• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Best ATI Brand?

B

byusinger84

Gawd
2FA
Joined
Feb 1, 2008
Messages
889
I've with nVidia for so long I don't' know who is in the game anymore and who can offer something similar to the warranty that I can get from nVidia Brands such as EVGA and BFG. Looking for something with a Lifetime Warranty at the very least with a good reputation. Step-up program would be great, but I don't even think that they exist on the ATI side. Either way, it's not a deal breaker. Thoughts?
 
Ive heard good things about Visiontek and Power Color. Ive read to avoid saphire because of their customer support.
 
Visiontek and Powercolor are the only two who offer lifetime warranties. Visiontek's support is better though.
 
Visiontek 4870 here, its great. Looks cool and I have heard good things about them.
 
Diamond has the lowest RMA rates in the industry at less than half a percent. At least, that's what the Diamond guy told me at Quakecon.
 
I would say Powercolor, been using Powercolor since the 9700 Pro came out for ATi cards, always treated me right, 9700 Pro still works and being used.
 
snowysnowcones said:
Diamond has the lowest RMA rates in the industry at less than half a percent. At least, that's what the Diamond guy told me at Quakecon.
Click to expand...

maybe in his area, because I can tell you at the store I work at we send back more Diamond video cards than any other ATI brand. To be fair though, the people who use video cards in the area are idiots for the most part, and we get a full credit when returning it rather than selling it at a loss, so most of our cards just get sent back so we can keep the money spent on it rather than be forced to sell it for less than what the store paid for it.
 
SamuraiInBlack said:
maybe in his area, because I can tell you at the store I work at we send back more Diamond video cards than any other ATI brand. To be fair though, the people who use video cards in the area are idiots for the most part, and we get a full credit when returning it rather than selling it at a loss, so most of our cards just get sent back so we can keep the money spent on it rather than be forced to sell it for less than what the store paid for it.
Click to expand...

Considering all the cards are made in the same place, it really doesn't make one bit of difference what each individual vendor's RMA rates are.
 
Zero82z said:
Considering all the cards are made in the same place, it really doesn't make one bit of difference what each individual vendor's RMA rates are.
Click to expand...

Mishandling, mispackaging, bad delivery system or work environment which results in carelessness of delivery or packaging?

Those usually can affect products.
 
Thanks for the replies :) What about HIS? And as far as Asus goes, do they offer a lifetime warranty?
 
I have a Visiontek and it's good. had to RMA once my Visiontek Geforce3 and they were great.
 
byusinger84 said:
Thanks for the replies :) What about HIS? And as far as Asus goes, do they offer a lifetime warranty?
Click to expand...

HIS has mediocre support, and they only have a 1-year warranty. ASUS doesn't offer a lifetime warranty, although I don't remember what the length is. Probably either one or three years.
 
Zero82z said:
HIS has mediocre support, and they only have a 1-year warranty. ASUS doesn't offer a lifetime warranty, although I don't remember what the length is. Probably either one or three years.
Click to expand...

Asus offers 3 years, which IMHO is plenty for a video card.
 
In the past, I've owned ATi branded, Asus, and Diamond. No problems with any so can't speak on support.
 
For ATI, I only buy Asus or Visiontek... or WILL only buy Asus or Visiontek when they release their 4870x2. :D
 
Yeah, I'm going to get the 4870 X2 next Tues when they are released. Just trying to figure out which brand to buy. What about Gigabyte?
 
byusinger84 said:
Yeah, I'm going to get the 4870 X2 next Tues when they are released. Just trying to figure out which brand to buy. What about Gigabyte?
Click to expand...

Gigabyte is pretty good from what I hear, and they offer a pretty long 3-year warranty. However, I suggest you go Visiontek anyway if you can, since with its superior warranty there really isn't any reason to go with a different brand if you can afford it.
 
Palit is one of the largest video card distributors in the world, very big in Asia and Europe. However, they only provide a one-year warranty, so I'd ignore them in favour of Visiontek, ASUS, Gigabyte, or Powercolor, who all offer longer warranties.
 
my 7900 just died, eVGA denied my RMA because I never registered within 30days of the time that I bought it. Thats just not right. Some "lifetime support" bullshit they sell.
 
I bought a VisionTek 4870. First ATI card in a while. Zero problems. Couldnt be happier. Apparently they have pretty decent customer support and lifetime warranty. Hopefully i wont need it.
 
skeeder said:
my 7900 just died, eVGA denied my RMA because I never registered within 30days of the time that I bought it. Thats just not right. Some "lifetime support" bullshit they sell.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hear you're pain man. That aside though, it does say that on the box. I agree that it's crap, but that's the way they do it. They're great when you do register the card though.
 
I bought an Asus 3780x2 and a Visiontek 3870 Overclock at about the same time. I actually wondered about the Visiontek card but the fan on the Asus just went bad and I had to RMA it. Warranty on the Asus card is 3 years and their RMA process is painless. After swapping the Asus 3870x2 for the Visiontek 3870, I was very happy with the performance of just the Visiontek. You can throw a lot at that card and the temps are great, fan kicks in when needed. I am happy with it.

But still, I will probably get the Asus 4870x2 when it is released. Maybe Visiontek. Who knows?
 
.diversant. said:
I bought an Asus 3780x2 and a Visiontek 3870 Overclock at about the same time. I actually wondered about the Visiontek card but the fan on the Asus just went bad and I had to RMA it. Warranty on the Asus card is 3 years and their RMA process is painless. After swapping the Asus 3870x2 for the Visiontek 3870, I was very happy with the performance of just the Visiontek. You can throw a lot at that card and the temps are great, fan kicks in when needed. I am happy with it.

But still, I will probably get the Asus 4870x2 when it is released. Maybe Visiontek. Who knows?
Click to expand...

In my case, I recommend Visiontek (which also sells under the ATI brand in North America), and here's why (other than the lifetime warranty, the longest of all AMD's AIBs): I have the ATI-branded (remember, Visiontek) X1650PRO AGP, which has run utterly flawlessly for me for over a year. X1K AGP cards have the first-generation RIALTO bridge chip (which lets PCIe GPUs ride the AGP bus); and most experiences with the AGP versions of the series have been between average and terrible (just going by postings here); meanwhile mine actually gets better with each driver release (I started with the Catalyst 7.7s for Windows Vista, and now have the Vista 8.7s). While gaming graphics is only 4.9, desktop/business graphics is *redlined* at 5.9 (the highest rating). Not many DX 9 AGP cards (in fact, I don't know of any!) had broken 5 in either category, let alone redlined either category.

In a word: OUCH.
 
I go for Gigabyte, I've never had a problem with any of their cards. I've had a Gigabyte Radeon and 2 GeForces and they all worked great without a hitch.
 
PGHammer said:
In my case, I recommend Visiontek (which also sells under the ATI brand in North America), and here's why (other than the lifetime warranty, the longest of all AMD's AIBs): I have the ATI-branded (remember, Visiontek) X1650PRO AGP, which has run utterly flawlessly for me for over a year. X1K AGP cards have the first-generation RIALTO bridge chip (which lets PCIe GPUs ride the AGP bus); and most experiences with the AGP versions of the series have been between average and terrible (just going by postings here); meanwhile mine actually gets better with each driver release (I started with the Catalyst 7.7s for Windows Vista, and now have the Vista 8.7s). While gaming graphics is only 4.9, desktop/business graphics is *redlined* at 5.9 (the highest rating). Not many DX 9 AGP cards (in fact, I don't know of any!) had broken 5 in either category, let alone redlined either category.

In a word: OUCH.
Click to expand...

Well, I have a 7950 GT KO from EVGA that got 5.9 on both. That aside though, great to hear that ATI's driver updates have helped carry the card for you for over a year :)

That's great stuff everyone, thanks! :)
 
If ASUS' RMA for graphics card is anything like theirs for motherboards, I'd buy a different brand.
 
EVGA or XFX. Oh wait... :p

I've always had good luck / good experience with PowerColor's customer service.
 
I have Sapphire's and have had no problems.

They do have a weak warranty.

My research tells me VisionTek is probably the best warranty.:D
 
Asus would come with smart doctor so you can change the fan speeds without hacking the BIOS or setting manual fan control in the xml config files.
 
skeeder said:
my 7900 just died, eVGA denied my RMA because I never registered within 30days of the time that I bought it. Thats just not right. Some "lifetime support" bullshit they sell.
Click to expand...

I just did an RMA on my nearly 2 year old 8800GTX. I registered it at the same time I submitted the RMA and they accepted it and sent me a new 8800GTX replacement card that was actually clocked higher than my old card.

I'd buy an eVGA again if I was going nVidia. I'll probably be going Visiontek for my 4870X2.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top