Best GTX for the $$

G

goud

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
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Your input on which GTX card offers the best bang for the buck, I am looking for specifics even beyond individual manufacturers ie. BFG, EVGA, OC, Double OC, ultra, etc.
 
What do you mean by specifics? I'd probably just get a BFG 8800GTX OC2, because it's pretty descently overclocked and is one of the cheapest pre-overclockered cards. I don't see any point in getting an Ultra, when very similar performance can be achieved with an overclocked GTX. An overclocked Ultra, however, doesn offer some sizeable performance gains, at least, but it comes at a price.
 
My vote is for the OCZ 8800. I just got one myself and it's stable @ 634 / 1050, stock cooling. I believe OCZ cards are cherry picked based on the typical OC results people are seeing from them, and considering it's one of the cheapest out there, it's definitely one to consider...
 
EVGA or XFX due to warranty, though I think BFG is similar here.

Were it me and I was doing it all over again I would have gone EVGA on the GTX. They have amazing customer support, warranty policy (you can OC and alter the cooling setup on the card and the warranty remains), and "Advance RMA" for another $30 when you register the card (make sure you register it within 30 days if you get one, as the warranty requires it) which gets you prepaid cross shipping if you need to RMA the card at any point, and it's a one time fee. I don't think any other company does this right now.
 
silent-circuit said:
EVGA due to warranty, Were it me and I was doing it all over again I would have gone EVGA on the GTX. They have amazing customer support, warranty policy (you can OC and alter the cooling setup on the card and the warranty remains), and "Advance RMA" for another $30 when you register the card (make sure you register it within 30 days if you get one, as the warranty requires it) which gets you prepaid cross shipping if you need to RMA the card at any point, and it's a one time fee. I don't think any other company does this right now.
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QFT

silent-circuit said:
you can also alter the cooling setup on the card and the warranty remains
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I would like to clarify this mentioned above. I believe they are the only manfuacture that will allow you to remove the stock heatsink and put on an aftermarket one, and it not void the warranty. (whether that be an air cooler, or waterblock)

I too, will go EVGA next time around (I currently own a BFG flavor GTX)
 
If you're happy overclocking don't go for a more expensive OC version unless it comes with better cooling, I got my BFG 8800GTX OC (standard model for BFG) and it hits the OC2 models speeds easily. In fact most of the 8800GTX cards have high possible overclocks.
 
The cards themselves are all manufactured by Flextronics under contract with nVidia.

The retail board partners (EVGA, XFX, BFG, etc) simply slap their branding sticker on the cooler, slap a UPC on the back of the card, and place the card in their own retail packaging. Therefore I would make your purchase based on the customer service reputation of the board partners you are considering on purchasing from. I happen to prefer EVGA based on my excellent past experiences with their customer service staff. I hear that XFX is quite good on that front as well.

You may also wish to base your purchase on the pack-in bundle offered by the board partner. Some board partners have special bundles containing one or more full version commercial games. These can sweeten a purchase quite a bit.
 
BFG for lifetime warranty, can't beat that plus their pre-OC cards (You have to wait in line for customer support). EVGA and XFX comes in at 2nd and 3rd respectively (Not a lot of waiting for CS).
 
OCZ definitely. Their cards clock the highest on average because OCZ bins very stringently and their customer service / warranty is unbeatable.
 
answers all over the map, thank you...doesn't one of the manufacturers offer a upgrade policy?
 
so the ATI 2900XT is offering audio output in the HDMI stream, does the 8800gtx do this?
 
goud said:
answers all over the map, thank you...doesn't one of the manufacturers offer a upgrade policy?
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Yeah lol so far the results haven't been very conclusive. But if you look at the facts, OCZ does come out on top in terms of warranty. Their warranty is life-time, regardless of whether you remove the stock cooler (this voids most warranties), regardless of how many owners the card has (some warranties limit it to 1 or 2 owners), there is no need to register the card within 60 days or any rubbish like that, and there is no need to provide a receipt or any other type of proof of purchase (most companies will ask for something like this, which can be difficult if you're not the original owner). 20 years down the road, you could find an OCZ 8800GTX on the street and send it back to OCZ and they'll send you a 99900GTZ or whatever the new card will be by then. (Even today, if your OCZ Rambus memory dies, send it back to them and they'll RMA you a set of DDR2 :D )
 
goud said:
so the ATI 2900XT is offering audio output in the HDMI stream, does the 8800gtx do this?
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No, but the 2900XT does not even approach GTX speeds, and you can always run optical or digital over copper. It's just one more wire.
 
regarding the OCZ fan

Are you sure they they would mail you parts that have upgraded technology? I cant see them sending you a PCIe x 99900 when you boaght a PCIe x 16 card..same goes with the memory..its clearly abuse of their system, because that means you can buy their top of the line product, and when the new product comes out, you take the fan off, overclock it and play games until it fries, RMA and poof here is the newest 600$ card?? ... I have a hard time believing that would work out.
 
I would like to clarify this mentioned above. I believe they are the only manfuacture that will allow you to remove the stock heatsink and put on an aftermarket one, and it not void the warranty. (whether that be an air cooler, or waterblock)
Click to expand...

Correct. I have verified this through talking directly with EVGA's customer support. You can overclock, water cool, put an after market heat sink on their card and the warranty is still good. Just do not break the gpu chipset when changing out the heat sink. They will not cover such physical damage. Plus the 90 day step-up program is very good. That's how I got my GX2.

If OCZ offered a similar program, they would really offer EVGA some stiff competition.
 
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