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what's the difference between these two cards?

Different coolers. Both are non reference XFX.

As for your othyer question... I don't have an easy answer to that. Normally, near the PCIe slot, there would be a "AMD" logo if it's reference, but that is only for the HD5800 series, AFAIK.
 
The first card with new egg-shaped cooler is a newer revision. From what I have read, people who have this version have mentioned that temps seem to be on the higher side, and the fact that it does not exhaust hot air out the back of the computer also drives up overall system temps as well. Some have commented how it's relatively loud as well, though, that is a subjective area altogether.

The second card just has a cooler that does exhaust air out of the back of the computer.

Otherwise, both cards have similar specs and clocks and both are also non-reference boards, which lack voltage control. As jeremyshaw mentioned above, one of the tell-tale signs for a reference card is the AMD logo. The other would be the squirrel cage fan that is located at the edge of the card instead of the regular fans that you see in the middle of the card like the above XFX cards. Also, the PCIe power plugs are located on the side of the card whereas almost all non-reference cards that I have seen generally put them on the end of the card.

Hope that helps. :)
 
Dredoc said:
As the title suggests, these cards seem identical other than the obvious difference with the housing for the fan and 30 bucks on the price?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150494

and this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150477

Next question for a computer rookie, how do I tell if any of these cards coming from XFX, Sapphire, etc. are "reference cards?"

Thanks
Click to expand...

Other people suggested more sophisticated ways, but I like the Quick and Dirty method of simply googling for "reference 5850" or "reference 5870" or whatever, on Google Images. Another way to do it is to search for review sites' reviews of a particular GPU when it first comes out, and looking at the detailed photos there.
 
I have the second card and am happy with it.
 
All reference cards have the exact same enclosure and fan as the original ATI design. The fan is a blower that blows air through the heatsink and is situated at the end of the card, whereas the non-reference ones have a fan in the middle of the card that sits on top of the heatsink and cools it like a typical CPU cooler would.
 
From what i've been reading, the egg shaped one pulls heat away from the core better, but since there's no exhaust, the entire case gets warmer. Only get the egg shaped one if you have good ventilation in your case already.
 
Sly said:
From what i've been reading, the egg shaped one pulls heat away from the core better, but since there's no exhaust, the entire case gets warmer. Only get the egg shaped one if you have good ventilation in your case already.
Click to expand...

and definitely get the one that vents out the back(aka batmobile card) if you do dual cards, so that the cards dont just output heat to each other
 
The HD-587A-ZNF9 is the XFX reference model. I have one, and am probably getting another in the next week. My E-tailer had an order that never got paid for, so it's sitting there in the warehouse. They emailed/phoned the buyer with no response and if they don't respond by today it's mine! :)

I like the reference models as they are volt-moddable!
 
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