What is the best, hands down, brand of nVidia card.

I

InorganicMatter

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And when I say that, I mean the most badass, top-of-the-line card that will give me the best performance, the least down-time, regaurless of the price.
 
sac_tagg said:
And when I say that, I mean the most badass, top-of-the-line card that will give me the best performance, the least down-time, regaurless of the price.
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BFG is doing nice with its OC line of 6800 cards, even has a warrantied water cooling solution.
Same goes for Gainward....
 
I will second the Gainward. Man I have just been pimping them all over lately. I guess that is what happens when you get consistantly good....balls to the wall products from them.
 
BFG's warranty and quality are very good, and their tech support is timely and friendly.

I've never had a Gainward, but I've heard good things about them and their Golden Sample line.
 
I've had both...a gainward ti200 golden sample and a BFG 5900 non-ultra...the gainward is still running strong in my brother in laws computer.

both companies are top notch as far as i am concerned.
 
Any company that names itself after a "Big F*uckin Gun" has my vote. Seriously, I gotta agree with the other guys, BFG and Gainward.
 
I have to agree with BFG and Gainward, but I'm going to throw eVGA into the mix. I researched into the different vendors before purchasing my eVGA. eVGA also released their own version of the LE which were 6800U's that weren't up to quality control for one reason or another, so they crippled the cards, and sold them for $300 and almost ALL unlocked to Ultras...you just needed good case cooling. Only problem was, almost EVERYONE bought them just to unlock them, and inturn alot of them died. I'm not sure how many died because of overclocking and how many just from normal useage, but eVGA offered a setup to a GT for $25 and to an Ultra (forget how much for the ultra) and would install the copper block free of charge. To me, that's great customer service, even if alot of people broke them themselves ;)

So I say eVGA, BFG, and Gainward.
 
out of the 3 6800 cards i've owned, the BFG 6800GT was my favorite. the PNY 6800GT and Ultra just didn't do it for me, and their "Lifetime" warranty sucks ass. BFG on the other hand has a good Lifetime warranty.
 
I really dont think there are much performance differences between the card makers, so you need to look at features (some change the stock fans etc), whats in the box (software/accessories), warranty, and of course price.

I would steer clear of pny though, I dont like companies that pull phony stuff like their product lifetime warranty.
 
I have both an eVGA Geforce4 Ti4400 and an eVGA Geforce 6800. The one time I needed to RMA my Ti4400, I had no trouble doing so through eVGA. They even sent me a thank you letter for being patient with replacing the card :p My 6800 unlocked pipelines and the vertex shader, as well as reaching speeds of 435/940.

eVGA has my vote.
 
mentok1982 said:
Check out this poll.

Nvidia poll


It speaks for itself.
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I believe there is a difference between own and "best."
Look at all the poor saps with the PNY 6800s from CompUSA's black friday deal.
 
Hands down BFG. Since they came on the scene Ive been more than happy with em...theyve pretty much got me for life :)
 
MeanieMan said:
I believe there is a difference between own and "best."
Look at all the poor saps with the PNY 6800s from CompUSA's black friday deal.
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that poll is older than the black friday deals, alot of people with older pny's (such as myself) have gotten great cards
 
Xxplosiv said:
that poll is older than the black friday deals, alot of people with older pny's (such as myself) have gotten great cards
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The point still stands. ;)
 
What about MSI? They have absolutely excellent software bundles and great copper cooling solutions on all their cards. They have a 3 year warranty, and they overclock excellently. I vote MSI!
 
BFG's non-NVidia (the flashy chromed out heatpipe hsf with the blue lights) cooling sucks IMO. Too loud and not as effective as the stock hsf. I vote:
1) Leadtek (better stock HSF, looks great)
2) BFG (lifetime warranty = awesome, waterblock model is sweet)
3) Gainward
4) All others...
 
I noticed this Gigabyte 6800NU the other day. I wonder how it'd perform? It looks good, but it would be hard to pass up BFG's true lifetime warranty or EVGA's step-up program.
 
Visable-assassin said:
I cant hear the thing over my Panaflo L1A's man...its quiet.
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I own a 6800OC, and it is pretty loud once you load up a game. I use a Zalman 7000alcu, 150mm Papst and a 120mm thermaltake @ 7V, and the BFG is much louder than my old BBA 9800pro. Maybe mine has different fans or something :confused: I would install a Silencer on my BFG, but I cant afford another card right now in case something goes wrong ;)

Also, when in a Linux CLI session (no gui loaded) the fans are always spinning at the max, which is quite annoying :(
 
saturnine2 said:
I own a 6800OC, and it is pretty loud once you load up a game. I use a Zalman 7000alcu, 150mm Papst and a 120mm thermaltake @ 7V, and the BFG is much louder than my old BBA 9800pro. Maybe mine has different fans or something :confused: I would install a Silencer on my BFG, but I cant afford another card right now in case something goes wrong ;)

Also, when in a Linux CLI session (no gui loaded) the fans are always spinning at the max, which is quite annoying :(
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Its possible. But I know when I turn all my fans down (rheobus) I cant hear the card at all during a doom 3 fest or HL2 game. Weird :confused:
 
From my own personal experience, I'd say MSI, as my Ti4200 from them was an exceptional card, and Gainward, as my 6800 GT Golden Sample simply kicks ass..

I only wish Gainward had a better warranty, but the way I view it, if it hasn't died after a year, it probably won't die for awhile, and will last in a few systems over the years..
 
I'll second gainward, my fx 5200 is rock solid even when heavily OCed, and their Ti4200 was my baby for a long time. Just picked up a BFG 6800nu and i must say it looks nice, comes with far cry, and has a kickass warranty. Gotta figure out how far i can push it though before i render a final verdict.
 
i would go for a BFG or what ever has the best software bundle but might want to stay away form pny
 
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