of the main manfacturers of ATI cards who has the best rep?

bratboy · Jun 27, 2008, 06:27 PM

Just kind of curious as to peoples opinions are on which manufacturer does the best job when it comes to makeing cards based on ATI/AMD based chips or are they all pretty equal these days?

**kris23** · Jun 27, 2008, 06:35 PM

sapphire

Mousey · Jun 27, 2008, 09:28 PM

^^ Agreed, Sapphire

DJ BIG T · Jun 28, 2008, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mousey

^^ Agreed, Sapphire

i agree

Tipstaff · Jun 28, 2008, 04:04 AM

Sapphire has been in the biz a long time (originally ATIs OEM manufacturer for God knows how long), and their service support it top notch. However, I'd buy a Gigabyte card over theirs these days. Gigabytes boards are much better built (they use sold-state capacitors on all their cards, not just the expensive ones), and their service is just as good.

Kizo · Jun 28, 2008, 04:56 AM

Of the ATi manufacturers I have experience with, I can recommend Sapphire as the best, for quality and support.
As for Gigabyte, i never had graphics card from them, only motherboards.But if their motherboard support and quality is anything to be judged by, I'd say they may be one of the best.

Judas · Jun 28, 2008, 09:32 AM

sapphire..

i to have never had a gigabyte video card.... so i can't comment on that..

i've has:

Hercules (poor thing, died way back when ati/nvidia shit started)
HIS
Abit
Sapphire
Built By ATI (imo the best of the best, but identical to sapphire usually)
MSI
Asus
Power Color
Creative (imo not so great)

drawing a blank now on the others i've had

bratboy · Jun 28, 2008, 10:55 AM

what about visiontek?

deadeyeselh · Jun 28, 2008, 11:15 AM

Sapphire all the way baby!

mike2h · Jun 28, 2008, 02:15 PM

while it was a nv card my exp with visiontek was poor. card was bad & support subpar. that wa about 3yrs ago tho.

Kizo · Jun 28, 2008, 02:37 PM

I haven't owned any Visiontek card myself. Only thing I have read and remembered about Visiontek is that they offer lifetime warranty for their cards (I read that about 4850s I think, and it may be important considering that the card outputs a lot of heat), while most other vendors offer 3 year warranty. But I don't remember where I read it, so you may investigate that.

Cheers

**kris23** · Jun 28, 2008, 04:09 PM

sapphire tends to build some of the highest quality cards and visiontek seems to have a good warranty plan.

people like sapphire because for some odd reason they dont break or die as often as other manufacturers' cards....

if gigabyte uses better components though, id go there.

bratboy · Jun 30, 2008, 09:34 PM

Well I ended up ordering a Saphire 4870 and am sending back the 3870 X 2 card. Seen one or 2 ppl that said they had problems with the Sapphire cards dieing but am hopeing those are rare instances and not a common occurance

Al_Vampyre · Jul 1, 2008, 08:34 AM

Sapphire here too

Cow_160483 · Jul 2, 2008, 07:10 AM

My card is a Gigabyte 1600 pro and i have never had any problems with it since i bought it which was along time ago so i will vouch for them they are good.

H82LUZ · Jul 12, 2008, 02:59 AM

My list for best ,And have owned at least one card from each.

Built By ATI (imo the best of the best, but identical to sapphire usually)
Sapphire
Asus

this new Force3D looks like the old days of Built By ATI, Hear a lot good things about the quality of them also.

Here is my cards in order to the list above.
BBA ,own a 9600xt Still working had the Half Life 2 voucher,Also a X850xt flashed bios to the XT PE still working,Also own a AtI x386 4 meg ISA card in my 486 that still works and was made in 94

Sapphire own 1 card an X800 pro with 12 pipes non flashed (wont flash cut bridge days)And is in my Linux computer
ASUS well still working in my current machine,Only bought it becuase of the package that came with it.IE the Black Box.forgot to say it is the 2900Xt

Just by the one that will suite your needs,Right now some stores sell cards like the ones from Palit for about $15-$20 dollars cheaper then say Sapphire,That is based off the 4870 cards.

g35x · Jul 12, 2008, 11:16 AM

Sapphire!

I have had 3 Sapphire ATI cards and none of them have ever had any problems whatsoever.
x1650, x1950gt, and now my HD4850.

Callandor · Jul 12, 2008, 11:05 PM

Yeah, definiately Sapphire and HIS imo and ATi as well of course.

Best ATI Card Manufacturer?

ATI brand of choice...need help deciding

Burdokva · Jul 15, 2008, 09:13 AM

I've been using ATi cards since switching from integrated cards back in the late 90's and luckily I've never had a faulty one. I think the best were ATi's own Rage and Rage 128ViVo. After that I got a Gygabite 9250ViVo. Worked flawlessly, and still does. It's a very quiet and cool card.
My current GPU is a Sapphire x1650PRO and it's the hottest of the bunch, the cooler just isn't powerfull enough (I can't get it to work under 65C idle). Otherwise it's a great, powerful card and I don't have any problems with it.
If ASUS's cards can be judged by their motherboards, they should also be great.

I'm looking forward to the HD4850, either the Toxic by Sapphire or a Zalman-cooled Gygabite version. Shouldn't be any problem with either of those brands.

Heraklitus · Jul 15, 2008, 02:39 PM

I'll be the voice of dissent--I've been REALLY unhappy with Sapphire. I've found their support to really unhelpful, mildly argumentative, and generally unwilling to do what's necessary to help resolve my issues.

But that might just be me I suppose. :-)

Tipstaff · Jul 16, 2008, 03:09 AM

HIS, while they make very nice cards, and use custom AC coolers and what not on them, their tech support sucks a$$. No, forget that. It's non-existent. I've never, ever been able to get a hold of them, either by phone or email. To be honest, I don't know of anyone that has talked to a real person at their company.

I still have both of the X1950 Pros I bought from them, and they are great cards, but they weren't great in the beginning. It took me a good amount of time to fix them myself via custom bios editing, and they've been great ever since.

Callandor · Jul 17, 2008, 10:04 PM

Wow, never knew that about HIS. Heard good things about Sapphire's service though. Are they any better?

Edit: Only ever had Asus, Zoltrix and straight ATi cards.

Blazer · Jul 27, 2008, 12:13 AM

I have owned a couple of sapphire cards, a couple of asus cards, and more than a few Ati cards, and in my oppinion, the Built by ATI cards are the best, sapphire cards are good as well. the Asus cards are allright, but they just aren't as good.

Callandor · Jul 27, 2008, 02:45 AM

Sweet, thanks, in that case my 4870 is going to either be a Sapphire or straight ATi card.

T3hn0 · Jul 31, 2008, 03:48 AM

i prefer sapphire too...

but what about overclocking potencial? if we don't pay attention to cooling solution (i always use aftermarket coolers)...
i'd go for sapphire again

SeraphicSorcerer · Aug 4, 2008, 07:52 AM

I got a visiontek card from my local best buy, I was going to order it online, but you know it was there... LOL

I haven't had any issues with it so far, and the lifetime warranty is a big plus.
I do not think you can modify the cooler with an aftermarket one according to their warranty though.. is that any different with Saphire?

***Zardon*** · Aug 4, 2008, 07:55 AM

I actually know quite a few of the visiontek bosses really well and they are top blokes. Not sure about how people rate their cards but we have never had any issues and found them to be very good.