PDA

View Full Version : Thoughts on Video Card Manufacturers...



Ogre
2006-08-18, 04:03 PM
I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts as to wny ATI makes their own cards but nVidia does not...While if I were to buy an ATI, it would be original and not a PNY type brand, why would nVidia not do the same???

powermarc
2006-08-21, 04:30 PM
Actually, ATI has started to sell their chips to 3rd party assemblers in the same manner as nVidia. You can purchase a Radeon card made by MSI now, for example.

There really isn't a whole lot of difference between buying from a 3rd party or buying an ATI-branded card. In the case of both nVidia and ATI, they issue prototype "reference" video cards along with specs to all licensed card makers that use their chip technologies. These licensees must meet or exceed the performance and quality of the reference designs or risk losing the ability to purchase GPU chips from ATI or nVidia.

I have found that the biggest difference between video card manufacturers is not the cards themselves, it's warranty length and service. Those are the factors I would compare if you are looking at similar cards from different makers.

Marc

robert.1.hall72202
2006-08-21, 08:09 PM
The entire industry is going to use third party manufacturers.
I wouldn't think about it. Bad hardware is going to be problematic
no matter who makes it.