Advice - Video Card brand trust/reliability?

Another question.. This is about brand quality/trust in Video Cards.. Would you rather get a ..

Gainward 7600GT Golden Sample 256MB DDR3 575MHz+ MHz

http://www.gainward.net/products/pro...products_id=46

Or a ..

XFX GeForce 7600GT XXX Edition 256meg DDR3 590 MHz

http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/...ion Id=186033

Due to budget issue's.. I'm not going to be able to afford the 7800GT like I wanted (if I hadn't had to replace my monitor I could have).. and the only 7600 GT's that are in my price range that I've ever heard of are XFX or Gainward..

The other brands are ASUS (Radeon AX800XT), ASUS 7600 GT (560mhz), Gigabyte 7600 GT (GV-NX76T256D-RH), Powercolor Radeon (X1800GTO, X1600XT, X800GTO) & Prolink 7600 GT. Don't really know how good/reliable these video cards are.. even the ones made by ASUS & Gigabyte (I've had dodgy MB's from Gigabyte.. so not sure I'd trust em with my video card..).

So yeah, I'd love any opinion's on this.. (they cost around the same price for me in Australia... so cost is not an issue here).

XFX is a better brand.

imo the xfx. but eather is good.

i'm running a geforce 6600gt (if i remember collrectly) by xfc.

Whichever is cheapest, both are referance PCB's your not really getting anything extra. IMO use the money saved to get something along the lines of a VF-900 - CU.

Customer service? If it were up to me, I'd go with the product from the company that has the best warranty/"oh noes the card is teh brokezorz wut i do" policy. (XFX wins?)

LEIK GET ONE MADE BY eVGA KAMATSU OH NOES~

Basically, the different mfg's now have to differentiate on clocks and extra goodies since quality's pretty high now compared to the past. You're fine with just about anything except crappy low-end brands like Elsa, but eVGA and BFGTech are generally regarded as the best for the green camp.

I too have had trouble with my Gigabyte mobo. The PCI/AGP, RAM sockets seem to allow dust to get inside and require regular cleanings to forestall problems.

DVD drive started exuding a sticky substance on the inner rim of CDs/DVDs, implying a disintegrating washer/gasket.

So I've promised myself no more Gigabyte henceforth.

So XFX > Gainward?

And as I said, they are around the same price - there is only like 2 dollar difference between the 2. So "getting the cheapest" is pointless advise if the cheapest is crappier

Ah wells, the XFX does run at a higher clock speed.. is that extra 15mhz really that big a performance gain/difference anyways? (just curious)..

Gainward gets my vote, been around for years making cards that are guaranteed to run outside of nvidia specifications.

Also the gainward uses samsung bj12 ddr3 which is rated for 800mhz (1600)
Where as the xfx uses samsung bc14 ddr3 which is rated at 700mhz (1400)

So the xfx already has the memory running well over manufacturers spec and the gainward has a lot of headroom left.

Its not just eVGA btw, its all of the "superclocked" cards, about 20% of the manufactured cards are duds, in which case any mfg would have to replace it. Warranty? :lol: Whats that? Hell all that i've ever seen minus the eVGA is voided simply by changing the stock cooler, let alone anything else i'm liable to do to the card. Clocks don't matter, and thus if your being honest the only thing that does is price

Gigabyte is known for their video cards. The above mentioned mobo problems are a different story, as far as graphics cards though, they're the best brand out there next to BFG. If you can find a PNY though out there, i'd go that route.

XFX = a death sentence have built plenty of PCs for people who want these cards and they just don't live up to their potential.

VERY IMPORTANT.
Be sure before buying any card to do a Specs. Comparison - a 7600GT isn't a 7600GT the same way on each brand. There are plenty of differences you cn find between each one.

Also if you want the opinion form people who have those brands of cards n their comps then go to www.newegg.com and look at reviews for the exact cards you want.

hmm.. the Only Gigabyta video card in my price range..

Gigabyte NX76T256D-RH GEF7600GT, 256MB, DDRIII

http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/VG...ProductID=2235

Based on reviews at newegg.. That seems to be a pretty good card. Funny how it can keep cool with no fan though.. which is a concern for me - since where I live, in summer it averages ~36^C (something like 90^F ? I'm not sure of conversion..).. so no fan is a concern.. or is the design of the heatsink enough that no fan is needed? (btw, I have no heat issue's at all with my current setup..)

BTW, this card is a fair wack cheaper as well.. which for me is.. interesting to say the least

Not to veer off-topic, but I had already pointed out that it's not just limited to eVGA only a few dozen times in my thread about the 7900GT(s) - it was meant as a sarcastic comment. You will want a card from a company that is good about handling replacement - PNY didn't/doesn't, so I ended up throwing away $160 (cheapest at the time) on a prior card that died for no apparent reason.

See above.

If you're really that worried, grab a tube of AS5 and a Zalman VF700Cu and replace the stock cooler. Should be fine as it is, but what do I know, leikamirite?

XFX, definitely.

MSI and Asus make good video cards too. I'd pick MSI over Gigabyte in a heartbeat.

I've never had a prob from Evga or Bfg cards...suppose Im just lucky

I use BFG OC cards in all my builds and have never had a single problem. I have built maybe 30 PC's for people in my town and not one complaint.