295 ASUS or EVGA?

[PaulW]

Hi All,

want to get a 295..cos i can, had a BFG 285 already but RMA it back to OC cos it was faulty was not impressed with BFG much.

so i have decided this time that a 295 will probably be a bit more future proof. however i am stuck on which one to get. i dont want a BFG again so will go for an ASUS or an EVGA.

but which one would you choose and why?

which one will have the best image quality or are they pretty much the same?

my 285 didn't seem that noisey to me are the 295's much louder?

for me these are the pros and cons

ASUS
+ i trust ASUS
+ its slightly cheaper
- it only has a 3 year warrenty

EVGA
+ my friend recons that EVGA make good cards
- i have never owned a EVGA product so its a gamble
+ has a 10 year warrenty
- slight more expensive

thx all, btw im probably having the worst time of my life right now, just had the worst week ever...so please be gentle.

Thx for your help

Paul

 

[D D Danneh]

Both cards will perform identically. Some cards may overclock better than others, but that's mostly to chance, rather than brand.

Unsure why you are unhappy with BFG's RMA service. There are a lot of people who have RMA'd to BFG and not only got a replacement card, but a replacement card that's stepped up from the last one (e.g. swapping a 260 for a 285). I would have thought, if you sent the 285 back to BFG they would've sent you a 295.

Also, any specific reason why you trust Asus? Round here, the general consensus is that EVGA and BFG are the best brands. If you don't need a 10 year warranty though, I would say to go with the Asus one.

Oh, and what's your resolution?

You might want to consider two 4890's in crossfire. It's on par with, or better than the 295 in almost all games, especially at higher resolutions, and £30 cheaper (if you have a board with two PCI-E 16 slots)

Check this out. Overall, the 295 gives 5% less performance than the 4890's, and 9% less performance at 1920*1200 resolution.

 

[vertica]

Personally i went evga as the warranty allows you to remove the stock cooler (was water cooling it). a lot of manufacturers dont cover this and you void the warranty if you do so.

The cards are all reference design so pic quality etc will be identical nomatter which brand.

The card's cooling is LOUD. Idling (40% fan) its not an issue, just sound like adding another case fan, but once it cranks up the noise increases dramatically.

At 100% the cooler is louder than my hand held dyson hoover! - its not fan noise, its just the huge volume of air being forced through the tightly packed and angled fins - creates a lot of noise. Several reviews have described 100% fan as 'hurricane mode' and i think thats a fair description

At stock clocks you/the cards controller shouldn't need to go to 100% unless you've got really poor case air flow, but be warned if you like silence!

performnce wise card is very very good, but you should know that already.

 

[PaulW]

Also, any specific reason why you trust Asus? Round here

i have been using an ASUS Geforce 4 Ti4400 and its still going strong after 6 years!

the BFG didn't even last a week.

i know many people like them but a 10 year warrenty is a bit over kill. i mean who is really going to have the same card after 7 years? in 3 years a replacement card for the 295 will be £50 so i dont see the advantage of a 10 year warrenty when you could buy the same card which will be 10 time more efficent than the current generation.

just read the EVGA RMA nightmare thread... customers who bought EVGA recently dont seem to thrilled to me. so will have to see.

Paul

 

[D D Danneh]

Brand doesn't matter in the reliability of a card. All the companies do is put a sticker on it and sell it. I really doubt the card failed simply because it was a BFG card, and if you had RMA'd it to BFG rather than OCUK, you'd have probably got a 295 in replacement.