ATi Switch

[Kaldorine]

I'm finally switching back to ATI since the days of the 9800pro. I'm going to replace my 8600GTS with a 5770. My question is, is there any noticeable difference in heat between the reference design and non reference. I'm looking closely at the XFX versions of either card since i am a huge fan of there Nvidia cards. I prefer the reference design but i'm not sure if i want to pay the premium.

Also is there any difference in noise levels??

Thanks

 

[Attic]

The shroud cooler (Version 1) is a bit noiser and doesn't cool quite as well as the egg cooler (Version 2), but the shroud cooler exits the hot air the GPU produces out the back of the card whereas the egg cooler dumps it into your case.

Then there's also the sapphire vapor-x version.

Id reccomend picking up whatever is cheapest.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

My 5770 Vapor-X would be awesome if it weren't for the 2D driver issues (haven't had/noticed any 3D issues). Based on the 10.4 preview drivers I'm using looks like 10.4 should help things a lot. But I wouldn't discount nvidia alltogether. If you'd rather stay green go for the GTX 260. It's ~$200 vs. ~$160 for the 5770, course the 260 is a bit faster.

+1 for the non-reference cooler. The egg is supposed to be cooler/quieter, but it does dump heat into your case. A simple back and/or side exhaust fan should take care of that though.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I just recently purchased a ASUS 5870 v2 over an xfx 5870. XFX doesn't have much of a sense of humor about overclocking their cards. Unless you get the reference PCB you will not be able to adjust voltages on an XFX card. So if you plan on OC'ing in any significant way I would suggest you check out ASUS or MSi. ASUS has a better warranty, and their 5870 v2 is an extremely well put together card. ASUS also has the second best warrant of the ATi partners.

 

[Meghan54]

So if you plan on OC'ing in any significant way I would suggest you check out ASUS or MSi. ASUS has a better warranty, and their 5870 v2 is an extremely well put together card. ASUS also has the second best warrant of the ATi partners.

So, you've got experience with Asus's RMA for video cards, right?

Guess you don't because while Asus has a nice written warranty, their RMA procedure is, to put it bluntly, awful, suck ass poor. I'd only recommend an Asus video card to someone I really despised and never to a friend.

This comes from RMA'ing two Asus video cards...a 3870 TOP and 4850, neither of which was overclocked or overvolted. The 3870 began artifacting so bad it produced images on screen that couldn't be recognized as images. The 4850 had a VRM failure....Asus Doctor flagged a warning on the VRM's overheating minutes before a red LED lit up on the rear of the card indicating VRM failure and the display died, and the card wasn't recognized as being installed by the computer.

In both cases, it took 3 returns to the Asus repair center to finally get a card back that worked. Absolutely two of the worst RMA experiences I've ever had. The only way I got working cards back in the 3rd RMA was directly talking to Level 3 tech support, consisting of two guys at the Asus repair center, and getting them to essentially override Asus policy, which is delay, delay, delay, then return your original card with patchwork done to it. This policy was explicitly explained to me by one of the Level 3 techs.

Now, Asus motherboard RMA's seem to be better, but their video card procedures are horrible at best.

Of course, the worst RMA I've ever had, one that's still unresolved almost a year later, is with BFG, another company I'd never buy another product from, no matter how cheap it was.

 

[nyker96]

you need to read up on reviews for the particular card if it's non reference because sometimes they have some interesting quirks like some non ref cooler looks nice but might cool little worse than stock design etc. you need to check the review if buying non ref.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

So, you've got experience with Asus's RMA for video cards, right?

Guess you don't because while Asus has a nice written warranty, their RMA procedure is, to put it bluntly, awful, suck ass poor. I'd only recommend an Asus video card to someone I really despised and never to a friend.

This comes from RMA'ing two Asus video cards...a 3870 TOP and 4850, neither of which was overclocked or overvolted. The 3870 began artifacting so bad it produced images on screen that couldn't be recognized as images. The 4850 had a VRM failure....Asus Doctor flagged a warning on the VRM's overheating minutes before a red LED lit up on the rear of the card indicating VRM failure and the display died, and the card wasn't recognized as being installed by the computer.

In both cases, it took 3 returns to the Asus repair center to finally get a card back that worked. Absolutely two of the worst RMA experiences I've ever had. The only way I got working cards back in the 3rd RMA was directly talking to Level 3 tech support, consisting of two guys at the Asus repair center, and getting them to essentially override Asus policy, which is delay, delay, delay, then return your original card with patchwork done to it. This policy was explicitly explained to me by one of the Level 3 techs.

Now, Asus motherboard RMA's seem to be better, but their video card procedures are horrible at best.

Of course, the worst RMA I've ever had, one that's still unresolved almost a year later, is with BFG, another company I'd never buy another product from, no matter how cheap it was.

I'm sure if you asked around you could find a horror story from any PC component manufacturer on earth. In all honesty the only company I trust implicitly is EVGA, and they unfortunately do not produce ATi cards.

 

[nitromullet]

The "egg" is reference, btw. It's just the second version of the 5770 cooler. The PCB is the same as the original reference PCB, and the cooler is designed by ATI.

XFX also has this other thing though which is not reference (different cooler/PCB), but looks a lot like the egg:

 

[Kaldorine]

Thanks everybody. I'm looking looking for reviews now comparing the different versions. I think i prefer the look of the ref design. I have a Cm 590 with Yate Loons D12SH for exhaust and intake so heat isn't really a big deal but the noise might be. I'm not into oc'ing. I'm just looking for a reliable part and of course being a former Nvidia guy xFx just pops out to me.

Not sure if i'm ready to take the plunge on any of their other partners. Now i'm just looking for a good price.
Thanks

 

[VulgarDisplay]

If you're not into overclocking then I would definitely buy the cheapest XFX card you can find.