what are brands worth? (XFX vs Asus)

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Valset

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I am looking at getting a 5850 for the time being but came up to a snag. I almost always recommend XFX for the customer service and warranty. but upon looking at the cards the XFX was 60 dollars more then the Asus.(or 1.2 times the cost) and Asus is a decent brand. that makes it a little hard to swallow here. that is two thirds the way to a 5870. (299 to 359, with a 5870 at 399). I am having an issue with that. while I am very tempted to go with the better company the cheapskate in me wants to just spend the extra 40 dollars and get the better product or save the 60 dollars and wait for the refresh.

so the point of this thread is please try and push me one direction. as stupid as this seems its bugging me.

edit, the sapphire is only 286 shipped for me. damn that is tempting. now if only Sapphire CS didn't suck..............
 
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Falling Anvil said:
So where are you buying your 5850 from?
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I was thinking TG via amazon (have gift cards to use up) but the prices are from newegg. except the $286 sapphire, its from Buy.com via amazon. with the way newegg is lately I am more pro TG anyways.
 
Falling Anvil said:
Oh, because I know Newegg has an XFX 5850 for 309.99 + shipping, hence my question.
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I found it. hum, its seems I was causing myself unnecessary thinking here. its right here. TG must have the OC card linked instead of the regular. (it list the clock as 725) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150442. I may have to order from Newegg instead.

thanks for pointing it out to me, I really should have caught that myself. 10 bucks over the asus is a no brainer. I may have to email Amazon if I want to use my gift cards.
 
I was in the same situation with 5870, i went with the cheaper Sapphire, no problems so far (knock on wood).
 
I have found that reference cards are pretty much the same across the board. I have owned XFX, Sapphire, EVGA, ASUS, etc...and I have never really had a problem with any of them in any gen.
 
of all the lifetime warranty manufacturers i have heard the most horror stories about xfx. as in difficulty receiving warranty service or having broken cards shipped back. I am not a fan of evga any longer, but that is simply due to draconian policies regarding registration etc. (not that they are a point of topic being that they are an nvidia distributor). Personally i would grab an asus or a gigabyte all things being equal. I am most likely going to grab the asus card myself. Never had an issue with their motherboard rma's....and i have rma'd some...let's say, questionable boards...never had an issue.
 
If you are in the US you cant beat xfx and evga when it comes to customer service. I have read way too many horror stories about asus and other brands when people go to RMA cards.

Is registering a card within 30 days really that hard to do? Draconian? Really?
 
What I find strange with me e-tailer is the 5850's are as you describe, XFX being the most expensive, but in the 5870 line, the XFX's are the cheapest. *shrug*
 
Little_4nic8er said:
What I find strange with me e-tailer is the 5850's are as you describe, XFX being the most expensive, but in the 5870 line, the XFX's are the cheapest. *shrug*
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I am thinking that its a error given the newegg prices.
 
Valset said:
I am thinking that its a error given the newegg prices.
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It's been like that for months on back ordered cards. Meaning I'm sure they would have corrected it by now if it were not intentional. Plus I have specifically pointed it out an still they remain.

I am by no means complaining seeing I want a second XFX 5870 down the road.
 
I haven't had any issues with Asus except their graphics cards, and their CS is terrible to say the least, so I'm not buying another from them. Their MBs and whatnot are fine though and I still use them.

I just bought an XFX 5870 mostly because of the "double lifetime warranty", which is useful especially if you plan to resell. So far no issues.
 
Manaknight said:
of all the lifetime warranty manufacturers i have heard the most horror stories about xfx. as in difficulty receiving warranty service or having broken cards shipped back. I am not a fan of evga any longer, but that is simply due to draconian policies regarding registration etc. (not that they are a point of topic being that they are an nvidia distributor). Personally i would grab an asus or a gigabyte all things being equal. I am most likely going to grab the asus card myself. Never had an issue with their motherboard rma's....and i have rma'd some...let's say, questionable boards...never had an issue.
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The negative comments about XFX come from people living outside the United States. Thats because their service in their own countries is a lot worse than it is over here. There warranty is also totally different than it is over here, they don't get any lifetime warranty.

I've returned a dead 7900 card to XFX once, they no longer made the card at the time, and XFX let me choose which card I wanted in exchange. The cards rated faster they charged a fee for, but it was very reasonable to me... but I chose the free card in exchange, which was still faster than the one I sent in.
 
i would probably give XFX another try, last time i tried them it was a DOA and bad CS experience.. If i was to pick a brand it would be ASUS at this point.
 
For Asus RMA I just drive out to Fremont and hand it in myself. I usually have my replacement within 3 hours. :) Asus all the way for me!

Also, for me Asus's 3 year warranty is plenty good. Though lifetime sounds great, if I get 3 years out of my card I'm more than happy. I usually upgrade every 2 anyway.
 
CruisD64 said:
For Asus RMA I just drive out to Fremont and hand it in myself. I usually have my replacement within 3 hours. :) Asus all the way for me!

Also, for me Asus's 3 year warranty is plenty good. Though lifetime sounds great, if I get 3 years out of my card I'm more than happy. I usually upgrade every 2 anyway.
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Wait really, they do that?
 
My last 2 cards have been XFX. I can't complain about the service because I have not had to use it, but I like the idea of the lifetime warranty, and both of the cards have been of good quality (and 8800 GTX and a 4870x2). At this point I will continue to buy from them.
 
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