Which 6790 brand

S

strikerP4

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 1, 2003
Messages
268
I know they are pretty much all reference designs right now but which one should I get? HIS Sapphire, Powercolor, ect...

Thoughts?
 
I've been waiting for the ASUS ones to come back in stock. They have an all aluminum heatsink shroud for better heat dissipation, much better than the standard plastic shroud ones everyone else is selling. Aside from that ASUS includes their own overclocking and voltage tweaking tool.
 
I'll have to wait for 6790's to launch before I make my judgement ;)

I just bought an XFX 6950 to flash to 6970 because of their warranty. This will be my first ATI card since the agp days and the 9800pro.
 
I grabbed the XFX, but as you pointed out, all are reference designs at this point.
 
I had 2 Sapphire 5870's in CrossfireX. Hardware wise, the cards were great. Shitty drivers though...
 
The warranty is really the only difference in the product at this point.

My choice would be (based on experience with my ATI/AMD GPUs):

ASUS.....just seems to be a little bit above the rest in overall look,performance and the Voltage tweak.
XFX.....ONLY because of the transferable warranty.
MSI.....they build good GPUs.Generally have features that unlock with Afterburner.
Sapphire.....nothing wrong with their vanilla cards, warranty service is fine but a little slow.

American companies......XFX, VisionTek and Diamond......I have no experience with Diamond or VisionTek.
 
magoo said:
The warranty is really the only difference in the product at this point.

My choice would be (based on experience with my ATI/AMD GPUs):

ASUS.....just seems to be a little bit above the rest in overall look,performance and the Voltage tweak.
XFX.....ONLY because of the transferable warranty.
MSI.....they build good GPUs.Generally have features that unlock with Afterburner.
Sapphire.....nothing wrong with their vanilla cards, warranty service is fine but a little slow.

American companies......XFX, VisionTek and Diamond......I have no experience with Diamond or VisionTek.
Click to expand...

Technically the warranties on the Asus and MSI are transferable, since they are under warranty for 3 years from manufacture date. You don't have to register and don't need an invoice.
 
so, is a GPU much use after 3 years anyway? At that point it's worth what? $50? I honestly don't see much point in considering lifetime vs 3 year warranty as a purchase decision.
 
magoo said:
ASUS.....just seems to be a little bit above the rest in overall look,performance and the Voltage tweak.
Click to expand...
This is the only truly different product from the rest of the pack of reference designs. They have an all aluminum heatsink shroud as opposed to the plastic ones everyone else is using.

...I have no experience with Diamond or VisionTek.
Click to expand...
Diamond is a very old school brand, but this is not the same company of old. Someone purchased the brand name when it went into bankruptcy/liquidation several years ago, same with Visiontek (which is still based out of Illinois if I recall correctly). The very first 3d video card I bought was the 3Dfx Voodoo based Diamond Monster 3D. Good memories.
 
Lorien said:
I've been waiting for the ASUS ones to come back in stock. They have an all aluminum heatsink shroud for better heat dissipation, much better than the standard plastic shroud ones everyone else is selling. Aside from that ASUS includes their own overclocking and voltage tweaking tool.
Click to expand...

I did not know this. Thank you.:D
 
ObiDamnKenobi said:
so, is a GPU much use after 3 years anyway? At that point it's worth what? $50? I honestly don't see much point in considering lifetime vs 3 year warranty as a purchase decision.
Click to expand...

$50 that can be used is better than a $50 paper weight.

Also, most only have a 2 year warranty, while few have 3 years.
 
The price, warranty and the package content are the only differences at this point. I picked up the Sapphire one because of its low price and the mini-DP to DP adapter that is included in the box.
 
Look at the included accessories in the box. Some come with more, some with less.
The ASUS overvoltage program works well on the Fermi cards, but doesn't achieve anything on the 6970 cards, Reviews are online.

Otherwise, it comes down to warranty.
 
XFX will send you all the adapters you need for free, just send them an email.

I got an XFX for warranty purposes. I tend to sell my hardware after a couple years, and the transferable lifetime warranty is a nice selling point.
 
None of the 6900 series cards can be voltage-tweaked AFAIK. I've been waiting patiently for when they are.
 
magoo said:
The warranty is really the only difference in the product at this point.

My choice would be (based on experience with my ATI/AMD GPUs):

ASUS.....just seems to be a little bit above the rest in overall look,performance and the Voltage tweak.
XFX.....ONLY because of the transferable warranty.
MSI.....they build good GPUs.Generally have features that unlock with Afterburner.
Sapphire.....nothing wrong with their vanilla cards, warranty service is fine but a little slow.

American companies......XFX, VisionTek and Diamond......I have no experience with Diamond or VisionTek.
Click to expand...

XFX is hong kong based, not American companies....
 
Lifetime warranties on items that lose 90%+ of their value within 3 years are completely pointless and that is exactly why they are offered so cheaply. I bought Diamond, saved a little money, and my benchmarks are just the same as all the other reference cards.
 
DefBringer said:
Lifetime warranties on items that lose 90%+ of their value within 3 years are completely pointless and that is exactly why they are offered so cheaply. I bought Diamond, saved a little money, and my benchmarks are just the same as all the other reference cards.
Click to expand...

Meh, in my experience of having to RMA highend cards that are more than two years old, you generally get something newer and more power efficient but with the same performance in return. At the very least it ensures you will always have a decent backup card.
 
This does create a predicament. On the one hand, the XFX warranty is nice. My brother in law has received no less tha 3 different 4850's from them under warranty with no questions asked. On the other hand, the build quality of the Asus with the all aluminum cooler just screams "Get Me!" And from an "H" point, the all aluminum cooler will help dissipate heat better. And I'm sure Asus has better quality control than what I've seen from XFX.

What to do?
 
Yeah, I was in the same boat - Newegg finally got some Asus' back in stock today and I grabbed two. I bought the 6800 Ultra when it first came out from XFX (620$) - I had it stashed in the closet for like two years after upgrading and I got it out one day to find it didn't work. So, like five years later XFX RMAs it for a 9800 GTX. Thought that was cool. But yeah, I went with Asus this time due to the build quality.
 
tikiman2012 said:
This does create a predicament. On the one hand, the XFX warranty is nice. My brother in law has received no less tha 3 different 4850's from them under warranty with no questions asked. On the other hand, the build quality of the Asus with the all aluminum cooler just screams "Get Me!" And from an "H" point, the all aluminum cooler will help dissipate heat better. And I'm sure Asus has better quality control than what I've seen from XFX.

What to do?
Click to expand...

that "aluminum" thing is just a sticker on top.... nothing more nothing less.
Go Check it yourself if you don't trust me..

All I can say is ASUS marketing Success right there... :p
 
shansoft said:
XFX is hong kong based, not American companies....
Click to expand...


Technically, nothing we buy is "American", every board is made in China somewhere.....

XFX support is here in the US and in my interaction with them, always english speaking and quite helpful.

Most others except for EVGA are a mixed bag.
 
Lol at the fake aluminum sticker. I have read a lot of threads of people reccomending that card because of the aluminum shroud haha.

Im using my XFX 6970 in a 1680x1050 res, the idle temps are 40-42c while under load it was hiting 82-84c. I knocked it down by about 8c by lowering the Power Control settings to -10%. At my res it is still more than enough power, but for everyone running higher res and eyefinity that may not be an option.

I can't comment on the XFX build quality as this is my first card from them, but I think it is no brainer to go with them for their warranty. Even if you dont plan on keeping your card for more than 2-3 years it will be a good selling point to whoever buys it from you.
 
I just noticed the Asus "aluminum label' cooler. How is a metal sticker on top of a plastic design reference fan shroud suppose to keep it cooler.
 
The sticker and reviews implied that the entire cooler is aluminum. And until now, I haven't heard anything else. Kind of disappointing.

Either way, I just pulled the trigger on an XFX6850 after this thread.

Will report back with success or failure.
 
I'm laughing about the aluminum sticker. I too have seen raving about the aluminum shroud all over the net. However, even if it was 100% aluminum it wouldn't make a substantial difference in cooling performance. I'd be concerned about some harmonic developing between the shroud and the fan. Would probably be louder then a plastic shroud.
 
tikiman2012 said:
The sticker and reviews implied that the entire cooler is aluminum. And until now, I haven't heard anything else. Kind of disappointing.

Either way, I just pulled the trigger on an XFX6850 after this thread.

Will report back with success or failure.
Click to expand...

Hopefully you mean 6950?
 
Anyone care to enlighten an Nvidia owner new to the wonderful world of AMD-ness which brands are quality, and which not so much?

The Asus aluminium "sticker" doesn't sound like something I'd bother holding out for, and the Asus 6950 is out of stock again at newegg. Does Asus have any better quality overall? Sounds like XFX, or maybe Gigabyte are the brands to look at. Hoping to pull the trigger soon, and Gigabyte at $299 w/FS is currently the cheapest..
 
You guys do realize that physically all of these 6970's are the same reference design right? They get shipped out from nVidia to the respective distributing "companies" just to apply different bios's, stickers and packaging.
 
Vega said:
You guys do realize that physically all of these 6970's are the same reference design right? They get shipped out from nVidia to the respective distributing "companies" just to apply different bios's, stickers and packaging.
Click to expand...

Do you mean shipped out from AMD?
 
Vega said:
You guys do realize that physically all of these 6970's are the same reference design right? They get shipped out from nVidia to the respective distributing "companies" just to apply different bios's, stickers and packaging.
Click to expand...

If you'd read my original post you'd see that I already said this. What I was looking for really came down to a recommendation on brand based on warranty, support, and extra
 
what about the software utilities from each of the brands? See MSI has some Afterburner thing, Asus has their own, etc. Can't find any info about XFX though.. Any one of these better than the others? Or, as Vega points out, since the core of the card is the same anyway, are these utilities interchangeable? Can I use MSI afterburner to adjust an XFX card? Sorry if this is a stupid question, I haven't owned that many GPUs..:)
 
Yeah, I ordered an XFX 6970 today based of their US support, lifetime warranty and that fact that it can be transferred if I decide to sell in the future. My second choice would have probably have been Sapphire, based off of past ownership.
 
ObiDamnKenobi said:
what about the software utilities from each of the brands? See MSI has some Afterburner thing, Asus has their own, etc. Can't find any info about XFX though.. Any one of these better than the others? Or, as Vega points out, since the core of the card is the same anyway, are these utilities interchangeable? Can I use MSI afterburner to adjust an XFX card? Sorry if this is a stupid question, I haven't owned that many GPUs..:)
Click to expand...

I am also coming from an extended stay in the green camp, I haven't bled red since the 9800pro...

MSI Afterburner is vendor agnostic so no worries there, I chose XFX because having a lifetime warranty for myself and being able to pass it along when I resell increases both my peace of mind and potential future returns.
 
Ended up sending my XFX back after I could hear something lose moving around in the card. This was first XFX GPU, so I really was expecting better QC. Might have just been a screw, but my greatest fear was that it was a capacitor or something like that. I ended up ordering a MSI 6970 in it's place, so far it's been rock solid, was $40 less, comes with a much better bundle and a 3 yr warranty.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top