan but that has limited me to nvidia gpu's. Next time round though I now have the option of either ATI or NVIDIA from them. But either way it will be a ram issue and not the gpu.

heres a BFG5900NU for $171 http://www.enpc.com/cgi-bin/enpc/aslm5900_128.html they dont look too shabby on resellerratings.com either.

in reviews they all perform about the same (like one fps difference at most), some do OC a bit better, but that is mostly luck of the draw as far as the actual GPU is concerened, not the brand. Some use better ram, and that is important for a good OC. Overall though, they are all pretty much the same, so I just buy the cheapest available and have never had any problems. Some people swear by a brand, and that is fine, but there is really little difference b/t the brands as the most important thing is the GPU and they all use the same ones...

seamadan000 said:

in reviews they all perform about the same (like one fps difference at most), some do OC a bit better, but that is mostly luck of the draw as far as the actual GPU is concerened, not the brand. Some use better ram, and that is important for a good OC. Overall though, they are all pretty much the same, so I just buy the cheapest available and have never had any problems. Some people swear by a brand, and that is fine, but there is really little difference b/t the brands as the most important thing is the GPU and they all use the same ones...

Click to expand...

That's true, but brand does equal quality in most cases. I swore early on I would use only ASUS, after having my first $300+ card being the V6800. I put a blue orb on that thing, and it clocked as if it was severly underclocked (great overclocker).

I have had no problems with PNY, 4400 overclocked well and this replacement they sent me (5600Ultra) runs easy at 500/900 out the box.

I hear a lot of good about BFG, yet I read many reports of the card being DOA. I have a good feeling, most of the good is in the price and lifetime warranty.

Normally a particular model of card will do well overall, since they basically have the same features thru out.

I didn't hear any complaints of a 4200 not clocking well, and that seems to be the case with the 5900....Looking at the brand(S) of 5900's that do transform to a 5950, PNY included.

I personally will pick Gigabyte every time a card choice is presented to me. Never PNY; I have owned two of their cards (One MX and one Ti) and have yet to be impressed. The aforementioned MX died on me and took my motherboard with it back when I had a 1.3 Athlon.

I guess after my brother's debacle with his Gainward Ti4200, I've skipped them entirely. I've had a Leadtek (GF2 Ultra,) a Prolink (GF3 Ti200,) and two Albatrons (Ti4200 and FX5900.) All of them have served me well. I also had an FIC Radeon 8500, which I was also fairly happy with. As long as they're not skimping badly on something, most any manufacturer is usually fine; strangely enough, Gainward was the only company I've ever actually experienced 'skimping' on the quality of their products.