GPU Manufacturer Differences ??

[panderggb]

I'm sure somewhere there is already an answer to this question, but I've been reading for a while now and I haven't found it yet so I hope someone can answer it for me anyway. I'm a bit confounded as I've been looking at the 4090 because that is what appears to be the top of the line at the moment, but there seems to be a very wide separation between the prices of various brands. What I'm having trouble with is figuring out why some manufacturers versions are significantly higher or lower priced than others for this chipset?

 

I'm using newegg for all the prices here only for comparative pricing from the same platform not to claim these are specifically the best possible prices available.

 

Colorful iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan W OC Graphics Card,24G - $3,489.99

ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card - $2589.00

GIGABYTE Gaming (GIGABYTE) GeForce RTX 4090 24GB GDDR6X - $1879.00

MSI Gaming (MSI) GeForce RTX 4090 24GB GDDR6X PCI Express 4.0 Video Card RTX 4090 GAMING TRIO 24G - $1,599.00

 

Now, I understand that various retailers that sell through newegg can (and do) have different prices for the same product, but I did attempt to find the lowest available price for each card made by a certain manufacturer on the site. So, my question, is; what should I be looking for to determine if the 1,599.00 4090 chipset from MSI is just as good, better, or worse, than the $3,498.99 Igame card? Are the chipsets essentially the same as the specs appear or is there something I'm just not seeing?

 

[UnknownWalls]

Not much difference expect for a factory overclock and stuff. I would buy the msi

[SorryBella]

10 minutes ago, panderggb said:

So, my question, is; what should I be looking for to determine if the 1,599.00 4090 chipset from MSI is just as good, better, or worse, than the $3,498.99 Igame card?

Unless you are willing to void warranty and shunt mod it for performance? No. Yes there will be temp difference going from reference to custom AIB solution but honestly doesnt warrant the exorbitant premium those have now, when you can remedy it at lower cost with a better airflow management.

[YoungBlade]

When buying a partner card (a card not made by the original GPU manufacturer) what you're paying extra for is the cooler, any factory OC, and any other card features like RGB lighting, dual-BIOS, etc. But you are getting exactly the same GPU. An MSI 4090 and a Colorful 4090 and a Gigabyte 4090 all use the exact same GPU die, they all have the same number of Cuda cores, they all have the same memory bus.

 

Generally, you should just buy the cheapest card with a reasonable cooling solution regardless of board partner. It's not worth paying a huge premium for some special design since the silicon you get is the same at the end of the day.

[Dedayog]

11 minutes ago, panderggb said:

I'm sure somewhere there is already an answer to this question, but I've been reading for a while now and I haven't found it yet so I hope someone can answer it for me anyway. I'm a bit confounded as I've been looking at the 4090 because that is what appears to be the top of the line at the moment, but there seems to be a very wide separation between the prices of various brands. What I'm having trouble with is figuring out why some manufacturers versions are significantly higher or lower priced than others for this chipset?

 

I'm using newegg for all the prices here only for comparative pricing from the same platform not to claim these are specifically the best possible prices available.

 

Colorful iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan W OC Graphics Card,24G - $3,489.99

ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card - $2589.00

GIGABYTE Gaming (GIGABYTE) GeForce RTX 4090 24GB GDDR6X - $1879.00

MSI Gaming (MSI) GeForce RTX 4090 24GB GDDR6X PCI Express 4.0 Video Card RTX 4090 GAMING TRIO 24G - $1,599.00

 

Now, I understand that various retailers that sell through newegg can (and do) have different prices for the same product, but I did attempt to find the lowest available price for each card made by a certain manufacturer on the site. So, my question, is; what should I be looking for to determine if the 1,599.00 4090 chipset from MSI is just as good, better, or worse, than the $3,498.99 Igame card? Are the chipsets essentially the same as the specs appear or is there something I'm just not seeing?

 

Factory Overlcock - which you can do yourself

 

Aftermarket Cooling - has an effect on performance. especially if AIO based

 

RGB / Aesthetics - personal preference

 

I'd get the MSI too.  

[panderggb]

Thank you all, this helps me a lot.

[UnknownWalls]

Just now, panderggb said:

Thank you all, this helps me a lot.

Your welcome  

[Coaxialgamer]

This was also confusing to me when I got started with PC gaming. At the simplest level, Nvidia produces bare chips (GPUs) which are then sold to companies such as Asus, MSI, Gigabyte etc (called AIBs), which put the chip on a PCB, slap a cooler on it, and sell it to you.

 

Both Nvidia and AMD put out "reference" designs for their cards (sometimes called "founders edition" for Nvidia) which these AIB companies can opt to use.

Alternatively, AIBs can opt to design and build specialized or more performant coolers/PCBs for any given GPU. This is what you're paying for when buying more expensive, "premium" versions of certain cards. Some cards might also have a slight overclock right out of the factory, although in practice the performance jump is fairly minor. 

Finally, you're paying for game bundles, customer support, and packaging. Buying a card from a brand known for good support in your region could save you a lot of hassle down the line.