Which 6950 2GB - HIS or MSI?

[Sunbed]

£215.99 - HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X PLUS Edition 2048MB **Supplied with Battlefield 3, Dirt 3 & Deus Ex PC Games**

OR

£217.99 - MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 2048MB

Edit: OR

£223.99 - Asus ATI Radeon HD 6950 DirectCU II 2048MB **Supplied with Battlefield 3 & Deus Ex PC Games**

Now, the MSI looks like it has a nicer cooler and has higher stock speeds, but the HIS has three games that I want!

Does anyone know what the difference in noise is? Does the MSI have more overclocking potential? Also, I edited due to not wanting to rule the Asus out

Cheers

 

[arc@css]

One advantage with the MSI is that when dealing with an RMA, the returns address is in the U.K.

 

[Sunbed]

One advantage with the MSI is that when dealing with an RMA, the returns address is in the U.K.

That is an advantage. The whole reason for buying this card is because of an RMA on my XFX 6950 1GB, which has left me without the card for 2 months Won't be buying XFX again!

 

[arc@css]

That is an advantage. The whole reason for buying this card is because of an RMA on my XFX 6950 1GB, which has left me without the card for 2 months Won't be buying XFX again!

To be fair, sometimes you can rma through the retailer rather than direct to, for example, Asus, so maybe my point is somewhat moot. On a different note, I tend to hear encouraging things about HIS cooling efficiency, though this shouldn't be an issue with the MSI either. Asus have excellent build quality, but unless I could rma through the retailer with confidence I wouldn't touch them.

 

[meths]

Not meaning to scaremonger but I've owned 2 HIS cards and both died on me.

I don't buy that brand now but the RMA was done through OcUK so everything was fine.

 

[Surveyor]

According to this MSI RMA's should be handled by the "major resellers" (I assume that includes OcUK) for the full 3 years:

We offer a three year warranty, the terms provided to our major resellers provide special terms in exchange for their agreement to handle the full three years of that warranty. This is a new arrangement made at the time that we extended our warranty from two to three years. The terms of our RMA provide a maximum 14 day turnaround for resellers (typically half that) from the day they ship the fault card out to the day that they receive the replacement.

The simple answer why we operate the RMA system like this is that the reseller will test the board and return them in batches. We can then replace the product and get the replacement back to the end user much faster than having to receive, test and dispatch multiple RMA's from multiple different people. in general, this method provides much better serviceas it allows us to keep turnaround times to a minimum, it also allows the reseller more freedom to handle the RMA by their own methods.

 

[Sunbed]

I managed to RMA through OcUK, and I'm going to be refunded I'm told, which is good.

So, are there some brands which you have to RMA directly to the manufacturer, or is it just after a certain time period you have to do this?

PS If I was to get BF3, I assume I wouldn't get the Limited Edition maps? Is this a big deal?

Edit: OK Surveyor answered the main question - thanks.