NationStates Jolt Archive

I found a good graphics card relatively cheap (AUD980, compared to AUD1200), but it's from Palit, who I've never heard of. I took a look around the web, and I haven't heard anything bad; apparently, all the cards come out of the same factory, just with different brand stickers slapped on. Anybody got an opinion that can help me out?

The only thing common between brands is the chipset. That big a savings suggests they cut corners.
On the other hand, that's an awful lot of money for a graphics card. What do you plan to be doing?

It depends on how much high end gaming you intend to do, if any at all. Or if you just need something for everyday use.

I find ATI (though I would not touch their Sapphire brand with a ten foot pole) and NVIDIA (the GEForce is a good line) reliable.

The only thing common between brands is the chipset. That big a savings suggests they cut corners.
On the other hand, that's an awful lot of money for a graphics card. What do you plan to be doing?

Gaming. It's the NVIDIA 8800GTX.

It depends on how much high end gaming you intend to do, if any at all. Or if you just need something for everyday use.

I find ATI (though I would not touch their Sapphire brand with a ten foot pole) and NVIDIA (the GEForce is a good line) reliable.

Those are pretty much the only brands for anyone serious about their graphics.

Those are pretty much the only brands for anyone serious about their graphics.
Even their low-end consumer friendly cards are pretty good. They beat onboard any day and can handle most low to medium key games.

It depends on how much high end gaming you intend to do, if any at all. Or if you just need something for everyday use.

I find ATI (though I would not touch their Sapphire brand with a ten foot pole) and NVIDIA (the GEForce is a good line) reliable.

Ummmm WTF?

Sapphire are a company which make ATi graphics cards, not a type of card made by ATi. And they're usually pretty good, it's the Powercolor-made cards you want to be wary of normally.

Nvidia's graphics cards are ALL Geforce cards, there's a hell of a difference between the MX4 series and the 8xxx series though... (OK so they also do a line of workstation cards under a different name but they're almost impossible to find outside specialist stores).

In answer to the question I've never heard of the company involved, what we NEED is the card's reference, the 1200 one could well be a Geforce 8800 GTX while the 980 could be a 7900GS (or the ATi equivalents, 1950 XTX and 1800PRO or something) which is a hell of a performance difference.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=199523

That's the review I've read.

Even though this may not be the biggest brand name, you can be sure to get a good product with this card, since all cards are made by NVIDIA. The only contribution to the product by Palit is the sticker on the card and the bundling.

I found a good graphics card relatively cheap (AUD980, compared to AUD1200), but it's from Palit, who I've never heard of. I took a look around the web, and I haven't heard anything bad; apparently, all the cards come out of the same factory, just with different brand stickers slapped on. Anybody got an opinion that can help me out?

That's about it, yes. They'll all be exactly the same as the nVidia reference board; the most difference you'll get is the cooler.
Although I've never heard of Palit.

And I've got a Sapphire X1900XT, and it's fine. It's exactly the same as any other X1900XT, and works merrily with my differently-branded (HIS, maybe) Crossfire card.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=199523

That's the review I've read.
So what's the other card?

If it's the same card but is from XFX then it'll cost more but they'll have ramped the clockspeed up and maybe strapped watercooling to it as well (I know BFG put waterblocks on some of thers and charge an extra hundred quid, not to mention the rest of the watercooling system would cost a bomb as well...).

So what's the other card?

If it's the same card but is from XFX then it'll cost more but they'll have ramped the clockspeed up and maybe strapped watercooling to it as well (I know BFG put waterblocks on some of thers and charge an extra hundred quid, not to mention the rest of the watercooling system would cost a bomb as well...).

What other card? :confused:

What other card? :confused:

You said there were two prices you could pay so there must be two different products (unless two vendors were offering them at ludicrously different prices)

At least, that's how I read it *shrugs*

I prefer to stick with ATI for graphic cards (yes I know drivers can be a hassle, but overall they seem more reliable in my experience), AMD for processer, and for RAM I tend to still experiment a bit so can't offer too much advice there. But for me putting in 2x 512mb worked smoother then a single 1g chip.

I prefer to stick with ATI for graphic cards (yes I know drivers can be a hassle, but overall they seem more reliable in my experience), AMD for processer, and for RAM I tend to still experiment a bit so can't offer too much advice there. But for me putting in 2x 512mb worked smoother then a single 1g chip.

Times change, right now if you're a gamer then Intel (Core2Duo, not this Pentium 4 crap)/Nvidia is where it's at (thoug 2 sticks of RAM is always the way togo :D).

Though I have to say I have a lot of ATi stuff in the house and none of it has given out in anything up to 4 years consistent use:)

I prefer to stick with ATI for graphic cards (yes I know drivers can be a hassle, but overall they seem more reliable in my experience), AMD for processer, and for RAM I tend to still experiment a bit so can't offer too much advice there. But for me putting in 2x 512mb worked smoother then a single 1g chip.

That'd be because two DIMMs enables dual-channel mode.

You don't want to stick to the same CPU/graphics chip manufacturer regardless; one isn't guaranteed better than the other. AMD was beating Intel for a long time, but now the tables have turned again and the Core2Duo line is far superior to anything AMD have to offer. For instance.

Research and shop around.

Edit:
Times change, right now if you're a gamer then Intel (Core2Duo, not this Pentium 4 crap)/Nvidia is where it's at (thoug 2 sticks of RAM is always the way togo :D).
ATI/nVidia isn't so easy to call as AMD/Intel at the moment; the Geforce 8800 series is the best out there, but their prices mean they're not suitable for many people. The ATI X19x0 series currently offer the best price/performance, probably. Research and shop around, again ;)

You said there were two prices you could pay so there must be two different products (unless two vendors were offering them at ludicrously different prices)

At least, that's how I read it *shrugs*

I can get the same thing, GTX, for about AUD1200, Gigabyte and Asus.

Honestly, I've heard nothing but good things about Palit. I was gonna get a GTS for AUD930, but I think I'll get this instead.

ATI/nVidia isn't so easy to call as AMD/Intel at the moment; the Geforce 8800 series is the best out there, but their prices mean they're not suitable for many people. The ATI X19x0 series currently offer the best price/performance, probably. Research and shop around, again ;)

NVIDIA has the DX10-ready market cornered, though. Until January.

Edit:

ATI/nVidia isn't so easy to call as AMD/Intel at the moment; the Geforce 8800 series is the best out there, but their prices mean they're not suitable for many people. The ATI X19x0 series currently offer the best price/performance, probably. Research and shop around, again ;)

Yeah, 'tis true. I do prefer nVidia on the basis that their cards tend to suck up less power for generally similar performance (except with things like HDR, if you're willing to pay the increased power bills ATi do pay off for everything but the very top-end cards).

It changes on a weekly basis though, there's always a manufacturer doing something cheap.

I can get the same thing, GTX, for about AUD1200, Gigabyte and Asus.

Honestly, I've heard nothing but good things about Palit. I was gonna get a GTS for AUD930, but I think I'll get this instead.

Check the warranty's good and go for it! Sounds a great deal.

Check the warranty's good and go for it! Sounds a great deal.

Yeah. I've got AUD1050 to blow, plus my parents agreed that they'll help me out a bit as my Christmas present. I need a new mobo and DDR2 RAM to back that card up; I'll be getting the cheapest available mobo and RAM I can. Fortunately, all the mobos and RAM are from well known brands, so no chance of it blowing up.

AUD980?... that's about £400... Hah, I'm only willing to spend about a 5th of that on a graphics card. In fact I only spent a 10th of that on my last GC. The way I see it is that's it's cheaper to buy a new graphics card each year (which I don't), then to fork out such a huge sum of cash and hope the GC lasts for 3 years, let alone 5.

I brought a generic Radeon 9550 (256Mb 400Mhz DAC) last year for about £40. Works just fine, and the only reason I bought is was because the ball bearing in previous GC had broken and so it was making a huge amount of noise. That and it was three years, so I thought it was time to replace it rather than get a replacement fan. My current GC looks like it should be able to cope with Medieval II when I get around to buying it, so I'm happy and the GC can stay until I find some game that actually needs a better GC.

Yeah. I've got AUD1050 to blow, plus my parents agreed that they'll help me out a bit as my Christmas present. I need a new mobo and DDR2 RAM to back that card up; I'll be getting the cheapest available mobo and RAM I can. Fortunately, all the mobos and RAM are from well known brands, so no chance of it blowing up.

Cool, what's your processor?

*can't get a new PC until summer sometime and is stuck forcing his brother to buy more RAM for his laptop*

Cool, what's your processor?

*can't get a new PC until summer sometime and is stuck forcing his brother to buy more RAM for his laptop*

Pentium 4 3.2GHz. It'll tide me over for another year, at least.

And I might have to get a laptop too, 'cause I'll likely be going to TAFE (cheap university).

Ultimately, I'm thinking:

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=26&products_id=21516
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=115_23&products_id=18088
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=36_62&products_id=20383

AUD1243 all up.