Which brand off HD4850 should I get, want technical input

[Boldeagle]

After careful consideration and review of the facts generated I am seriously considering a Sapphire because:

a). It has a clearly defined two year warranty (lets face it two years and I will be screaming out for the next generation Cards, will be lucky if I keep it that long)

b). I can get it from a store that is 4-5km's away (piece of mind for RMA if needed)

c). Price wise it compares with the cheapest I can find (including their delivery costs) i.e. Globally!

Thanks heaps SKY will post a bench when I get it.

Current:

[AkG]

Just to add my $.02 I've used both ASUS and Gigabyte GPU's and if I had to do it all over again I wouldn't hesitate to use either....but ASUS can be a royal pain in the arse to deal with when it comes to RMA's. Use the phone option and you won't have any problems.

[SKYMTL]

Well Boldeagle I am going to go out on a limb here and say your 3DMark should nearly double.

[Boldeagle]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

I have to admit that after doing a bit of research myself for this thread I am just stunned by the warranty information given by some of these companies that are ATI's board partners. Stunned because THERE IS NO INFORMATION. I mean seriously, what a joke.

This is an important point as what has been clearly pointed out that all of these cards are heavily based on the reference model at the moment so performance wise there should be little to no significant differences. Therefore the next parameters to consider is obviously price and after sales warranty. With many of these cards being very similarly priced that really only leaves warranty. From SKY's and my results we can note that several other Producers have superior Warranties to Sapphire but this information cannot be readily and easily sourced and thus they have lost a sale!

You may want to mention this to the rep's next time you chat with them SKY to update their websites if they have superior Warranty Service than the only 2 Companies where the information could actually be noted.

[ebdoradz]

dont forget that on a asus video card changing the cooler void your warranty.

i had the asus rep on phone for my 6600GT that was running at a 95C overlcok under load and the rep told me, leave it go that way if it burns we will replace it. but if you cahnge the coller your warranty is gone

[ipaine]

These are the reasons why I'm sticking with my 8800GTs for now, and will stick to Nvidia for the foreseeable future. I mean the warranty on the Nvidia cards are all pretty much better, lifetime, double lifetime, allowing aftermarket heatsinks and overclocking. Now considering we all pretty much do something like OCing or putting on heatsinks I think that all of the ATI board partners need to get with the times.

Only then will I consider getting an ATI card again, well as long as they don't completely destroy Nvidia in performance that is.

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by Boldeagle

You may want to mention this to the rep's next time you chat with them SKY to update their websites if they have superior Warranty Service than the only 2 Companies where the information could actually be noted.

Talking to a rep about updating their website is like talking to a rabbit about what you had for dinner last night. Both stare at you with a blank look on their face and continue munching on their food until you scratch them behind the ears. Then they scamper away to do whatever it is they do...

[ipaine]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Talking to a rep about updating their website is like talking to a rabbit about what you had for dinner last night. Both stare at you with a blank look on their face and continue munching on their food until you scratch them behind the ears. Then they scamper away to do whatever it is they do...

That was the funniest thing I have read all day.

[ebdoradz]

Originally Posted by ipaine

These are the reasons why I'm sticking with my 8800GTs for now, and will stick to Nvidia for the foreseeable future. I mean the warranty on the Nvidia cards are all pretty much better, lifetime, double lifetime, allowing aftermarket heatsinks and overclocking. Now considering we all pretty much do something like OCing or putting on heatsinks I think that all of the ATI board partners need to get with the times.

Only then will I consider getting an ATI card again, well as long as they don't completely destroy Nvidia in performance that is.

Sappphire allow you to overclock, change cooler, watercool, like most nvidia partner does. except that the warranty is 2 year.

[Conky]

In my own opinion after reading some reviews there is not a whole lot of difference till it comes to the quality of the card and the warranty behind it. Asus seems to have made extremely solid version of this 4850 and it is evident by the benchmarks that it has produced. The Giga-byte would be my second choice if the Asus was unavailable. And pesonally I would not recomend the other brands just to save 5-10 bucks. I would like to see this in a silent version as well then I would consider puchasing the 4850-4870