Differentiate Reference and Non Reference Cards

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sidrockrulz

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Sep 26, 2014
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Hello All,,

I am looking at both AMD and NVIDIA cards..

Is there a certain way for me to differentiate the reference and non reference cards when i am looking at them on websites such as amazon or newegg ?

Is there any giveaway in terms of specs or visually or any other way ??

I have looked quite a bit and haven't found anything that gives an easy answer !

Thanks for all your input :)
 
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n0x1ous

n0x1ous

Platinum Member
Sep 9, 2010
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reference cards are always blower style coolers. Look for launch day reviews of whatever card you are looking at and that will feature the reference cooler.

TLDR - Nvida reference good - AMD reference bad
 
wand3r3r

wand3r3r

Diamond Member
May 16, 2008
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AMD reference cards have tended to be beefier, I think you mean the reference cooler=bad but OP is looking to watercool.

Generally a reference blower card has the reference PCB but it's never 100% sure. 290/x Tri-x also have the reference board with a custom cooler. There can be multiple revisions and some can be different so it's best to just ask about a particular board if you aren't sure.
 
MagnusTheBrewer

MagnusTheBrewer

IN MEMORIAM
Jun 19, 2004
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NewEgg typically lists the support site for a particular card. The support site can tell you if it's a reference card or not.
 
netxzero64

netxzero64

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May 16, 2009
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sidrockrulz said:
Hello All,,

I am looking at both AMD and NVIDIA cards..

Is there a certain way for me to differentiate the reference and non reference cards when i am looking at them on websites such as amazon or newegg ?

Is there any giveaway in terms of specs or visually or any other way ??

I have looked quite a bit and haven't found anything that gives an easy answer !

Thanks for all your input :)
Click to expand...
blower type cards - reference
any other cards that looked different with the axial fans with the fan blades like your case fan would be the non-reference.

If you are not going to watercool cards, nvidia reference is the way to go as AMD reference really sucks with the R9 series.
 
n0x1ous

n0x1ous

Platinum Member
Sep 9, 2010
2,574
252
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wand3r3r said:
AMD reference cards have tended to be beefier, I think you mean the reference cooler=bad but OP is looking to watercool.

Generally a reference blower card has the reference PCB but it's never 100% sure. 290/x Tri-x also have the reference board with a custom cooler. There can be multiple revisions and some can be different so it's best to just ask about a particular board if you aren't sure.
Click to expand...

Correct - and good clarification. AMD reference PCB's are excellent

Dont see the OP mention H20 - different thread?
 
S

sidrockrulz

Member
Sep 26, 2014
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n0x1ous said:
reference cards are always blower style coolers. Look for launch day reviews of whatever card you are looking at and that will feature the reference coole
Click to expand...

Sure.. But what about PCBs with modified coolers ? Like the Reference board EVGA GTX980 with the ACX2.0 Cooler ? Or something like it..

How would you tell in that case ?
 
S

sidrockrulz

Member
Sep 26, 2014
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wand3r3r said:
Generally a reference blower card has the reference PCB but it's never 100% sure. 290/x Tri-x also have the reference board with a custom cooler. There can be multiple revisions and some can be different so it's best to just ask about a particular board if you aren't sure.
Click to expand...

Exactly , how am i going to see the difference in this case ?>
 
F

f1sherman

Platinum Member
Apr 5, 2011
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I put more trust in NV and AMD than in their partners.
Meaning I'm 100% positive that given big enough sample reference cards will have least amount of problems.

Which is not to say that custom cards are bad, or that they can't be better than ref., idd many times partners cards are much better than ref. It's just that its verification process is less rigorous.

Nvidia has Green Light program that ensures that custom cards are verified by Nvidia itself, though there have been 1 or 2 slip ups. You might hear beginner OC-ers complain about it, but overall the program is a huge success.

Both NV and AMD ref. cards are so simple to spot, I can't go into details :) ; just use google image and combine with +PCB if you want to see electronics.

sidrockrulz said:
Blowers suck , but the PCB is good ?
Click to expand...

It does a little bit(R9 290)... but I see it going more miles than say stupid MSI fan
 
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wand3r3r

wand3r3r

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May 16, 2008
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n0x1ous said:
Correct - and good clarification. AMD reference PCB's are excellent

Dont see the OP mention H20 - different thread?
Click to expand...
Yeah.
sidrockrulz said:
You mean fatter/thicker ? But pictures cannot really show me this, can it ?
Click to expand...
Beefier meaning having e.g. more power phases or at least overkill on the PCB components. They can handle more voltage etc. than the default. These are critical when under water (or air) and overclocking/overvolting since it stresses the card and if it was near the theoretical limits something may die an untimely death.
sidrockrulz said:
Exactly , how am i going to see the difference in this case ?>
Click to expand...
It's best to ask about specific cards.
 
XFXSupport

XFXSupport

Member
Aug 1, 2014
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f1sherman said:
Ref.

If that's the usual(normal) XFX DD sku. They sometimes change SKU without much fanfare. BEWARE of this

http://cdn2.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Radeon-R9-290X-PCB-Back.jpg
http://www.legitreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/xfx-dd-290-back-645x323.jpg
Click to expand...

Unfortunately that did happen a few times in the past. Last year we were promised that if any new PCB changes occured, we would know before they were made to make it public/apparent for buyers. If you are not sure what you are looking at, give us a call with the serial# and we can sort it out. 800 880 3225.

Thank you
 
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sidrockrulz

Member
Sep 26, 2014
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wand3r3r said:
Beefier meaning having e.g. more power phases or at least overkill on the PCB components. They can handle more voltage etc. than the default. These are critical when under water (or air) and overclocking/overvolting since it stresses the card and if it was near the theoretical limits something may die an untimely death.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the clarification !
 
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sidrockrulz

Member
Sep 26, 2014
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Can anyone tell me which of these are reference and which are non Reference ?

1. GIGABYTE GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD GeForce GTX 970 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125684&cm_re=gtx_970-_-14-125-684-_-Product

2. EVGA 04G-2974-KR GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487076&cm_re=gtx_970-_-14-487-076-_-Product

3. PNY VCGGTX9704XPB GeForce GTX 970 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133564&cm_re=gtx_970-_-14-133-564-_-Product

4. GIGABYTE GV-N970WF3OC-4GD GeForce GTX 970 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125685&cm_re=gtx_970-_-14-125-685-_-Product

5. MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC GeForce GTX 970 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127833&cm_re=gtx_970-_-14-127-833-_-Product

6. ASUS STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5 GeForce GTX 970 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121899&cm_re=gtx_970-_-14-121-899-_-Product

7. EVGA 04G-1972-KR GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487070&cm_re=gtx_970-_-14-487-070-_-Product


Thank you folks !
 
Cerb

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
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Easy: they are all non-reference, by nature of being GTX 970s.
 
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sidrockrulz

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Sep 26, 2014
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Cerb said:
Easy: they are all non-reference, by nature of being GTX 970s.
Click to expand...


Crap, shouldve framed my question differently..

I know these take the GTX760 waterblock and the GTX760 waterblock.

So all these cards take the waterblocks ?
 
Cerb

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
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sidrockrulz said:
Crap, shouldve framed my question differently..

I know these take the GTX760 waterblock and the GTX760 waterblock.

So all these cards take the waterblocks ?
Click to expand...
They take GTX 670 compatible parts, for the most part. IE, that while there isn't a reference GTX 970, most makers are re-using reference GTX 670 PCBs (that could be 99% of the coil whine problem, too). You'd need to check on the specific card, though.
 
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