Wraith
Bettyswollocks
Hello again boys & girls, I thought I would try my best to clear up some confusion that appears to rear it's ugly head quite often, and just to set records straight when folks ask "Which GPU should I use" Or what's the difference between Reference & Non Reference cards. So here goes.
Reference Cards:
A "Reference" card is a graphics card which is pretty much as the chip provider (AMD or nVidia) intended it to be as "Stock", these are carbon copies of the engineering samples which comprise of a standard layout PCB, reference cards typically use blowers which are better suited to small form factor builds or being stacked in SLI setups because they exhuast heat directly out of the IO plate unlike non-reference open fan style coolers.
Non Reference Cards:
A "Non Reference" card is a graphics card that has undergone some significant changes by a 3rd party i.e MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Sapphire ect. They do this to improve upon the stock cards including Memory frequencies, Core clocks, VRam quantity, power consumption and cooling solutions.
When it comes to "which GPU should I use" we have the usual responses of "what are you going to use it for", or "which PSU do you have", but I find the most common question is "Which GPU can I put in this case" and would it make a difference if I use a non reference card in a mATX or ITX build.
Reference cards are perfectly suited for smaller enclosed builds as they direct heat straight out the rear of the card at the PCI bracket end but they do tend to run a little warmer than the non reference cooled cards.
On the other hand we have the non reference cards which have 3rd party modified cooling solutions attached, while they do a fantastic job of cooling the GPU and VRMs, there is a slight downside in that they exhaust all the heat away from the card in almost all directions into your case adding more heat to your system temperature, so a case with space and good airflow is essential.
I hope people find this helpful.
Props to JR23 for corrections.
Reference Cards:
A "Reference" card is a graphics card which is pretty much as the chip provider (AMD or nVidia) intended it to be as "Stock", these are carbon copies of the engineering samples which comprise of a standard layout PCB, reference cards typically use blowers which are better suited to small form factor builds or being stacked in SLI setups because they exhuast heat directly out of the IO plate unlike non-reference open fan style coolers.
Non Reference Cards:
A "Non Reference" card is a graphics card that has undergone some significant changes by a 3rd party i.e MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Sapphire ect. They do this to improve upon the stock cards including Memory frequencies, Core clocks, VRam quantity, power consumption and cooling solutions.
When it comes to "which GPU should I use" we have the usual responses of "what are you going to use it for", or "which PSU do you have", but I find the most common question is "Which GPU can I put in this case" and would it make a difference if I use a non reference card in a mATX or ITX build.
Reference cards are perfectly suited for smaller enclosed builds as they direct heat straight out the rear of the card at the PCI bracket end but they do tend to run a little warmer than the non reference cooled cards.
On the other hand we have the non reference cards which have 3rd party modified cooling solutions attached, while they do a fantastic job of cooling the GPU and VRMs, there is a slight downside in that they exhaust all the heat away from the card in almost all directions into your case adding more heat to your system temperature, so a case with space and good airflow is essential.
I hope people find this helpful.
Props to JR23 for corrections.
~Wraithguard~
Last edited:
That's a whole new thread and a right essay explaining that one :lol:
