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Originally Posted by igot6strings  might be interested in the gtx 570 with stock fan.
a noobish question, but what exactly does "reference" mean? I've seen around alot but not sure what the term means. |
Reference means the original design as released by nvidia (or amd if talking about a radion)
non reference are cards with a different design of either or both the heatsing and fan and the actual board.
usually (but not always) the non-reference ones perform better or cooler than reference BUT will usually dump the hot air into the case rather than the back (high end reference designs usually come with a "blower" setup with exhaust our the back of the case).