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Aftermarket cards, are they worth it?

Lunawolfy

Lunawolfy

Lunawolfy

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Hey all,

As the title asks I am currently wondering whether Aftermarket (EVGA,Gig,ROG) are worth their premium. How much worse than the reference card can they possibly be?

(I myself as some of you know am in the hunt for a GTX 580)

So some topic points:

1: Reference cards and cards such as this use vapour chambers and dump heat out of the I/O slot if I am not mistaken.

What is the performance gain (other than 'factory OC') can be had from this card over the plain reference card? They both use the same cooling system (although one has an 8 year longer warranty ;))

2: Cards with custom coolers such as this dump their heat into the case using heatsinks and fans, as far as I'm aware these cards run cooler but can make the case somewhat toasty) I currently have a cooler like this and when running games the exhaust fans are somewhat cosy.

So my question is again what is the performance gain over the reference card?

I am aware that the cooler cards with fans operate at lower temps and thus can be pushed further than the vapour chamber reference card. But then what's the point of the aftermarket vapour cooling card?

Look forward to some replies :)
 
Hi there,

The EVGA "SuperClocked w/Backplate" seems to simply be a reference type card with a factory overclock applied and a longer-than-usual warranty. They have likely also implemented a fan profile that will run the fan faster than the standard clocked card to ensure it remains cool enough.

As a result the card will perform a bit faster (the core clockspeed is 3.2% higher than stock) but not massively and be a bit louder than the standard card. Apart from that there is no performance benefit going with a card like this (though the peace of mind of a long warranty is a formidable feature to some).

As for the cards with the custom cooler - as you mentioned these usually run cooler than the reference design cards and often also run quieter (at least for the graphics card - the case/CPU cooling may need to ramp up a bit to deal with the extra heat). This allows for more aggressive factory overclocks to be applied (though not in the case of that specific EVGA card) and can often allow the user to overclock the card further before heat becomes a problem.

As for the point of the "aftermarket" reference cooler card - it allows companies to charge a bit more for a card that is clocked slightly higher than the standard one and set up a large product line using the same card model with a variety of coolers and overclocks.
 
You are right about the "heat dump" on reference and non-reference coolers.

The first EVGA card you mentioned is indeed just a reference card (with factory OC), and the second EVGA card you mentioned is a reference PCB with a non-reference cooler, if I remember correctly.

Making whichever card run cooler in your case can gain more potential of overclocking.

You have stopped looking for another GTX560 Ti 1GB eventually?
 
harmony said:
You are right about the "heat dump" on reference and non-reference coolers.

The first EVGA card you mentioned is indeed just a reference card (with factory OC), and the second EVGA card you mentioned is a reference PCB with a non-reference cooler, if I remember correctly.

Making whichever card run cooler in your case can gain more potential of overclocking.

You have stopped looking for another GTX560 Ti 1GB eventually?
Click to expand...

Symmetry is a must for me, Gigabyte have released a Rev. 2 of my card, looks nothing like mine, no one stocks my card anymore, OCUK had one in clearance, but it had no warranty, so bugger that.

I figured I may as well get one, then either dump it next year for a good Kepler card or go SLI.

Am I right in saying Vapour cards usually run quite hot (although not dangerous as they operate at higher temps and the exhaust is out the back of the PC?
 
I'm disappointed that you decided not to go for SLI of 1GB cards, cuz I'm evil to imagine when you meet games like... well, enough of this :D

Back to the topic, did you mean Vapor Chamber as the reference cooler? Typically the reference cooler is good for SLI, especially when cards are sticking firmly together with no spare PCI-E slot(s) between. Yes, the reference coolers usually run quite hot but it's not dangerous.

However for single-card setup, the non-reference cooler usually runs better because there are hardly airflow problems. By keeping the GPU running at a lower temperature you gain more oc potential, for the same level of chip quality. Also, it might be difficult to get another non-reference cooler of the same type in the future for SLI, if symmetry is important to you.
 
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Lunawolfy said:
Both EVGA cards linked are reference cards :)

Besides I was gonna go under water first ;)
Click to expand...

Wait until Kepler. No point buying a GTX580 now.
EVGA gets my vote as they have some of the best CS andwarranties.

Gigabyte are also great with warranties. MSI I hear are good aswell and the windfirce coolers and twin frozr coolers are the two best on the Market.
 
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