Which OEM graphics card maker, Will you never buy from again?

[RobertPters77]

I've heard horror stories about X brand, Y brand, Z brand, etc.

For me it's Palit.

 

[nenforcer]

BFGTech.

Because they went out of business and are no longer manufacturing video cards.

 

[Meghan54]

Asus. Have had two fail miserably, and while that isn't a reason to dismiss Asus as a video card supplier, their complete fubar'd RMA process is.

After suffering through a 3 month long RMA process to get a 5870 repaired/replaced, along with having to send back the "repaired" card twice due to it not being touched or repaired, Asus can suck my big toe before I'll buy another of their branded cards.

Their motherboards, on the other hand, have always served me well.

 

[spaceman]

sapphire

 

[sgrinavi]

I think I've tried just about all of them and not had a single issue....

 

[GodisanAtheist]

BFGTech.

Because they went out of business and are no longer manufacturing video cards.

-You sonofa... took the words right out of my mouth. But seriously I only owned the 7900GT from BFG and it has to be the glitchiest card I owned, even the second RMA'ed one had almost the same problems.

Since these problems were not wide-spread among 7900GTs BFG is left holding the bag.

 

[gorobei]

BFGTech.

Because they went out of business and are no longer manufacturing video cards.

2nd'ed

I rma'd a 2 year old 8800gts 512 and got a 9800gtx+. The replacement lasted less than a year before it failed. By then BFG was doa. Lifetime guarantee means as long as the company lives.

Here's hoping that EVGA and XFX stay in business.

 

[BathroomFeeling]

Inno3D & other similar low-class brands like Grandmars, HIS, Galaxy, Focus, Colorful, etc.. When my Inno3D GeForce4 Ti4200 broke down within the warranty period, I rang them up for a replacement, or at least a repair. Company was based in my city at the time, so honoring the warranty should be a breeze right? No. Staff were unhelpful, and I got passed around the office telephone system like a used tissue. Most couldn't understand basic English. In the end they hung up on me.

I then got a quick replacement 9800 from another cheapo brand, Grandmars I think. Experience was so-so, the good was that it turned out to be a Pro rather than a non-Pro. The bad was that I saw artifacts on boot, but not in Windows. Obviously a return of some kind by an idiot modder, retailer refused exchange (it was still functional) & I was stuck with it. It worked well for the next several years, so I have to give it credit.

When I bought my new system, I made damn sure all my components were from good or at least reputable brands most were familiar with. I also bought my system from a larger company, a step up from simply purchasing parts individually from small dimwit stores. These folks honors all warranty for 5 full years, even if some of the components originally had 1 or 2 years warranty on them. No extra payment, they'll handle everything for you.

 

[nemesismk2]

I've never been lucky with Visiontek

 

[Morg.]

I remember a GF2 GTS from Point of view that never worked, was sent to RMA, returned after warranty still broken. I was pissed off.

XFX, for selling shit.
Honestly, I had my hands on both the XFX and Gigabyte version of the 5770, and well, the gigabyte was cooler, tougher, and cheaper.

 

[Grooveriding]

Sapphire, palit, ecs, sparkle, galaxy and gigabyte.

 

[RobertPters77]

Sapphire? I'm surprised. Being amd's biggest reseller and all.

 

[hawtdawg]

I have a Sapphire 1950 pro in a spare PC that's still truckin along just fine. That thing has seen about 200 days played of World of Warcraft.

 

[Mezzanine]

Powercolor.

My 3 month old 5850 died and they insisted I RMA it through the store I bought it from despite it no longer trading. I argued with them for a while by email but no way would they let me send it in to them directly.

Never again.

 

[BFG10K]

MSI.

 

[DeathReborn]

XFX

Had 2 cards fail within 6 months of purchase & their customer service was appalling the second time. I'm no massochist so I won't be making it 3 out of 3.

 

[novasatori]

sapphire

:thumbsup:

 

[Axon]

Sapphire? I'm surprised. Being amd's biggest reseller and all.

When they were first coming up, at least to my recollection, they had some cruddy messes of cards. I had a 1950xt from them that they just couldn't get right.

 

[FalseChristian]

I'd have to go with ASUS also. I bought 2 ASUS 8800GTs and 1 of them went bad in 6 months. Now I have 2 eVGA GTX 460 1GBs and they are chugging along nicely!

 

[Cerb]

Powercolor. The only brand I've had multiple infant failures of, and non-response on the 2nd RMA.

Gecube. It was a good while back, but was easily the worst quality fan I've ever seen installed on a video card, and it failed prematurely. Nobody should ever have been given the OK to release such a thing from the factory (I figure most were like it, because it didn't start failing w/ lockups until near the end of the warranty period). Complete non-response from the company, as well, for those couple months it was still under warranty. The card still works fine, with a 80mm fan on top of it, but...

@BFG10K: why MSI?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Evga or XFX. I refuse to pay more for a lifetime warranty when I replace my card at least yearly sometimes monthly. Biggest scam that fanboys just eat up.

 

[Rifter]

Sapphire and XFX.

 

[Avalon]

I've owned a Powercolor, three Connect3Ds, two Visionteks, one Sapphire, one 3DMonster, two 3DFX (self branded), two OEM Nvidia cards, three eVGA, two Gainward, and one XFX card...off the top of my head. I know there's a few more. No issues with any. Had to do an RMA with Connect3D at one point, went smoothly, but I suppose that's a moot point as they're no longer in business

So to answer the question, there's really no brand that's still in business, that I've used, that I would steer clear of should a deal for the card I want come up. However, I have and will continue to avoid PNY like the plague. The GF6000 series caps rolling around in boxes is still pretty vivid in memory.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I had a terrible experience dealing with BFG, and now they're gone anyway. All other brands I have used have been trouble free.

MSI.

Does apoppin have to do all the reviews for MSI products then? I'm surprised MSI doesn't go out of their way to make sure people who write articles for hardware review sites are kept happy.

 

[BTA]

How do people have so much trouble with video cards dieing?

I've had every known brand of video card over the years and can't think of any that died or had major issues.