How long do reference cards normally stay in the channel?

[sparkuss]

I just this week had to get a new GFX card as my HD5870 fan died. I now have a nice HD6970.

I still want to eventually go WC but there aren't many reference cards available now for the blocks I'd like to use.

I was going to hold off and get the new HD7xxx series as soon as reference cards came out so that they would have the first available blocks as well.

I keep missing the window for reference cards as I'm at least a series behind on each upgrade.

So what is the rough length of the "reference" release window for most high end cards, that the WC companies will build their first blocks on?

 

[Grooveriding]

Generally three months or so. The 6950 reference cards quickly disappeared because of the ability to mod them into 6970s. In general though I notice AMD reference cards dry up faster than nvidia's do.

AMD makes some nice reference cards, when you compare them to some of the custom designs that come later, the reference cards are over-engineered.

 

[Zed03]

*over-engineered in everything but cooling. Reference fans are LOUD.

 

[nitromullet]

*over-engineered in everything but cooling. Reference fans are LOUD.

Depends on what non-reference card you are comparing it to. The basic cooler on the non-reference XFX 6950's is terrible http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150530

It's loud and doesn't cool very well, which makes sense when you look at it up close. It looks like a cooler designed to expel hot air outside the case, but it's actually a radial cooler that is completely enclosed in a plastic shroud. Without the shroud the cooler might not be bad, but the shroud prevents the actual cooling fins from getting any fresh air or transferring any heat. Sure they poke a few holes in it, but the heatsink basically can't breathe so the fan has to work extra hard just to move some air.

I had one of these before my MSI 6950 Twin Frozr II, which I exchanged it for. The Twin Frozr is quieter, and the card overall just seems nicer than the XFX. Even the PCIe power connecters felt cheap on the XFX, which I had to practically force the plugs into.

This is quite a contrast between the high qiality reference XFX stuff I've owned, which includes a 5870, 6870, and even a GTX 260 and 8800 GTS 512MB from back when XFX was an NVIDIA partner.

...some non-reference stuff is just cheap...

 

[sparkuss]

Thanks for the replies,

Sounds like a pretty short window, I'll have to move fast then if I want to get two for CF when they come out.

Here's looking forward to the first actual reviews

Cheers

 

[3DVagabond]

What 6970 did you buy?

 

[sparkuss]

I ended up with the Sapphire 100311-3SR.

It has the $30 MIR, of course I could have also saved another $20 if I had realized what the OCZ rebate code was for as well. NewEgg confused me by noting it right there on the description page and it just never registered as I read it

Happy with it so far, but I just went through a spate of black screen errors as I was updating to the 11.11C drivers even with my HD5870 right before it died.

They went away at first by backing down from 120hz on my monitor but came back again so I reverted to 11.11 and they have stopped at 120hz. I'm going to wait for final 12.1 to try any newer and see if they return.