Graphics What brand 8800GTS to buy?

So many choises and close to same price?
im helping a friend who want to but a 8800GTS.. he wants to use tiger direct but

there is like 4 or more diffrent brands all withing a $20 range. some are

"superclocked" some look better than others.. how do I know what one to recomend?

Thanks

 

the chip is basically the same so choose the brand you like, I my self would stay away from the preoverclocked ones as I had a bad experience with one 7900gt preoverclocked, so look for the one brand you own and trust, if not evga, bfg and asus are the most trusted brands I know

 

Evga and BFG have a lifetime warranty so they are usually a safe bet.

 

Yep nobody else has the same kind of after-sales support as these two.

 

For value, get Palit

 

That was a known issue with the 7900 GT's, it's never happened before (afaik) and the manufacturers were quite happy to RMA them with a seriously quick turnaround.

 

Get the cheap eVGA one, its nothing special, its just not factory overclocked so its not as expensive, if you want you can overclock it once you get it. I just ordered it, can't wait for it to get here!

 

BFG

 

if there not overclocked, buy the cheapest because there all the same just different badge on it

 

XFX broke records!!!

 

EVGA!

 

I used to use BFG until I switched to Vista and my 7950GX2 wouldn't work fully as it needs SLi to run both GPU's. I contacted BFG's support asking if they would replace my card with another model of equivilent performance that didn't need SLi for ful functionality and they simply responded by saying that it was a fault with the drivers, which was something I pointed out in my email anyway. After their "Built For Microsoft Vista" marketing was brought up they still said they wouldn't replace the card so I ebayed it for £200 added £20 of my own and switched to a single 8800GTS 640MB from Gainward.

To be fair, that's the only reason I wont buy BFG again. I can't justify buying from a company who falsley advertised its product and then offered tech support that basically consisted of repeating my own email back to me. Meh, every Gainward card I've ever had has always been a good clocker anyway so I'll be sticking with them.

 

It's unjustifiable to say that BFG's reputation should be tarnished just because they don't readily support Windows Vista off the bat.

Back in the day when companies used to produce their own variations of Nvidia or ATi drivers, you could probably get away with complaining as they have an obligation to have new drivers available for you.

But today almost all the drivers that come with your video card are straight from Nvidia or ATi. And thus, if Nvidia are late to release compatible software for your hardware, why is it BFG's fault?

Just for your info, the new beta drivers described on the Bit-Tech homepage might have fixed your problem.

 

eVGa or BFG are the best as far as I've been able to tell. However, do your friend a favor and use NewEgg. TigerDirect is pretty crappy compared to NewEgg, both in prices and in support as well as shipping.

 

how long's ASUS warranty?

 

EVGA because of the warranty & great step-up program....oh and their tech support are all really friendly.