Does Video Card Manufacturer Matter?

K

Kolath

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Aug 2, 2004

• Apr 29, 2005

• #1

I'm going to be upgrading in the next month and I have been checking out the real-time price engine. I seem to find that for every video card there are several different manufacturers. Is there a noticeable difference between them? Are there any to avoid? Any help would be appreciated.

Also, I found a Connect3D Radeon X800XL for $250, is that a good deal?

 

G

Goober35

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Apr 10, 2005

• Apr 29, 2005

• #2

IMO manufacturer does not matter. Unless it was made in someones backyard. Get my driff. There is a group of use running the same cored video cards. PNY, BFG and gigabyte. None of use have had problems. But i will not say that ever manufacturer is perfict. They are all human and make a mistake and it gets out. For the most part though go with what u want.

 

Z

zonama™

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Oct 28, 2003

Location

Singapore

• May 1, 2005

• #3

Mostly the differences are HSF, pcb colour, connectors and in some cases the type on ram on the card.

 

winterhavok

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Joined

Nov 22, 2004

Location

Missouri, USA

• May 5, 2005

• #4

The only big difference as the post before me mentioned, is the type (not size) of the RAM used and what kind of cooling solution it has. As far as default performance is concerned there is no noticeable difference, it usually shows its head when you try to overclock the card.

 

N

nicknomo

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Joined

Nov 11, 2001

Location

NY

• May 5, 2005

• #5

Reliability, quality of components along with the things everybody else mentioned.

Some companies put very cheap heatsinks on their cards, cheap fans, inadequate memory cooling ... things like that. Its no mistake that some cards have severely lower rates of death than others.

 

Banyan

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Joined

Sep 29, 2002

• May 6, 2005

• #6

dont forget the quality of the pcb. some brands like robanton are sure to use crap pcb. memory is the other big factor.

 

Mr.Guvernment

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Joined

Feb 26, 2003

• May 6, 2005

• #7

stick with names well mentioned

eVGA / Sapphire / ATi / MSI

those are my 4 prefered.

 

L

lithker

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Joined

Jun 15, 2004

• May 6, 2005

• #8

i would also look into warranty length and quality of customer support. i know BFG offers lifetime warranty and 24 hour tech support on there cards. something to think about before buying.

 

D

Darkstorm_13

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Joined

Jan 24, 2005

• May 7, 2005

• #9

well, if you oc it, then warranty doesnt make a difference. i like to look at the software bundle and cd's they give you.

 

Mr.Guvernment

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Joined

Feb 26, 2003

• May 7, 2005

• #10

BFG has some type of warrenty ythat cover overclocking i think....