Graphics card brands. What are the differences?

[gta6287]

I see a lot of graphics card with different brands like MSI, Zotac, Asus, EVGA etc that come with different range of prices and design. Why? What makes it better than the others?

[Skiiwee29]

Cooler design, RGB implementation and support, Warrant support. Thats really the only main differences. 

[gta6287]

1 minute ago, Skiiwee29 said:

Cooler design, RGB implementation and support, Warrant support. Thats really the only main differences.  

How about performance? I see some graphics card has 2 or 3 fans.

[pstarlord]

Well, at a certain level they are essentially the same.  For instance, a graphics card with an Nvidia 1070ti GPU will all have the same GPU.  If all things are perfectly equal, then all the of cards would essentially be the same within the margin of error and the silicon lottery.  

 

So, if they are all the same GPU, I'm sure your question is still the same, "what makes them different?"

 

From there its the build quality of the card, and the thermal performance.  For instance, a 1070ti Founders Edition has one small fan on it, this fan is responsible for helping move warm air away from the GPU when it gets hot.  In order to get the maximum performance out of a GPU, you need to keep it cool.  So then you see the cards with multiple fans, these fans will greatly improve the thermal performance of the card, giving it the ability to be overclocked and delivering better performance.  But not all fans are the same, some are louder than others and that's not desirable.  Some make a higher pitch that can be annoying.  Some are a bit more quiet, and/or make a lower pitch and those will typically be more desirable. 

 

Then there are the company's support.  EVGA, for example, is considered one of the best brands for customer support.  If you have a bad card, they are very liberal with the return/replacement policy.  

 

Then just overall build quality.  Most of the brands you listed will, more of less, have pretty decent build quality.  

 

Then there is the extra features, RGB and the general design.  

 

 

 

[Skiiwee29]

6 minutes ago, gta6287 said:

How about performance? I see some graphics card has 2 or 3 fans.

for non blower style cards there really isnt a ton of difference, but some are better which will generally be on the higher priced models compared to the cheaper version of the same card. IE: MSI 1080ti Armor is a horrible cooler while the MSI 1080ti Gaming X is a great cooler. Same core/card/and PCB and components, but different cooler design. 

[mxk]

It mostly boils down to coolers and how good a chip you get from the silicon lottery (how well the chip overclocks). Some really high end cards I think actually change the PCB and depending on what's changed, that can give noticeable performance bumps.

[gta6287]

4 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

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7 minutes ago, pstarlord said:

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6 minutes ago, mxk. said:

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I see. Thanks.