Hardware & Technical Nvidia hardware advice...

pauledarcher · Jul 10, 2015

Hello to the forum,

So. I've decided to save up and rebuild my PC.. I've chosen Nvidia as my GPU card of choice, however.... There are many brands of Nvidia card. Is there a good or bad choice of brand I should go for?? I notice there can be a price difference between them also. I see brands such as ASUS , Gigabyte , EVGA etc etc. but don't know much more about it then that.

Anyone knowledge from those that know would be much appreciated.

It's mainly Elite I will be playing , possibly GTA V in the future.

Regards
Paul

Cody · Jul 10, 2015

Generally speaking, the three brands you mention above are good reliable brands - there are others.

Personally, I use EVGA - good tech-support, good community, excellent warranty.

pauledarcher · Jul 10, 2015

Cody said:
Generally speaking, the three brands you mention above are good reliable brands - there are others.

Personally, I use EVGA - good tech-support, good community, excellent warranty.

Thanks Cody,

That's the sort of good info I need, thank you.. Not toooooo woried about the cost side (within reason).. More comfortable with good support , good drivers, and longevity/compatibility.

Thanks again

rootsrat · Jul 10, 2015

I like ASUS - never failed me, they have great cooling system - extremely efficient and literally silent. Aweseome cards. However, I've read reports of their customer support being not so great - but like I've said, never had any issues, so didn't have to contact them.

It's my 3rd or 4th ASUS card in a row.

Ben_BigBen · Jul 10, 2015

My MSI GTX 970 GAMING Twin Frozr 4GB is working well 8 months in - would recommend.

Cody · Jul 10, 2015

<nods> Aye, we all have our favourites, based on past experience. I always use Asus mobos and Corsair RAM, for example.

Porina · Jul 10, 2015

I found it hard choosing between them and in the end my most recent purchase was the Asus Strix because it looked nice! Which is rather pointless as my case doesn't have a window on it...

I think someone recommended EVGA to me before because they supposedly have long warranties, but I never checked it out in detail.

rootsrat · Jul 10, 2015

Well, a lot of it really depends of what are you looking for in the card. It may be the looks, OC capabilities, factory OC, cooling, noise, warranty, liability. There are many deciding factors so I think it's important to answer that question first - what is the most important for you.

For me it's always OC capability, cooling and noise and after reading reviews from at least 3 different and reliable sources my choice was always ASUS for the past 3 or 4 cards.

pauledarcher · Jul 10, 2015

Wow , so much good info... helping me a lot , thanks guys

(or not helping as there's so much choice!!)

Cody · Jul 10, 2015

rootsrat said:
It may be the looks, OC capabilities, factory OC, cooling, noise, warranty, liability. There are many deciding factors so I think it's important to answer that question first - what is the most important for you.

<nods> Aye, but forget the 'looks' - it can be coyote ugly, but it's performance that counts!

rootsrat · Jul 10, 2015

Cody said:
<nods> Aye, but forget the 'looks' - it can be coyote ugly, but it's performance that counts!

I agree, but this user doesn't seem to

Porina said:
I found it hard choosing between them and in the end my most recent purchase was the Asus Strix because it looked nice! Which is rather pointless as my case doesn't have a window on it...

(And there is nothing wrong with it IMHO!)

pauledarcher said:
Wow , so much good info... helping me a lot , thanks guys
(or not helping as there's so much choice!!)

Paul, like I said, think what's important for you - price, performance, warranty period, quietness etc.

Here are a few websites that aren't biased and do reliable and trustworthy reviews IMHO:

http://www.vortez.net/
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/
http://www.techradar.com/
http://www.bit-tech.net/

FunGas · Jul 10, 2015

A mate just fitted a 780 and is very pleased with it. (140+FPS)
I had a 660Ti which worked well (110FPS) until it blew up, now I have a "temporary" 460 which is fair (75FPS)

rootsrat · Jul 10, 2015

FunGas said:
A mate just fitted a 780 and is very pleased with it. (140+FPS)
I had a 660Ti which worked well (110FPS) until it blew up, now I have a "temporary" 460 which is fair (75FPS)

I think the OP was asking more about a brand rather than a model.

Porina · Jul 10, 2015

Ok, I didn't choose the Asus Strix only because of looks, but it was a factor

Once fitted in the case I can't see it anyway...

The Strix claimed to have a 0 dB cooling mode (fan off) which attracted me. When the GPU is not under heavy load it can turn off the fans, so no noise. I didn't check every other model, but in my experience most go from low speed to high speed. The be fair, I haven't had any GPU where the lowest speed fan was too loud anyway, but if the fan doesn't spin at all, it might attract less dust and have a longer working life.

Personally I don't care much about factory OC. Pretty much all manufacturers do it anyway, and the differences between them to me aren't important. I got a 960 in the end. If I really want more performance, the difference between a stock 960 and a factory OC model isn't going to change things much. Buying a 970 instead would be significant.

I also don't care much about warranty. In general, things work when you get them, or not. If they work, they generally stay working for a long time. Even if the warranty was long enough to cover later failures, generally speaking it wouldn't be worth my effort of making a claim and would be a good excuse to upgrade to whatever is out then. I haven't even had to do that. I think I've only ever had cooling fan related failures on GPUs, and can bodge on a replacement myself without much effort.