A question about reference cards

[Pitrus]

So I'm doing my first build and already secured myslef a ryzen 5 5600x, now I'm on the hunt for a new radeon 6800xt. The question is so many companies are responsible for the reference model? All they all alike with the same fan, the same pcb used differing only with color scheme or a producer sticker? Or are there some hardware differences I should be aware off?

 

I don't know yet if I will go with the reference model or maybe one of the custom one's like asuses tuf gaming or a gaming x trio from msi. Having in mind that the reference models will launch a week or two ahead of partner models.

[Stahlmann]

In the past all reference models from different manufacturer were essentially the same. We don't yet know about the RX 6000 series.

[VeganJoy]

reference models differ mostly by warranty, hardware and performance and whatever else should be effectively identical otherwise. if asus does a good tuf cooler again like they did for ampere then the tuf 6800 xt may be spectacular bang for the buck. sapphire's pulse lineup is usually really good too, along with powercolor's and xfx's midrange offerings. for premium models, the sapphire nitro+ and powercolor red devil always top the charts for cooling and pcb quality

[Pitrus]

3 hours ago, VeganJoy said:

reference models differ mostly by warranty, hardware and performance and whatever else should be effectively identical otherwise. if asus does a good tuf cooler again like they did for ampere then the tuf 6800 xt may be spectacular bang for the buck. sapphire's pulse lineup is usually really good too, along with powercolor's and xfx's midrange offerings. for premium models, the sapphire nitro+ and powercolor red devil always top the charts for cooling and pcb quality

Taking purely the looks of them from the leaks of how the card looks I do like the looks of sapphire nitro 6800xt. The tuf if is as good as the ampere cards is good value however I dont like the look of the backplate which looks like something drove over it. The Strix looks awsome to me but in ampere its rather pricey and I read that the rx5700xt strix wasnt that good. Also from the msi presented the gamimg x trio looks appealing.

 

Im waiting though for benchmarks of the reference carda to decide if to cancel my order for rtx 3080 tuf or not cause after what Lisa Su presented at the annoucment I was leaning towards amd but I had an order for a 3080 just in case.