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hyper_somniac · 1st May 2010, 12:46

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.

masterjonny · 1st May 2010, 14:13

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.

Ph4ZeD · 1st May 2010, 14:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by masterjonny

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.

wuyanxu · 1st May 2010, 14:43

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.

TheManicGibbon · 1st May 2010, 19:00

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).

bulldogjeff · 1st May 2010, 19:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheManicGibbon

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

jbloggs · 1st May 2010, 19:37

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.
________
GLASS PIPE PICTURES

Sh0cKeR · 1st May 2010, 20:22

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.

Matarsak · 1st May 2010, 20:52

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. :P

MrGumby · 1st May 2010, 21:27

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.

Singularity · 1st May 2010, 22:26

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

The_Beast · 2nd May 2010, 00:32

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

barndoor101 · 2nd May 2010, 01:23

Sapphire and XFX

mycopia · 2nd May 2010, 01:36

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

confusis · 2nd May 2010, 02:20

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

Unicorn · 2nd May 2010, 11:47

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

Hamfunk · 2nd May 2010, 12:24

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.

hyper_somniac · 2nd May 2010, 12:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrGumby

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.

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.

barndoor101 · 2nd May 2010, 12:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamfunk

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.

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.

Matticus · 2nd May 2010, 12:50

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.

1st May 2010, 12:46	#1
hyper_somniac Minimodder Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 38	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.

1st May 2010, 14:13	#2
masterjonny Supermodder Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Leicestershire, UK Posts: 313	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. __________________ i7 3930K @ 4.5 \| Rampage IV \| 16GB Dominator Platinum @ 1866\| Dual Asus GTX TITAN \|Corsair H100i Corsair AX1200i \| 256GB OCZ Vertex 4 \| 2TB Seagate \| Asus Xonar Phoebus \| Corsair Obsidian 650D Corsair M90 \| Corsair K90 \| Corsair H1300 3DMark 11: X8849 \| Heaven Extreme: 2841 \| Valley Extreme HD: 4487

1st May 2010, 14:43	#4
wuyanxu still wants Homeworld 3 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Luton Posts: 9,784	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. __________________ i7 2700k \ 16GB \ gtx580 \ D2X \ z68x-UD5 \ m4 128GB +2TB \ Ax850 \ FT02-RW \ G15+G5+G51 \ U2711 27" 5D mkII \ 24-105 L \ 17-40 L \ 85/1.8 \ 35/2 \ 70-300 Di \ 270ExII \ 430ExII \ 3LT Adrian \ Hadley Pro -- Photostreamr

1st May 2010, 19:00	#5
TheManicGibbon I have no idea what's going on Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Scotland Posts: 426	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). __________________ Main Box: Intel Core i5-3570K // Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H // 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 // XFX HD7850 1GB OC // Crucial M4 256GB SSD // 4TB Storage // Antec Kuhler H2O 620 // CM690 II // Corsair CX600W // Sidewinder X8 // 2x19" Dell & BenQ G2222HDL Server: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 // 6GB Crucial DDR2 // Sapphire HD5670 1GB OC // 500GB HDD // JGM Software Development, Web, Consultancy: www.jgmsoftware.co.uk

1st May 2010, 19:37	#7
jbloggs Hypermodder Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 853	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. ________ GLASS PIPE PICTURES Last edited by jbloggs; 20th Aug 2011 at 21:33.

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1st May 2010, 20:22	#8
Sh0cKeR a=2(s-ut)/t² Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Hertfordshire,England Posts: 477	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. __________________ Core i7 920 D0 @ 4.0GHz 1.28v \| Asus Rampage II Extreme X58 \| Asus HD5870 1Gb Crossfire 1.003GHz Core, 5.200GHz Memory \| Silverstone TJ07 BW \| 6Gb Corsair Dominator @ 1603MHz \| Asus Xonar DX/XD PCI-E \| Enermax Revolution 1050W \| 1Tb Spinpoint F3 \| Thermochill PA120.4 Radiator \| Swiftech MCP 655 \|Swiftech Apogee XT CPU Block \| EK FC5870 Acetal Full Cover Blocks\| Dell 2209WA \| 100% Load Temperatures :\| CPU 62-60-60-57\| GPU 1 38 \| GPU 2 35

1st May 2010, 20:52	#9
Matarsak Multimodder Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 75	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. :P

1st May 2010, 21:27	#10
MrGumby CPC 464 User Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Wakefield Posts: 1,038	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.

1st May 2010, 22:26	#11
Singularity Supermodder Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Zagreb, Croatia Posts: 574	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 __________________ Q6600@3.25GHz / Prolimatech Megahalems \| EP45-UD3R \| 22GB G.Skill + 21GB Transcend 860MHz@CL4 \| MSI N460GTX-768D5 \| 3 HDDs=1.3TB \| Corsair VX550W \| Win 7 Pro \| Samsung SM2232BW + SM710MP ThinkPad R500 \| 15.4" WXGA \| T5870 \| 2*2 GB DDR3 \| X4500HD \| 128GB Kingston V100 \| Ubuntu 11.10 x64

2nd May 2010, 00:32	#12
The_Beast I like wood ಠ_ಠ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 7,379	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 __________________ - i7 3770k - MSI Z77A-GD65 - EVGA GTX 570 - 8Gb G.Skill Sniper (1.25v) - Fractal R3 Black - Corsair H50 - Corsair 750HX - Samsung 830 128Gb SSD - 6 Samsung F4EG 2TB - 2 WD Black 1TB - 2 WD Black 750GB - Dell UltraSharp U2410 - WASD V1 Custom - IBM Model M SSK - KBC Poker (Ergo-Clears) - Logitech Mx518 & G500 - Audio Technica AD700 - Logitech Z4 - Windows 7 Pro - Project: Make it Shine < - > Project: Make it Black

2nd May 2010, 01:23	#13
barndoor101 Bring back the demote thread! Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Clitheroe, Lancs Posts: 1,694	Sapphire and XFX __________________ Core i7 920 @ 4Ghz // 12Gb Crucial Ballistix 1600Mhz // Sapphire HD5870 Vapor-X (x2) // 3x Samsung 2333SW // Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB & F1 1TB // 160gb Intel G2 SSD // Asus Xonar DG Asus P6T SE // Antec EarthWatts 750W Modular // CM HAF922 // Corsair H100 // Logitech G11 & G5 Dell Studio 1737 // ASUS Transformer Prime

2nd May 2010, 01:36	#14
mycopia Multimodder Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: North West Posts: 72	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 __________________ Intel i5-750 - GA-P55-UD5 - Sapphire Vapour-X 4890 - G-Skill ECO 1.35v 4gb Cas. 7 - Samsung F3 1tb - Be Quiet Dark Pro 650w - Titan Fenrir - LG 2442PA-BF - Windows 7Home Premium - Antec 300 - Logitech G15 & G500

2nd May 2010, 02:20	#15
confusis Kiwi-modder Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 2,405	HIS - had my 4850 for 6 months now and no issues, VERY stable with a decent OC and the cooler is pretty much silent.

2nd May 2010, 11:47	#16
Unicorn Uniform November India Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 9,833	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 __________________ \|F@H Rack Farm Project\|†\|Server & Network Overhaul Project\|†\|Celica GT4 Project [PLANNING]\| Email

2nd May 2010, 12:24	#17
Hamfunk I AM KROGAN! Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Scotland, UK Posts: 462	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.

2nd May 2010, 12:50	#20
Matticus ... Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 3,022	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. __________________ ::i5 - 750::P55M-UD2::8GB Corsair::5850::CM Silent Pro Gold::F3 1TB::OCZ Vertex 2E:: ::giffgaff::