Best Brand? Video card upgrade, unsure about brand

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brokentilez

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I've seen mixed results on the forums around here about different brands.

I'm about to upgrade to an 8800GT I'm pretty sure (possibly 9600GT at last minute), but probably an 8800GT...

There are various rebates and different prices online with different brands.

I have a Leadtek 6600 now and it's been GREAT. NEVER any problems.

EVGA, XFX, BFG, PNY??

Which is the best brand to get..

Thanks

-brokentilez
 
PNY imo is aweful the worst support and service. BFG has the best. evga and xfx are about the same. evga seems to have some of the fastest cards.
 
I would stick to BFG, EVGA personally i have no experience with XFX but people seem to place it with bfg and evga.

I will say i did get 1 leadtek card a few years back and they had no problems doind a RMA for me on it. but they have a shorter waranty.

if you plan to use the card over 1 couple years or if your someone who would want to later use the card in a backup pc i would get one of the main 3 listed other wise any brand short of PNY is fine.

some are longer RMA, due to over seas distribution centers though. BFG, EVGA i know have USA based support.. thats reason enough for me to try and give them my business.


EVGA (look under combos free mouse with purchase)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...SubCategory=48&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1 $149.99

XFX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150277 $139.99 with rebate.

or cheapest
ECS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814134038 $114.99 after rebate.

all of these cards are the exact same thing with different sticker placed on them only difference is the warranty.

$114 is a hell of a deal for the card i have one its a great value.

save the 50 bucks and get a 9600gt especially if you run a resolution under 1920x1200
 
I have been wondering the same thing man.All these different companies but the only difference is warranty,what about quality?
I would come to think that evga,bfg,xfx are the best.I don't like the look of the off brand name cards with those huge coolers on them.
Hey man BFG has a deal right now for 8800gt and 650watt PSU for $235 it's $250 with shipping
It seems worth it if you need to upgrade the psu as I do need to do myself.
I am kinda torn on the 9600 vs 8800gt since I only game at 1280x1024.I hear this and then that it's kinda hard to make a descision.
I have seen alot of cheap 9600gt video cards lately
 
Thank you all for the responses. I made my purchase today.

I did some further reading and I've seen mixed results with ALL video card manufacturers.

I ended up going with an XFX 512MB 8800GT. After rebate and shipping, only $148 if you live in an egg tax free state.

I chose XFX mainly because XFX and EVGA owners all said the same thing. Some had good experiences some had bad. There are good and bad stories for every manufacturer.

After all the video card reviews, warranty information, customer service reviews, etc... I chose XFX

I chose XFX for five reasons. I think they are pretty good reasons.

1.) They were $10 cheaper than the EVGA counterpart
2.) It came with a free game (Company of Heroes) unlike the EVGA
3.) I saw some reviewers that had great XFX customer service
4.) Some reviews complained about heat and said to get EVGA, The EVGA users complained about heat and said to get XFX. So, I just got XFX and crossed my fingers.
5.) Double Lifetime Warranty. If this card fries, they should RMA it. If I sell this card later, I can pass on the warranty to owner #2.
6.) I didn't research down enough, but one user said you could change the stock heatsink and it would still be covered under warranty for XFX. This was contradicted by another post, guess I'll have to read up on the XFX specifics. I found this on their website

I hope this helps someone else...

What do I get?

Lifetime Warranties
Transferable Protection
Modder Friendly
Whats covered?
All 6, 7, 8 and 9 series Graphics Cards are protected.

How do I get it?
All you have to do is purchase an XFX Graphics Card and register the product within 30 days of purchase to activate your Lifetime Protection.

Here’s the deal: We will repair and service your 6, 7, 8 and 9 Series Graphics Card for as long as you live. Even for those of you who know how to push our cards to the limits, if anything goes wrong, we’ll service it free of charge. All you have to do is register the card with us online. If you ever decide to sell or give the card away to someone, we’ll still honor the protection plan for the second owner as well. They just need to register the card with us. You get the protection AND the added value of being able to pass along a full warranty.
 
Yeah, as long as you don't pick PNY out of the 4 you mentioned, you'll always be fine. XFX, eVGA, and BFG are all excellent. eVGA gives you step-up, XFX gives you double warranty... pick which one is more useful to you.
 
XFX ...double lifetime warranty....they even cover you if you put a 3rd party heatsink, etc (evga does too), but the the 2x lifetime seals the deal for me.
 
I saw go for Evga ftw. They have great support and fast rma. They also have 90 day setup, means if a newer highend video card comes out you can send them back your current card and get thew new one. Just pay the difference. Tho I never go to use it. I had PNY 6800gt, it was top dog back then in 2003 but it is still running. I replace the heat sink after 2 years with the after market one. It works with out any issues and I clock it to 420mhz from 350mhz. Been having this PNY for 4 years.
 
hi,

I would go with EVGA. My experiences with them were very pleasant. However with that said, I have never had to use their tech support.

I have also used PNY as well. I still have 2 PNY cards from about 8 years ago still alive and kicking. A PNY Geforce 2 MX200 AGP card is in my work shop PC and is still kicking. Of course it does not handle the latest games or graphic needs but for what it does it is perfect. I digress.

As for BFG, I have had 2 products from them. Their tech support people are pretty good from my dealings. I have had excellent service from that stand point. However, the products to me were duds. I had a pesky (2) 5900XT cards which constantly died on me. BFG did warranty the cards. After card number 3, I was rewarded with two more 6800OCs which turned out to be the same. The first one failed after 2 days. I sent it back. Got the new card, didn't even test it. I sold the card. He said the card failed on him and requested his money back which I did. Then RMAed again. Got a supposed new card in return still more failure. Finally got a working one and sold it. However, at this point they [BFG] claimed it was a my system causing it. The kicker was I could run another other card except for theirs in my system. ATI and other Nvidia partners. I wound up landing on an X850XT for the last AGP card. I had 9800pro, X850pro, X850XT, Geforce2 MX 200 and 400 in my system with a problem.

As for XFX never had any experience with them. However right now I think every one is pretty much equal since Nvidia is supplying the cards and the the partners bin them and then label them. So go with what ever you are comfortable with.
 
95% of cards are refernece design and many not even made by the manufacturer marketing it.

Boils down to warranty and cost.

If your in North America EVGA/XFX are great, EVGA nice with there step up program although you really pay for it imo as they are often no where near the cheapest.

Outside of north America your retailer is usually the point of return and brands are much the same except what ever warranty period is offered or passed along.
 
brokentilez said:
Thank you all for the responses. I made my purchase today.

I did some further reading and I've seen mixed results with ALL video card manufacturers.

I ended up going with an XFX 512MB 8800GT. After rebate and shipping, only $148 if you live in an egg tax free state.

I chose XFX mainly because XFX and EVGA owners all said the same thing. Some had good experiences some had bad. There are good and bad stories for every manufacturer.

After all the video card reviews, warranty information, customer service reviews, etc... I chose XFX

I chose XFX for five reasons. I think they are pretty good reasons.

1.) They were $10 cheaper than the EVGA counterpart
2.) It came with a free game (Company of Heroes) unlike the EVGA
3.) I saw some reviewers that had great XFX customer service
4.) Some reviews complained about heat and said to get EVGA, The EVGA users complained about heat and said to get XFX. So, I just got XFX and crossed my fingers.
5.) Double Lifetime Warranty. If this card fries, they should RMA it. If I sell this card later, I can pass on the warranty to owner #2.
6.) I didn't research down enough, but one user said you could change the stock heatsink and it would still be covered under warranty for XFX. This was contradicted by another post, guess I'll have to read up on the XFX specifics. I found this on their website

I hope this helps someone else...

What do I get?

Lifetime Warranties
Transferable Protection
Modder Friendly
Whats covered?
All 6, 7, 8 and 9 series Graphics Cards are protected.

How do I get it?
All you have to do is purchase an XFX Graphics Card and register the product within 30 days of purchase to activate your Lifetime Protection.

Here’s the deal: We will repair and service your 6, 7, 8 and 9 Series Graphics Card for as long as you live. Even for those of you who know how to push our cards to the limits, if anything goes wrong, we’ll service it free of charge. All you have to do is register the card with us online. If you ever decide to sell or give the card away to someone, we’ll still honor the protection plan for the second owner as well. They just need to register the card with us. You get the protection AND the added value of being able to pass along a full warranty.
Click to expand...

That issue has been fixed regarding the temperature issues, and EVGA also came out with a dual slotted 8800GT that runs alot cooler than the reference designs.

Also, EVGA does offer a lifetime warranty that allows overclocking and you can swap heat sinks and however you feel. EVGA pioneered the overclocking and modder friendly warranty ;)

XFX's and EVGA's policies are VERY similar with the exception that one allows stepup while the other gives double lifetime warranties.
 
Congrats on going with XFX, you won't regret it. I had to work with their support once when my 7800 GTX died on me and they did pretty damn good! :)
 
Got my XFX 8800GT yesterday. It barely fit into my microfly ATX case, but it is AWESOME!! Man, All my games are like new again. Call of Duty 4, Battlefield 2, Day of Defeat Source.... I can play all my games maxed out, high settings, and they look incredible... the FPS in COD4 shows 120+ FPS...

I have a uATX Intel DG33TL motherboard
E8400
2GB Corsair Ram in Dual Channel Mode
2 500GB WD Drives in Raid 0 + 1 utilizing the intel raid matrix controller.
and an XFX 8800GT... Wow, this is great.

Only problem is I have a card with the 100% fan problem. Started my XFX ticket in hopes to get one with a variable speed fan... I may need it on all the time anyways in this case. Further case modding needs to be done for extra cooling...
 
brokentilez, PM me your ticket number and I will help get it resolved for you quickly.
 
I just got my XFX 88GTS a few hours ago today, looks sweet, too bad I don't have the rest of the system built to put it in yet. lol. Happy fragging brokentilez.
 
XFX monitors Newegg reviews, too, and responds to anyone reporting a problem. That's a company dedicated to supporting their customers. When I bought my XFX 8800GT last fall I had fan and temp issues. They sent me an updated BIOS within hours of identifying the problem.

They're definitely dedicated to making their cards work for every customer, even if it's one by one. That's an impressive support policy these days.
 
Pyros said:
XFX monitors Newegg reviews, too, and responds to anyone reporting a problem. That's a company dedicated to supporting their customers. When I bought my XFX 8800GT last fall I had fan and temp issues. They sent me an updated BIOS within hours of identifying the problem..

They're definitely dedicated to making their cards work for every customer, even if it's one by one. That's an impressive support policy these days.
Click to expand...

Their support policy is pretty impressive. That's why I keep buying 'em.
 
I have two 8800GT's from EVGA and one from XFX. I figured I was in good hands either way.
 
I've been very happy with XFX. I've had some issues with game lockups (PES2008) with the ram clocked at 950MHz, however after RMAing the card I've received the black PCB card which works flawlessly.... ;-) The tech support was very helpful too. One thing for sure I'll go with XFX again for my next buy :D
 
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