Reference cards? Everything else?

[Tacitus]

Hey guys, short question really:

What is a reference card?

What is everything else?

When would I want the former and when would I want the latter?

How can I identify one over the other?

[SAV1OUR]

this is a reference card 



everything else aka after market theres too many to link

 

generally after market coolers do better better with temps and clocks speeds

[Bluejay0]

A reference card is the base PCB which the manufacturer of the card develops for the other aftermarket companies to build upon. effective and functional, the reference card serves as a blue print for other manufacturers to add in little tweaks and modifications without developing a whole custom PCB for the base market and not costing so much as a custom PCB'd one.

 

They can normally be identified as all reference PCB (circuit boards or what ever you call them) are exactly alike. They normally come in blower style coolers but may sometimes come in custom coolers. You would need a good eye or indicator to see some cards are reference boards.

[Prokart2000]

reference is cooler and looks like this 

[Prokart2000]

this sorry

[Xploda]

A reference card is the stock design as the manufacturer (AMD/Nvidia) intended it. Aftermarket cards usually come with different coolers, a somewhat different PCB, different clock speeds (factory overclocked),...

Usually the non-reference cards run a few degrees cooler, and usually they have more overclocking potential.

 

If you're not planning on overclocking the card, I'd say you're better off sticking with a reference card. Most of the time, those factory overclocks on non-reference cards aren't even worth the extra money.

 

Hope this helps   .

[hawthorne]

Nvidia or amd make a card with a specific chip. Other companies take that chip and add a different cooler etc.

[Paralectic]

this sorry

That's a nonreference cooler?

[FizzyFantom]

Reference cards are made by the manufacturer of the GPU (AMD or Nvidia) and are shipped with stock clocks. The design varies, but they tend to be blower designs (pictured above in SAV1OURs post) for high end chips or fan on finned heatsinks for lower end cards (such as the GTX 750Ti). "Everything else" would be non-reference designs by companies like Asus or EVGA, where they change the layout of the PCB as well as chaning the cooler and VRM. Non-reference cards can be factory overclocked and have better coolers, or even come in form factors or liquid cooling not avaiable on a reference card.

As for identifying them, the non-reference cards usually have branding from the company that made the card (like Asus or EVGA), where as the reference card will only have branding from the chip manufacturer.

[Tacitus]

Is there any advantage (other than price) to a reference card, or a scenario where it would be better?

thanks for your answers guys

[SAV1OUR]

Is there any advantage (other than price) to a reference card, or a scenario where it would be better?

thanks for your answers guys

if you had a reference 290x that would get rather hot while something like asus direct cu ii would allow it to stay rather cool 

[Prokart2000]

That's a nonreference cooler?

yes

[dragosudeki]

Are you talking about reference coolers versus non reference coolers? or maybe reference PCBs versus non reference PCBs? non reference coolers beat the reference coolers. reference PCBs usually means that you can mount a generic water cooler or a different air cooler, where as the non reference PCBs would have different mounts and stuff I believe?

[Paralectic]

Are you talking about reference coolers versus non reference coolers? or maybe reference PCBs versus non reference PCBs? non reference coolers beat the reference coolers. reference PCBs usually means that you can mount a generic water cooler or a different air cooler, where as the non reference PCBs would have different mounts and stuff I believe?

But non reference coolers don't beat aftermarket coolers with multiple fans in small cases ( mATX and smaller ).

[Prokart2000]

are we on about non reference which is aftermarket?

[dragosudeki]

But non reference coolers don't beat aftermarket coolers with multiple fans in small cases ( mATX and smaller ).

non reference coolers are the same as aftermarket coolers no? Unless you meant that the reference cooler would be better, though I don't think thats not the case with AMD's R9 290(x), though someone may be able to correct me. Though generally my statement holds true.

[Paralectic]

non reference coolers are the same as aftermarket coolers no? Unless you meant that the reference cooler would be better, though I don't think thats not the case with AMD's R9 290(x), though someone may be able to correct me. Though generally my statement holds true.

Did you even read? I said that non reference coolers aren't always the best in all builds.

[dragosudeki]

Did you even read? I said that non reference coolers aren't always the best in all builds.

I did read, you said "Non reference coolers don't beat aftermarket coolers in small builds". Correct me if I'm wrong, non reference is aftermarket. Reference coolers are the blower ones, which you might be referring to.

[Paralectic]

I did read, you said "Non reference coolers don't beat aftermarket coolers in small builds". Correct me if I'm wrong, non reference is aftermarket. Reference coolers are the blower ones, which you might be referring to.

A blower cooler cools the GPU better than a cooler with multiple fans in a small case is what I said/Meant.

[dragosudeki]

A blower cooler cools the GPU better than a cooler with multiple fans in a small case is what I said/Meant.

Its what you meant,but definitely not what you said.  <_< Then again, in those situations, I'm would still think a non reference 290(x) would definitely cool better than a reference one, so you would be wrong in that case, though if you have a link that says otherwise, I would like to know. I still don't think it makes a huge difference to get a blower in an mATX, but it will definitely be better in ITX builds.

General refers to "all or most". Just because I said "generally my statement holds true" that doesn't mean it always does. In most cases, it will, however like you explained, there are some situations where it would not. If I said "generally watercooling your CPU will help you achieve better OCs", it would mean that it would usually help, though there will be cases where chips are so bad that it will not get better OCs unless it was under a crazy amount of voltage. Seems like you are on the wrong page with me.

[Tacitus]

A blower cooler cools the GPU better than a cooler with multiple fans in a small case is what I said/Meant.

 

Is a blower cooler what comes on a reference card? How exactly does it work, and why is it better in small form factor builds?

 

Sorry for my newbie questions

[Paralectic]

Is a blower cooler what comes on a reference card? How exactly does it work, and why is it better in small form factor builds?

 

Sorry for my newbie questions

It blows the air out of the case instead keeping it inside of the case.

That's better because small builds often have very little airflow without alot of exhaust fans to deal with the heat.

[Tacitus]

It blows the air out of the case instead keeping it inside of the case.

That's better because small builds often have very little airflow without alot of exhaust fans to deal with the heat.

Do all reference cards exhaust outside the case and do all aftermarket coolers not? If not, how do I tell where the heat is going to end up?

cheers

[Paralectic]

Do all reference cards exhaust outside the case and do all aftermarket coolers not? If not, how do I tell where the heat is going to end up?

cheers

It's about guessing how your airflow is in your case with the directions of the intake fans and such. I'm not an expert.