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Nvidia Graphics cards Differences??

Vlad Drac

Vlad Drac

Vlad Drac

Associate
Joined
12 Mar 2004
Posts
730
Location
Scotland
Hi all

I'm thinking of getting myself a new GTX285 and I'm just wondering what everyone thinks is the most reliable make, BFG, XFX, Evga and so on.

I know there is no difference between the reference speed GPU cards but what about the factory overclocked cards?

Are there any preferred choices?
 
While this doesn't directly answer your question, it might help you save a few pounds.

Quite a few people agree that the GTX285 isn't a very good card in terms of price/performance. I would much rather go for a 275, which is slightly slower, but it's considerably cheaper as well. However, if you do want to spend over £300, then the 4870X2 would be a better choice.
 
anant_shah94 said:
Your best bet is BFG, very long warranty and apparently good with RMA's, after that it's evga, who are similar to bfg. :)
Click to expand...

This. Although one note with overclocked cards is that EVGA are the only people to test and cherry pick their overclocked cards AFIK.
 
After what people have been telling me at my other thread, I have now been put off with going for a 285, which is what I was going to go with when I was pricing up a PC Config Oc machine earlier.

The general understanding is that its best to pay the extra money and stump up for a 295 card, as this is the card that will last you for a very long time, especially when paired with an i7, like mine will be in the next few months, as like you I dont like ATI either, whether that makes me a fanboy I dont really know :rolleyes:
 
Vlad Drac said:
Hi all

I'm thinking of getting myself a new GTX285 and I'm just wondering what everyone thinks is the most reliable make, BFG, XFX, Evga and so on.

I know there is no difference between the reference speed GPU cards but what about the factory overclocked cards?

Are there any preferred choices?
Click to expand...

I have a BFG GTX285 OCX

Comes with 10 years warranty when you register your card on there website.

I have had dealings with both BFG and XFX in the past both very good after sales service.Never had EVGA but i'm sure they will be fine.

Its all down to preference at the end of the day.Any of the Big brands should be fine.

XFX i believe comes with a 2 year warranty which i think is enough.

I cant see myself keeping a graphics card for more than 10 years LOL!
 
danceMB said:
The general understanding is that its best to pay the extra money and stump up for a 295 card, as this is the card that will last you for a very long time, especially when paired with an i7, like mine will be in the next few months, as like you I dont like ATI either, whether that makes me a fanboy I dont really know :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

It's not that I dont like ATI cards. My last 3 cards have all been ATI.

The thing is, I would rather run a single GPU card and the GTX285 seems to be the fastest on the market.;)
 
Get the GTX 275. The 285 is 40-50% more expensive for ~5% more performance, unless you game at 2560*1600 where it has a more respectable advantage of about 20%.
 
If you doa bit of searching a GTX 280 can still be had for a very reasonable price from various places...
 
I wouldnt go with anyone else other than OcUK to be honest with you, as I have an awful lot of trust from buying from here, and when I get a brand new customised machine from this website in early June, I will need all the items to be in stock from here as well at the same time, so I wont be going anywhere else.

If you want the best performance, then its probably best to go for the 295 version, then you will get better performance than anything else can even touch :D
 
danceMB said:
I
If you want the best performance, then its probably best to go for the 295 version, then you will get better performance than anything else can even touch :D
Click to expand...

The card uses 2 GPU's, which means power Consumption and a lot more heat.
Plus imo there hasn't really been a good dual GPU card worth the money.
 
Given your post count and time here, I would get on the MM and watch for a 280 to come up.

When they do, they're normally around £200, and all but match the 285 for performance.
 
I still think going for 1 card is better than going SLI, as in my opinion SLI is not worth the money as it comes with compatibility problems, thats why going for a GTX295 is better than going for a more inferior card, even if going for this latest card means more money, you wont have any compatibility problems at all, plus you get to game at ultra high settings for everything current and coming soon ;)
 
But the 295 uses SLI, it just has internal connectors instead of using a bridge. I'd still say look for a cheap 280 somewhere, with a little searching i found one yesterday witha free digital pic frame but still for a very reasonable price. Then you could sell the frame and you've got yourself a super cheap 280 without the hassell of SLI of CrossFire.
 
KWJay said:
But the 295 uses SLI, it just has internal connectors instead of using a bridge. I'd still say look for a cheap 280 somewhere, with a little searching i found one yesterday witha free digital pic frame but still for a very reasonable price. Then you could sell the frame and you've got yourself a super cheap 280 without the hassell of SLI of CrossFire.
Click to expand...

I think he meant GTX285. :p

I have a GTX280 and it plays everything I throw at it, Crossfire/SLI is nice for enthusiasts and I've thought about getting another GTX280 but ultimately I prefer to avoid dual-GPU solutions, by the time a game is out that truly puts dual-GPU to use we'll be onto the next generation of single-GPU's.

The only case where I can currently see dual-GPU being a benefit outside of benchmarking is silly high resolutions on 30" monitors.
 
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I was not aware that the GTX295 used SLI, but just used internal connectors rather than a bridge chip, I assume that the internal connectors would get rid of the problem of incompatibilty that is prone to coming up when you use the bridge chip?
 
No, you can still have the problems. It's essentially just SLI in a compact package for people who don't want/have the space for 2 cards or don't have an SLI mobo. I think you still get the odd compatability problem but since most games have SLI profiles these days it doesn't make a lot of difference. I played with SLI with the 78/7900 series of cards, was nice to have in the rig but these days i'd go for a single powerful gpu rather than a dual gpu setup. Plus at the res i play at i don't need SLI, don't really need a 280 but i just fancied it! lol! It has improved my min frame rates over my old 260 though, and only cost about £60 to make the change which i could live with!
 
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