Graphics Whats everyone's preference on ATI card manufacturers?

Anyone has a preference for ATI card manufacturers?
Mine is probably Sapphire, but frankly I buy whichever's cheapest.
I'm asking because I'm looking for a HD5770, but they all look the same.

 

IMHO there's little difference, as long as you don't get the retailers own brand like the Scan range or whatever.

Sapphire position themselves as the ATi brand, similar to the way EVGA position themselves as the nvidia brand.

Asus tend to do stock cards of very high quality, and XFX tend to do pre overclocked cards. Different brands have their own philosophy's but at the end of the day it will do the same.

 

All the retailers own brand cards are rebranded cards made by other manufacturers. So your just getting the same thing.

 

cheapest card that is reference design. i won't settle for knock-off coolers nor am i willing to pay more for a brand.

for these ATI cards, however, it's worth considering Asus cards since they come unlocked, no CCC overclocking limit. i think some MSI cards are also unlocked.

 

I quite like Sapphire. I like their Vapor-X range, and whilst I cant afford them , a lot of their cards come with decent coolers (like the near-silent HD5670 with an aftermarket cooler made by Arctic Cooling).

 

I'd ave to agree with that, sapphire to turn out some decent gear

 

Usually have a good experience with Sapphire, but recently bought an Asus HD5850 and it is a very nice card, especially love the ability to tweak voltage...not too keen on HIS.
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GLASS PIPE PICTURES

 

The Asus EAH5870 was nicely packaged, easily besting that of my previous Evga gtx 285 ssc. As far as the 'goodies' go, the Smart Doctor program is a nice addition with its overvolting/overclocking and temperature monitoring - I haven't tried overclocking with it however. Considering I haven't purchased an ATI card in about two years ( the original HD4870 512mb version from Sapphire ), I don't really have any brand loyalty. If anything the brands from ATI and Nvidia are about equal on the support and quality side of things, but what I think ATI could really do with is an increased abundance of 3rd party software to compete with programs like Evga's excellent Precision overclocking tool. With the Catalyst drivers however, I feel ATI have done a good job, with the inbuilt temperature reading, overclocking and real time visual quality rendering being plus points over Nvidia. The only thing I would change would be the layout as the side bar with Nvidia makes navigation alot easier.

 

Another vote for Sapphire, here--I have a Vapor-X 5870 and it's fantastic (cool AND quiet). The piss-poor Poser stuff they use for ads/box art/stickers sucks, though.

 

I recently got the Asus 5770 Cucore. I went for it because it has a 3 not 2 year warranty a fairly decent cooler and voltage tweak for ocing.

 

Well, not intentionally, but I've only used Sapphire cards for... ages now. Radeon 7000, 9000, 9600, 2600XT, 4850, assorted 3450,4350 cards, and now a 5570 in my brother's machine. Not really going directly for it, but always end up buying sapphire

 

Sapphire, not because I like the brand (infact I dislike ATI card altogether) but because it was cheap and at the time I needed a cheap card

 

Sapphire and XFX

 

have a 4890 which by all accounts should sound like a jet engine - my version is the 1 gig sapphire vapour x and i don't even hear the thing - i am very pleased with this

 

HIS - had my 4850 for 6 months now and no issues, VERY stable with a decent OC and the cooler is pretty much silent.

 

Until recently, only Sapphire and HIS (for the same reasons everyone else has stated), but XFX make some really great looking and performing cards, so I've started recommending and supplying some XFX ATI cards as well

 

I chose Asus for my 4870X2 as it came with the best warranty. 3 years i think! When spending alot of money, warranty is a factor for me.

But have been looking at a powercolor 5870 PCS++ as it comes preoverclocked with a decent cooler and alot cheaper than the saphire vapor-x version, infact it's £30 more than the basic 5870 on overclockers.

Never been a fan of Saphire for some reason! Even though everyone seems to rate them quite highly these days.

 

What are the warranty terms on overclocking now? Does manual overclocking get you out of warranty? which would be ironic since every maufacturer is selling their cards on its ability to overclock.

 

powercolor have the worst after-sales support of any ATi manufacturer - even including XFX.

i had a choice of getting a powercolor PCS 9the one you are looking at), but the sapphire vapor-x is far and away better for not that much more.

 

Anything but powercolor . They are bloody awful, as barndoor said, they have the worst after-sales support of any ATi manufacturer company in the world.

Since I started watercooling, all I will be looking for is a card that is reference design and cheap. I might spend a few more on an asus or sapphire if it was reference design but had a nice bundle.

I really like gigabyte stuff, they are pretty cheap and the cards are solid and usually have a nice overclock as standard. But they are usually not reference design which would put me off them in the future.