What is the difference between a nvidia reference card and one from evga, bfg etc?

[NoodleTech]

Hey, I'm about to buy a 7900GTX from someone. He stated it is a nvidia reference card. What is the difference between this and a 7900GTX from evga or bfg or any other name brand manufacturer?

Thanks!

 

[shabby]

No difference at all.

 

[Ika]

Reference is basically the stock design that NVidia came out with and gave to their board partners (manufacturers like eVGA and BFG). The board manufacturers can then take that Reference design and make modifications to it (heatsink/fan design, overclock, etc etc), or they can just release the reference design (usually labeled as stock or reference card, which means no modifications).

 

[NoodleTech]

So do you have to be a board manufacturer to obtain one of these? I've never seen one in retail stores before.

 

[redlinez33]

I had a nvidia reference design 7900GTX. No difference at all. I dont know how you get it, I bought it from someone on this board

 

[Slugbait]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but the original meaning of "reference design" is exclusive to the developing company. For example, nVidia doesn't make video cards that you can purchase...they make video cards that are sent to OEMs.

The OEM does not make reference design boards. OEMs make OEM boards based upon the reference design. In the case of nVidia, a large number of boards are essentially identical to the original reference design, except perhaps a different color for the PCB or whatever.

 

[Syntax Error]

But what about cards that are non-reference? I'm pretty sure I saw some crazy HD3870X2s that have a double-stack PCB (made by MSI or someone) and the ECS 8800GT with the Accelero S1 isn't based on the reference design at all. I don't think those are made by Nvidia proper, but by the other board partners (Gigabyte, MSI, ECS, etc)

 

[hans007]

there are some non reference cards.

but yeah most cards are more or less the same .


reference cards end up usually goign to dell / hp and such.

for example most evga 8600/8600gts cards are reference. except evga released a newer 8600gt that has 1 dvi and 1 vga instead of dual and a different pcb, so occasionally manufactureres will make their own design to save some money toward the end.

usually they go with reference initially for time to market.


but a slightly smaller pcb, design, with say 1 dvi less can save them maybe $2 a unit (they dont have to get a tdms for the 2nd dvi port and such)

 

[ja1484]

A sticker on the fan.

 

[Blacklash]

If you're buying a used card look for XFX. The seller can transfer their lifetime warranty to you provided they are the original buyer. Also you may overclock and replace the HSF under XFX's warranty and it will not be voided.

 

[zixxer]

FYI you see a lot of oems come with reference cards that are unlabeled

 

[Cookie Monster]

From what i know, nVIDIA designs the GPUs.

These GPU designs are manufactured by TSMC or UMC (quantity depends on nVIDIA's order amount). They are then packaged as video cards by foxconn or flextronics (big OEMS) who makes all the PCBs for nVIDIA (based on nVIDIA's reference design of course). These labeless cards are then ordered by nVIDIA partners like BFG, EVGA, XFX and so on initially.

To distinguish the products, each company puts stickers. I.e reference card has no sticker since its from none of the nVIDIA's partners. Ones with stickers are from one of nVIDIA's partners. The biggest difference could be the warranty system however.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
From what i know, nVIDIA designs the GPUs.

These GPU designs are manufactured by TSMC or UMC (quantity depends on nVIDIA's order amount). They are then packaged as video cards by foxconn or flextronics (big OEMS) who makes all the PCBs for nVIDIA (based on nVIDIA's reference design of course). These labeless cards are then ordered by nVIDIA partners like BFG, EVGA, XFX and so on initially.

To distinguish the products, each company puts stickers. I.e reference card has no sticker since its from none of the nVIDIA's partners. Ones with stickers are from one of nVIDIA's partners. The biggest difference could be the warranty system however.

Pretty accurate there. There are exceptions though.

most cards are only differentiated by the sticker on them.
However, rarely a company will create a non reference design card with better components and modifications to the PCB.
Sometimes they will also use the reference design with a non reference cooler (ie, they will put a different cooler on the standard PCB).

But those special cards are rare.