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Sparkle Opinion Needed

liquidfluidity

liquidfluidity

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Dec 28, 2006
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Just wondering what the general consensus on this manufacturer was. I'm looking at a Calibre x480 and just wanted to get some "real" opinions before I jump in. I have always used big names like eVGA and BFG so I'm a little skeptical. Anyways , LMK what your experiences have been. Thanks! :)
 
liquidfluidity said:
Just wondering what the general consensus
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I believe the general consensus is that all the cards' parts are made by the same manufacturing plants in some third world country, and the only difference between the brands is the sticker/label on them and the warranty offered. Unless you specifically buy one with a custom cooler etc. Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I was kind of wondering if cosmetics/warranty were the only defining points . Thanks for the reply. ;)
 
i bought the sparkle single slot gts450 to run some extra monitors, its a pretty awesome card, no problems here
 
A lot of the brands like sparkle use cheaper less reliable capacitors, so make sure your card has a good warranty if you do buy a sparkle.
 
shizzdizzle said:
A lot of the brands like sparkle use cheaper less reliable capacitors, so make sure your card has a good warranty if you do buy a sparkle.
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Sparkle has a lifetime warranty on all their video cards, so you are covered there. Just register it within 30 days ion their website (non-registered warranty is 3 years).

I bought a Sparkle GTX 460 last year, and have had zero issues with it.
 
shizzdizzle said:
A lot of the brands like sparkle use cheaper less reliable capacitors, so make sure your card has a good warranty if you do buy a sparkle.
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Don't even start that. Even better known brands use shit caps on a lot of their models. XFX is notorious for using Sacon FZ caps..
 
liquidfluidity said:
Just wondering what the general consensus on this manufacturer was. I'm looking at a Calibre x480 and just wanted to get some "real" opinions before I jump in. I have always used big names like eVGA and BFG so I'm a little skeptical. Anyways , LMK what your experiences have been. Thanks! :)
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I purchased a Sparkle GTX 580 and just finished my registration process. I just copied this from their website:

"SPARKLE Computer Corp. (hereinafter mentioned as Sparkle) is committed to creating high-performance products for gamers and PC enthusiasts, and has delivered some of the most recognized and respected graphics card designs in the world over the past 25 years. It is the company’s never-ending pursuit of excellence and dedication to quality, in everything from product design and manufacturing to post-sales customer service that sets SPARKLE apart. In continuation of its efforts, SPARKLE is pleased to announce a Lifetime Warranty for all SPARKLE Graphics Cards."
 
While I do have quality reservations about a few nvidia partner brands, Sparkle is not one of them. They seem to be producing quite noisy cards recently, but apart from that they still seem one of the better partners.
 
I did see one issue about the GTX480 AMP from Zotac - Evidently , the fan shroud tends to flex when mounted and hits one of the fans. I guess that Zalman had some quality issues also since the review I was reading said that they tried another cooler off of the shelf and it rubbed the same. Techs at Zotac said just to remove the shroud. Not good when the techs start telling you to remove parts from your card....:(
 
shizzdizzle said:
A lot of the brands like sparkle use cheaper less reliable capacitors, so make sure your card has a good warranty if you do buy a sparkle.
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Sparkle does not use shitty capacitors.... Also, they have good warranty...
They are just not eye catching like EVGA or ASUS, but its there and decent to good.

So far from what I have seen is HIS/Zotac/XFX/Sapphire... maybe Galaxy (Their recent models are not bad, but bad history still follows)
 
Don't even start that. Even better known brands use shit caps on a lot of their models. XFX is notorious for using Sacon FZ caps..
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XFX is one of the most overrated brands out there. Its too bad they have a good color scheme to draw customers in. They probably use some of the worst capacitors of any brand on newegg. Their lifetime warranty is good, but an obvious necessity for XFX cards.

I should have noted that I have not dealt with a sparkle branded card in over a year so their quality could very well have gone up, as it sounds like it has.
 
I was a little concerned by the appearance of my 4830 from a component perspective but the fact that I don't know anyone with an XFX non-ref card that's failed (and I know several with non-ref XFX cards) compared to the dismal record of Sapphire means they must be doing something right.
 
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