ATI card partners

[TestSpecimen]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of putting a HD4870 into a new build I've got going and I just wanted to know which board manufacturer for ATI has the best reputation and quality. I've been looking a lot at Diamond, since their prices are a little cheaper, but I've seen a lot of people recommend Visiontek on these forums, I think because they have a lifetime warranty on their cards. I guess what I'm trying to get at would be that I wouldn't have problems or be losing out on anything going with Diamond would I? Thanks for the help.

 

[MichaelD]

Visiontek is the only ATI CP with a lifetime warranty; most others have a 1 year warranty. That said, if a card's going to die, it'll most probably do so within the first few months.

Currently most (if not all) ATI 4850/4870/4870X2 cards are based on ATI Reference Cards. That means the partners build them exactly how ATI built the original sample cards. Same parts, heatsinks, GPU and memory clocks, etc. IOW, they're all the same. Basically.

Some cards come w/a better bundle. The Sapphire 4870X2 comes with full versions of Power DVD and 3DMark Vantage, for example. Everyone's had diff experiences with diff card manuf's (partners.) I've had good luck w/Sapphire which is why I bought one of their X2's.