GPU Brands

Best GPU Brand You Have Used

  • Total voters
    27
  • Poll closed .
B1nary

B1nary

New member
Hey guys

Just a thread to get some feedback on GPu Brands and experiences I'm wondering what the track record is for all the various manufacturers. Of the bat i'm particularly curious about PowerColor.

Leave some comments stories of Joy and woe and anything else you want to chuck in regarding pro's and con's with brands you have used.
 
Stay away from Sparkle and PowerColor imho.
Gigabyte is just too over priced.

MSI (I voted for and own) and EVGA are my brands of choice.
 
No Sapphire?
Unfortunately, don't have any experience with Powercolor.

Me experience with GPU brands so far...

ASUS HD5850
Pro:
- does everything expected
Con:
- Cleaning the stock cooler is a mission
- started to coil whine in certain application/games

Sapphire HD6870 flex running strong over 3 years.
Pro:
- Wide array of ports, one of the first cards to support 5 screens.
- Vapour-x cooler that does the job really well (quieter than reference cooler)
Cons:
- Blue PCB
- Difficult to clean the fan

Inno3D 660ti:
Pros:
- Reference PCB, easy to install watercooling on it
- Small form, fits into M-ITX case very well if you take off the ref cooler
- Competitive price

Con:
- Lacks after-sale support. Don't expect firmware updates on their site.

Also have a +-5 years MSI nvidia gtx9600 running in the download rig.
Pro:
- One of the first OC version cards I owned
- Single slot cooling solution
- Nice sticker on cooler shroud
Cons:
- The cooler is loud
- Runs hot!
 
Gigabyte. Used to be an exclusive Leadtek fan, yet I've been a super Gigabyte fan with their Lekker Warranty.
 
GPU Experience so far:

KFA[SUP]2[/SUP] GTX670 EX OC
- Re-branded Galaxy card (something not found locally)
- no problems at all so far. Cooler on it is very good and quiet
- went for KFA because it was quite a bit cheaper than any other brand

Asus GTX570
- No problems
- Runs a bit hot with the stock cooler when pushed really hard

BFG GTX275
- Never had any problems, sold it to a friend some time ago and it is still running at 6years old.

I had an 8800GT before that, but can't remember what brand it was :D
It also served me well.
 
Well I can't post all my cards but I've used every brand extensively including the ones not found in SA.

Best performing brand by miles: Msi and Gigabyte
Worst performing brand by a country mile: Powercolor

Brands I don't like dealing with:
Asus (They used to be fantastic but unfortunately they've lost the plot)
Gainward (The newer Gainward cards aren't well made, I've installed the new phantom into a friends pc and it was no where near as good as their older cards from a quality perspective)

Fav international brand: Galaxy now known as Galax (Surprise coming with this brand..Unfortunately I am not allowed to say yet)
 
The Joker said:
Well I can't post all my cards but I've used every brand extensively including the ones not found in SA.

Best performing brand by miles: Msi and Gigabyte
Worst performing brand by a country mile: Powercolor

Brands I don't like dealing with:
Asus (They used to be fantastic but unfortunately they've lost the plot)
Gainward (The newer Gainward cards aren't well made, I've installed the new phantom into a friends pc and it was no where near as good as their older cards from a quality perspective)

Fav international brand: Galaxy now known as Galax (Surprise coming with this brand..Unfortunately I am not allowed to say yet)
Click to expand...

When it comes to the power color is it just the performance that's lacking or the quality as well?
I was looking at reviews earlier today and it seems that some of the Cards like the R9 270x especially the devil range do quite well
 
Glordit said:
So no Galaxy, Inno3D, HIS, Sapphire or Zotac?
Click to expand...

Wanted to go with the most popular brands forgot about sapphire, Is there anyway of changing the Poll?

Also if my Rig runs a 560 ti it should be fine with a r9 285, anybody want to weigh in on this.
 
B1nary said:
When it comes to the power color is it just the performance that's lacking or the quality as well?
I was looking at reviews earlier today and it seems that some of the Cards like the R9 270x especially the devil range do quite well
Click to expand...

There are a lot of factors but the main issue is they skimp on certain parts, hence the reason they are so cheap.
I know for a fact that some of their R9 and R7 series cards use thinner pcb's, they also tend to have poor cooling solutions and I've pulled a brand new card out of the box and to my surprise it looked like someone had bent the pcb (Card worked but it was warped most likely due to the thin PCB)
 
The Joker said:
There are a lot of factors but the main issue is they skimp on certain parts, hence the reason they are so cheap.
I know for a fact that some of their R9 and R7 series cards use thinner pcb's, they also tend to have poor cooling solutions and I've pulled a brand new card out of the box and to my surprise it looked like someone had bent the pcb (Card worked but it was warped most likely due to the thin PCB)
Click to expand...

What about the PCS+ editions? I'm actually looking at ordering a Powercolor R290 PCS+ this week...
 
I'm using a gainward gtx 550ti golden sample and running far cry 4 on low. I think Sapphire is the specialist in amd cats and gainward in nvidia. EVGA are good for cooling from what I've heard and Asus. Vest bet would be gigabyte/ gainward for nvidia or Sapphire and EVGA for amd.

I looked at power color and think their cards especially pcs+ and think they are more budget orientated cards. They won't last as long as say an Asus but will work well and cooling ain't as good. I suggest look at opinions and reviews.
 
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