Which Graphics Manufacturer

[Kyle]

Hi, I'm one of those people still deciding on the 660 Ti or the 670. But anyway, that's not the problem. I was trying to decide what manufacturer to go with. It seems that EVGA is the common one but I thought that I would seek some advice because quite a few people buy MSi versions as well.

 

[jamesriley94]

What are the options?
I have the KFA2 / Galaxy card and have nothing bad to say about it.

Just something with a non-reference cooler - such as the gigabyte windforce or asus DCII cards are always a good choice

 

[WillSK]

If you go for a reputable company you will be absolutely fine (MSI, Gigabyte, EVGA, Sapphire, KFA2, ASUS... the list goes on). There are sometimes minute differences in performance and other aspects from various manufacturers so have a look at this. EVGA for example is notable for it's great warranties and step up programme.

Another thing to take into consideration is that If you plan to water cool then you don't want a card with a custom PCB which won't work with the various water blocks.

 

[Saltire35]

If it was my cash it'd be either of the following:

Asus 670 GTX DirectCUII TOP
or
MSI 670 GTX Power Edition OC

Mainly due to what reviews I've read.

 

[youpla]

+1 for the Asus DCII... great looking card and performs great.

 

[Kyle]

If it was my cash it'd be either of the following:

Asus 670 GTX DirectCUII TOP
or
MSI 670 GTX Power Edition OC

Mainly due to what reviews I've read.

I couldn't find the Asus one, only a GTX 680 with the same name?

 

[jamesriley94]

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-GeForce-...=UTF8&qid=1346256002&sr=8-1&keywords=670+dcii

 

[Kyle]

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-GeForce-...=UTF8&qid=1346256002&sr=8-1&keywords=670+dcii

so that one is better than the EVGA one? http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Dual-Lin...e=UTF8&qid=1346257711&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+670

 

[jamesriley94]

The EVGA one is reference design, so the cooler will perform worse, and will be louder.

The Asus is an aftermarket cooler and so will be very quiet and keep the card far cooler than the EVGA, so yeh, it is better.

As is pretty much anything with a non-reference cooler:
Gigabyte windforce, kfa2/galaxy, msi PE, Asus DCII, Zotac...

The best 3 are the Asus, Gigabyte Windforce and KFA2/Galaxy in terms of cooler performance and noise - but whichever you like the look of really, as long as it has 2 or more fans

 

[NRG!]

Look up what the warranties are for your location / what the RMA systems are like.

I can say that if you don't have a good retailer to handle rmas then avoid the smaller budget brands like palit, gainward, inno3d, pov etc as they generally rma via retailer.

 

[Liarma]

I have the Gigabyte Windforce 670 and I'd highly recommend it. It doesnt OC quite as high as the ASUS or EVGA but the performance is still beastly. Whisper quiet too, cant hear it over my case fans

 

[Raw2v07]

Bit of a long shot but does anyone know of a site that compares the non reference cards against each other