ATI Dead?

[roguerower]

With the new cards coming out, the naming scheme is now the AMD 48*0. Is ATI still alive or has the name been abandoned and they just work under the AMD name now?

EDIT: I know ATI was bought out by AMD, but did they trash the ATI name and just change everything over to AMD as soon as the deal closed or was it phased out?

EDIT 2: What's the ranking of AMD vid cards...i.e. Asus, MSI, Sapphire, Gigabyte...

 

[akhilles]

AMD bought ATI out ages ago.

 

[AmberClad]

I still see the ATI name being used pretty widely, including on AMD's own site - I don't think it's been phased out.

I'm not sure what you mean by rankings. At least on the NV side of things, the cards are pretty much all the same and assembled/manufactured by the same two companies, and then simply rebadged by the video card brands who add their own stickers and bundled items. I imagine it's similar with ATI. Anyways, I think Visiontek has a good reputation, as far as warranty policy.

 

[roguerower]

I was trying to ask whether certain companies are known to be "better" when it comes to reselling. For instance, w/ Nvidia cards I've heard that XFX cards tend to have crappy heatsinks and Evga and BFG are usually respected and thought to be at the high end. I was wondering if that's the way it is w/ ATI cards.

 

[Wreckage]

ATI stopped being the name of a company and became only a brand name as soon as it was bought out. AMD immediately killed off ATI.com. I think they are transitioning away from using the ATI name.

NVIDIA totally erased 3DFX when they bought that company, which is not exactly what AMD is doing. They recognize the strong brand name of ATI, but they also want to push their own AMD brand on top of it.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I pretty well know what brands that use Nvidia cards are considered the 'better' brands, but like you OP I don't really know how the brands who use AMD/ATI stack up against one another.

Right now I have a HIS 2900Pro and have been quite happy with it, but it's pretty much 100% reference design. I'd just check the different warranties offered and the different bundles and go by that. I'm looking forward to some of the overclocked versions of the 4850/4870 that I'm sure will be coming in the hopefully not too distant future.

 

[Piuc2020]

Most partners use reference designs so you should only base your purchase decision on price, the bundle and more importantly, warranty.

XFX doesn't make cards with crappy HSF, they use reference :|, much like EVGA and BGF, except XFX has a double lifetime warranty so yeah I don't know what you are talking about.

 

[AmberClad]

XFX does use a non-reference HSF on some of their 8800GTs.

 

[Blazer7]

Originally posted by: roguerower

EDIT 2: What's the ranking of AMD vid cards...i.e. Asus, MSI, Sapphire, Gigabyte...

I don't know if such ranking exists but back in the day Sapphire was the one to produce all ATI reference cards and was one of the strongest, if not the stronger, supporter of ATI cards. I don't think that many things have changed since then but I may be wrong.

Here's an interesting list : ATI Certified Graphics Cards Partners

Note that this list is quite old as it includes Guillemot now long withdrawn from the graphics business.

 

[Wreckage]

Looking at the list of available cards.....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...ription=hd4850&x=0&y=0

I have used products from Diamond, Asus and MSI in the past. They are all good companies.

 

[ther00kie16]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
XFX does use a non-reference HSF on some of their 8800GTs.

Yea, they put a 8600gt cooler on a 8800gt. Not a good move. As for heatsinks, Sapphire has the "Toxic" model(s) that are very good single slot coolers that use vapor chamber technology. Otherwise, many HIS cards use non-reference coolers (often Arctic Cooling).

 

[BlueAcolyte]

I think Sapphire, PowerColor, MSI (do they make ATi cards) and Visiontek are the best (combination of warranty, heatsink design, factory OC, price, etc)

 

[schneiderguy]

Visiontek has a lifetime warranty.