Graphics card manufacturer - XFX vs MSI vs Powercolor etc

[vijayallenraj]

Guys,

I am new to this forum and this is the first time in many years that I am starting out from scratch to build a new i7 rig. Here is what I am planning:

i7-920 2.66ghz processor
msi - x58 proe or intel dx58so
2*3 kingston ddr3 ram
1 tb hard disk - seagate

And now the graphics card:

I read a post here about hte 10 best graphics card. I inquired with a local dealer here and settled to buy the ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB card.

And my question is:

Which manufacturer do I go for?

XFX, MSI, Zotac, Saphire, powercolor etc which one do you guys think will be good in terms of performance, cooling and life in general. I dont mind if the price goes up for quality. The cheapest I saw with the dealer was an XFX.

Please advice.

 

[vijayallenraj]

Also, The games that I play are Call of Duty 4, Far Cry 2 etc., Please let me know if this graphics card will suffice for these.

 

[Archean]

4890 is a good card; but will you be happy about this purchase in a year's time?

Because I wouldn't; I would rather see what nVidia can throw in about couple of months time against the current ATI offerings; and choose the best from that outcome.

 

[dividebyzero]

If you're talking about a card with standard cooling then all you need worry about is who offers the longest warranty and how easy their RMA process is should you need to use it.
The reason for this is- All standard ATI cards are made by AMD then shipped to their board partners, who then slap their own sticker on the card and put it into a branded box.
The same thing applies to the new HD 5970/5780/5850 cards.

If you are looking at non-reference cards (Sapphire Vapor-X, XFX Black Edition, HIS IceQ etc)
I would prioritize in this order: Warranty (+ ability to transfer to second owner), RMA record of company.
You can bundle the rest of the categories together: overclock features (all cards overclock, but is generally a waste of time IMO), cooling (any attached cooler, including stock, will keep the card operating- chassis cooling is of greater importance), appearance (yeah, right!)

 

[Ritwik7]

+1 Archean.

The HD 4890 is an excellent card no doubt. However, with all the new technology coming out now I think you should seriously consider a DX 11 card like the HD 5850. Also wait a while and see if there's any chance of a price drop.

 

[mailpup]

I have three Radeon HD 4890 cards in three different PCs. One is by XFX, one by Gigabyte and one by Powercolor. Mine are all from the reference design and all perform the same as far as I can tell considering that the three PCs have different configurations. The ones you can get today are mostly non-reference designs. The XFX has the best warranty, double lifetime warranty. Double means you can give or sell the card to another person and the lifetime warranty will transfer to that person.