Stupid Question

[sammyk12]

So I'm pretty new here, but there is something I just don't understand. So Nvidia released the GTX 980,and I get that, but I keep seeing all these other, different versions of the card. Like the EVGA GTX 980 and the Gigabyte GTX 980 etc. Wouldn't this be like Honda releasing the new Civic and then other companies releasing like the Toyota Civic and the Ford Civic and BMW Civic? Are these cards different? Why do they do this? Thank you!

[AlwaysFSX]

Nvidia sources the cards to other companies to make. Not at all like your analogy.

[Enderman]

Aftermarket cards are better. Its like getting a shop to mod your new civic. They still pay nvidia for the GPU.

[SovietOnion]

Putting their own twist on the card, adding custom hardware to the card, custom heat shields backplates etc... 

[OriginalPromise]

Nvidia sources the cards to other companies to make. Not at all like your analogy.

^this.

Aftermarket versions of GPUs have better cooling designs, color schemes, and sometimes even clock speeds.

[Interfectorem]

Nvidia I  "licenses" to these  3rd party companies. The companies are free to modify the PCB to optimize for OCing, they're free to put on their own custom better-performing cooler etc. They're all the same GPU made by nVidia, but these companies add their twist.

[sammyk12]

Thanks to all, this helped clear things up!

[JefferyD90]

Its not a stupid question.  Nvidia is equal to Intel as EVGA is equal to ASUS.  Nvidia makes the GPU NOT the graphics card, so Nvidia released the GTX 980 while graphics card manufactures released a graphics card that features the GTX 980.

 

With your car comparison, its like Ford made a new motor and several companies used that motor in their vehicle (which does happen all the time, just look at construction stuff)

[JefferyD90]

 NVidia does not "source" anything.  We as consumers do not buy video cards FROM NVidia.  NVidia sells the chips they make to companies in bulk.  You have "Reference Design" cards - cards that are made EXACTLY how NVidia says they should be made, then you have "Non-Reference Design" cards - ones that are modified for different reasons.

 

Reference Designs have certain limitations like how much voltage can be sent to them, and what kind of memory (memory size and speed) can be used with it, and so on.  This is the ONLY way NVidia guarantees the card to work with.  If you go outside of these parameters, they can not guarantee the card will work the way they say it will.

 

Non-Reference Designs will do some things they think they can get away with, like adding more power phases which allow for much more accurate control of electricity, or using a bigger heat sink or faster fan.  The manufactures do this to push the chip past the original limits.

 

But this change could be viewed as bad because of janky driver controls.  My best example is like the Gigabyte cards, they have the "Wind force" series of cards that have 3 fans.  Well some Reference designed cards have only 1 fan, but these "Wind force" cards have 3 fans that all operate at different RPMs.  The "generic" driver (the piece of software you get from NVidia's website) DOES NOT know how to manage the temperatures of the "Wind force" cards because it is NOT what NVidia thinks is there.  The upside to this is if you get the driver from Gigabytes website, Gigabyte has changed this setting allowing for accurate reading of fans and temps.

 

With all of that said, the driver issues are 99% far and few between and companies that make cards aren't falling too far off of the path that NVidia has set for them in this day and age.  While I agree that most people will be happier a Non-Reference Design, I personally wont ever buy one.  Ill stick with Reference Design cards so I can always have the latest driver (cause keep in mind Gigabyte has to wait for NVidia to release the generic driver so they can tweak it themselves, then test it, retweak, then upload.  If they even decide to do so)

 

 

---

 

Edit:  Another reason I am a reference fan is because of things like the Kraken G10, this allows me to add water cooling to my GPU with ease.  It only works with reference video cards BECAUSE the screw holes for the cooling units aren't in the normal spots.  So when you get a reference card there a lot of really good things to look at further down the line, but Non-Reference cards are ALWAYS nice too (they always look so much sexier I think)

[Samfisher]

 NVidia does not "source" anything.  We as consumers do not buy video cards FROM NVidia.  NVidia sells the chips they make to companies in bulk.  You have "Reference Design" cards - cards that are made EXACTLY how NVidia says they should be made, then you have "Non-Reference Design" cards - ones that are modified for different reasons.

 

Reference Designs have certain limitations like how much voltage can be sent to them, and what kind of memory (memory size and speed) can be used with it, and so on.  This is the ONLY way NVidia guarantees the card to work with.  If you go outside of these parameters, they can not guarantee the card will work the way they say it will.

 

Non-Reference Designs will do some things they think they can get away with, like adding more power phases which allow for much more accurate control of electricity, or using a bigger heat sink or faster fan.  The manufactures do this to push the chip past the original limits.

 

But this change could be viewed as bad because of janky driver controls.  My best example is like the Gigabyte cards, they have the "Wind force" series of cards that have 3 fans.  Well some Reference designed cards have only 1 fan, but these "Wind force" cards have 3 fans that all operate at different RPMs.  The "generic" driver (the piece of software you get from NVidia's website) DOES NOT know how to manage the temperatures of the "Wind force" cards because it is NOT what NVidia thinks is there.  The upside to this is if you get the driver from Gigabytes website, Gigabyte has changed this setting allowing for accurate reading of fans and temps.

 

With all of that said, the driver issues are 99% far and few between and companies that make cards aren't falling too far off of the path that NVidia has set for them in this day and age.  While I agree that most people will be happier a Non-Reference Design, I personally wont ever buy one.  Ill stick with Reference Design cards so I can always have the latest driver (cause keep in mind Gigabyte has to wait for NVidia to release the generic driver so they can tweak it themselves, then test it, retweak, then upload.  If they even decide to do so)

 

 

Do manufacturers even provide their own drivers anymore?  Didn't that go out the window years and years ago with the unified driver architecture Nvidia went for?

[JefferyD90]

Do manufacturers even provide their own drivers anymore?  Didn't that go out the window years and years ago with the unified driver architecture Nvidia went for?

 If manufacturers do anything outside of spec, then yes.  It still happens with OEM's like Dell's and HP's I know for a fact.  Now the sensors on the video card can be altered to give off different results to fool the generic driver into thinking something.  This is often times why different software yields different temps for your GPU.

[Samfisher]

 If manufacturers do anything outside of spec, then yes.  It still happens with OEM's like Dell's and HP's I know for a fact.  Now the sensors on the video card can be altered to give off different results to fool the generic driver into thinking something.  This is often times why different software yields different temps for your GPU.

 

For OEM's yeah I know about that one.  But I don't think the example you gave regarding the Gigabyte fan profile actually exists?  Could be wrong though.

[JefferyD90]

For OEM's yeah I know about that one.  But I don't think the example you gave regarding the Gigabyte fan profile actually exists?  Could be wrong though.

Gigabyte might use a different temp sensor where that issue doesn't exist, but it is the most extreme example I know of to illustrate the point.  This PLAUGED the GeForce 8000 series cards when the 9000 series came out.  What happened was the 9000 series used the same core design as the 8000 series just more power efficient and usually cooler (which resulted in higher clock speeds).  The problem is the reference drivers for the 8000 and 9000 series would be the same, but offered different temp thresholds and such.  It caused a mass exodus of non-reference 8000 series cards that weren't in well ventilated cases because the fans didn't spin up at the same rates.