Hi All I was wondering if there is any difference between the different graphics card brands? i.e. Comparing the same base reference card what is the difference between each of the brands (Palit, Zotec, Gigabyte, MSI etc...). Apart from the price, is there a difference? Thanks
When a card is first released, all the samples on the market will, usually, be manufactuered by the originating developer (eg, Nvidia, ATI). Over time the OEMs behind graphics card brands will start building thier own cards, in thier own factories, just with the GPUs provided by the originating company. This is where we see partner cards with custom PCBs, custom coolers, extra power sockets and so on. These will obviously vary significantly. Basically, if you buy a stock card, chances are it'll have come from Nvidia/ATI and in which case, they'll all be the same. This is the case with the GTX 580s on the market at the moment to my knowledge.
Thanks Baz Ok, so newer designs (such as the 580) are likely to be identical across the brands, at least at first. So say I wanted to buy a 580 right now, theres unlikely to be a difference between a Palit 580 and a Gigabyte 580 apart from the name (and the £30 or so price difference)?
From what I understand, that's correct. Same with point of view, evga etc. All the first run of cards are Nvidia produced, stock cooled sticker jobs, with the same hardware underneath.
Well. There's always your own peace of mind. For mine, I always buy ASUS for a generic card, and would only deviate if I wanted, say, a XXX OC Super built-in liquid cooling blah blah - and even then, I'd probably look to XFX to be my first port of call. Just knowing that my warranty would be honoured with a large, well-known company - and that firmware/bios updates would be issued in the case of rectifiable faults on purchase - I just wouldn't know how to feel about trusting say, Palit, with few hundred pounds of my latest build. (I'm sure they're fine, I just don't know enough to commit) TSB
Agreed, I'm biased towards XFX, Gigabyte, Asus, and now extinct BFG. Palit and POV just "seem" worse, although I'm sure they're much the same.
Yeah, especially with the initial reference designs. They just make absolutely no effort with their stickers/packaging - and that's when that's all they have to differentiate their product from the 50 other reference clones! Although I do recall something about Palit being a marketplace name used by a much larger, more trustworthy company... TSB
