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What does "reference" design mean?

E

erf

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 13, 2005
Messages
1,848
I keep seeing the term "reference" being mentioned in relation to certain video cards.

Example:

Don't buy "insert brand name here"'s video card because it isn't a reference design, and is built cheaply.

Sorry If my question is straight up noobliness but I haven't a clue what this means and it seems I wouldn't want to buy a card that isn't a "reference" card.

Thanks.
 
A reference card is what the GPU designer (NVIDIA,ATI) creates as a finished product, and often times distributors use that design as a "reference" to design their cards like it (and throw a sticker on top)
 
A "reference" design is as the chipmaker lays out the PCB/board for the whole card, and recommends manufacturers use when building their video cards. A non-reference design is a customized/modified/reworked one by a specific manufacturer, usually not for the better (generally to cut costs or add a flashy marketing cooling solution), though occasionally they are for higher-quality parts like the VRM's for power.
 
reference refers to the original design. before special coolers and such are applied for better/worse performance. there are several "references" to this reference design in the hard reviews. waaaaaiiiitttt a minute.....says you're a god....are you fucking with me?
 
chinesepiratefood said:
A reference card is what the GPU designer (NVIDIA,ATI) creates as a finished product, and often times distributors use that design as a "reference" to design their cards like it (and throw a sticker on top)
Click to expand...
So are reference cards to be considered better???

Also, when shopping for a card, how would I tell if it's a "reference" card?
 
Reference cards generally oc better. If that doesn't matter to you then the cards are equal.
 
Non-reference designs come in two types. Changed to be cheaper; these generally suck as overclockers. Changed for extreme performance, these tend to be extremely expensive.

You ID reference designs by the fact that aside from the sticker they look identical to every other card on the market.
 
DanNeely said:
Non-reference designs come in two types. Changed to be cheaper; these generally suck as overclockers.
Click to expand...

When new cards are launched, the manufacturer (eg: XFX, Sapphire) would have cards based on the reference designs. These are usually the best cards.

After a month or so, or after the engineers get to play with the designs, the manufacturers can drop certain features (like voltage adjustment) and use cheaper capacitors and crappier heatsinks to drop costs.

DanNeely said:
Changed for extreme performance, these tend to be extremely expensive.

You ID reference designs by the fact that aside from the sticker they look identical to every other card on the market.
Click to expand...

The ASUS Matrix/ARES cards are examples that goes beyond the reference designs and they overclock well, since the chips are cherry picked afaik.
 
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