BleepingComputer.com: Gpu: Evga Vs Other Brands?

What is the main difference between EVGA and other graphics card brands?

ie. If the same video card is Nvidia, one by evga and one by someone else, will there be hardware differences?
As in - will the EVGA brand function better, stay cooler, etc or is it exactly the same?


EDIT:

Also, how would the follow brands rank:

EVGA
MSI
XFX
BFG

This post has been edited by BlueScreenDeath: 24 September 2008 - 03:43 PM

EVGA is best known for their excellent customer service. They have cool features such as a 90-day step up program where you can trade in your graphics card within 90 days and get a newer graphics card. You have to pay the difference of course. Also, I heard they're very good about their rebates too. If you find a better deal on the same graphics card from a different company though, go for it (make sure it has the same core clock speed and memory clock speed though).

Also...there are only so many chipmakers when it comes to video cards these days, with nVidia being one of the Big Two or Three.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVIDIA

So different companies use nVidia chipsets, which results in video cards that (often) have the same characteristics, with the only notable differences being the brand name.

It's kind of like computer processors...a system generally has an Intel or an AMD processor, but some are faster/newer than others and when inserted into a computer...users often don't really know if it's Intel or AMD in their Compaq, Gateway, etc.

Louis

Thanks, I'll check it out. What brand do you guys have?


Also, can you give some opinion on these items? One is a 9800GT overclocked by MSI, with a free game. The other is by evga.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814127381

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130384

The MSI version doesn't have any ratings. The MSI version seems to have customers saying the temperature runs up to 50-60'C, whereas the evga version
has customers saying the temps are around 30'C (also, there seems to be horror stories of the XFX version overheating and killing the psu, etc)

This post has been edited by BlueScreenDeath: 24 September 2008 - 06:35 PM

I don't game, I just go with the onboard video .

Louis

Quote

NVidia only designs and builds the GPU. They then sell it to the companies
that actually build the video card.
I have used MSI motherboards and can say they are well built and
reliable, but have never used their video cards.
I personally use EVGA cards. Only problem I had was the GPU fan
on my 5200 went bad. Easy to replace.

So have any of you had serious heat issues with any of these brands?

When i first got my EVGA 8600 GT I had heat issues with it. Had to mod my case, add extra fans, all is good now.
The girlfriends computer i put in an MSI 8600 GT haven't had any issues with it at all. Well, with this one, the first MSI we got had a really weird odor to it, newegg RMA'd it and sent us this one that was just fine.
In short, they're both good brands. Go for the best deal.

ok I see.

Several more questions :D - is it hard to SLi an overclocked GPU?

The MSI 9800 GT I'm talking about has a +60 mHZ overclocked core. Will this make it non-functional if I get a regular non-oc 9800 GT in the future?

Also, what are the benefits of a hybrid 'tech' GPU? - lower temperatures and power consumption?

thanks

This post has been edited by BlueScreenDeath: 25 September 2008 - 02:36 AM

You should have no problems doing SLI with two cards with the same GPU, but different clock frequencies. You can even use different brands, as long as the cards are both 9800GT's (a 9800GTX won't SLI with a 9800GT, well at least it's not directly supported by Nvidia). The one thing you should know is if you use one card with 512mb and let's say another with 256mb, both cards will be detected as only having 256mb. So it's not really a big deal, but just something you may want to know.

Nvidia hybrid GPU technology means, if your motherboard supports it, you can SLI your graphics card with the graphics built into your motherboard. It may not give you a huge improvement increase, but it's still kind of a cool feature. I'm pretty sure any onboard GPU that supports hybrid SLI, will work with any modern Nvidia graphics card.

Lastly, if you're still deciding which card do get, I would personally go with the MSI. It seems like a better deal, and they're still a pretty good company.

I'll chime in just to say that I have a MSI with no complaints

Sterling14, on Sep 25 2008, 06:48 PM, said:

Thanks a lot for the explanation. =)

Although I thought hybrid has something to do with reducing power consumption and lowering the temperature?

This post has been edited by BlueScreenDeath: 25 September 2008 - 10:17 PM

BlueScreenDeath, on Sep 24 2008, 06:06 PM, said:

Morning, I have an MSI MOBO and a new EVGA e-GeForce 8600 GTS, my temps run 10 degrees cooler with the new Graphics card. I got it to play Blu0Ray movies on my Samsung LCD HTPC. Enjoy!