Different card company performance?

[JustJoan]

Is there a difference between different card companies? For example the R9 280x, there are GIGABYTE, MSI, XFX, Sapphire, and a bunch others that make this card. Is there any difference in perfomance/structure? Or is it just different companies and different decorations? Because (I'm not buying this card, very expensive to me.) looking at the different card companies, they're really ugly to me. I like Radeon's decoration. Simple rectangle with the red spiral stripes.

[MegaDave91]

If they're reference, then no. Non reference are usually factory overclocked.

[Clyne]

Reference cards don't have good cooling so no, so could be factory overclocked with better coolers, if your buying a Radeon gpu, then avoid Asus because of their VRAM issue.

[loccilucas]

Is there a difference between different card companies? For example the R9 280x, there are GIGABYTE, MSI, XFX, Sapphire, and a bunch others that make this card. Is there any difference in perfomance/structure? Or is it just different companies and different decorations? Because (I'm not buying this card, very expensive to me.) looking at the different card companies, they're really ugly to me. I like Radeon's decoration. Simple rectangle with the red spiral stripes.

there are sometimes differences in performance, but most of the time they are pretty small.

[JustJoan]

Shot at the dark, is reference like "original design"? Also, if I use an overclocked video card with a processor that's not overclocked, what will happen? Will it run fine? Or will it blow up in my face (Not literally, or at least I hope not literally.)?

[MegaDave91]

Shot at the dark, is reference like "original design"? Also, if I use an overclocked video card with a processor that's not overclocked, what will happen? Will it run fine? Or will it blow up in my face (Not literally, or at least I hope not literally.)?

Yeah, reference means OEM (original equipment manufacturer) design. Running an overclocked card with a cpu running at stock is just fine. 

[Syntaxvgm]

Well the performance is exactly the same at the same clockrate. Different makers may clock their cards higher or even lower. Depending on the cooling solution, you can push certain cards further via overclocking than others. 

One of the main differences besides clokcrate and cooling solution is reliability, especially non-reference cards. They have the potential to be better or worse compared to their competitors. 

[Pomfinator]

Shot at the dark, is reference like "original design"? Also, if I use an overclocked video card with a processor that's not overclocked, what will happen? Will it run fine? Or will it blow up in my face (Not literally, or at least I hope not literally.)?

There's three basic types of GPU's that you have to know:

Reference: the card comes with the basic blower style cooler and a bog standard PCB with no modifications to the original design (Nvidia sells some "made by Nvidia" cards and almost all card manufacturers only have reference cards at the card's launch)

Custom Cooler: the company puts a custom cooler on it and leaves the PCB alone, these often perform better due to better cooling (EVGA ACX, MSI Gaming, etc)

Non-Reference: the company completely changes the design of both the cooler and the PCB, often lengthening the card and adding more reliable parts (ASUS DCII cards)

 

And to answer your second question, nothing's gonna happen.

[Dimwitted]

The reference "blower" cards are noisy and are basic performers. The non-reference have wild cooling systems. All are effective but some are more quiet than others. Sapphire has a real rep for quiet.

[JustJoan]

This looks ugly to you? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150678&cm_re=xfx_280x-_-14-150-678-_-Product

 

A little. I mean it looks okay, but it's a bit plain and ordinary.

 

There's three basic types of GPU's that you have to know:

Reference: the card comes with the basic blower style cooler and a bog standard PCB with no modifications to the original design (Nvidia sells some "made by Nvidia" cards and almost all card manufacturers only have reference cards at the card's launch)

Custom Cooler: the company puts a custom cooler on it and leaves the PCB alone, these often perform better due to better cooling (EVGA ACX, MSI Gaming, etc)

Non-Reference: the company completely changes the design of both the cooler and the PCB, often lengthening the card and adding more reliable parts (ASUS DCII cards)

 

And to answer your second question, nothing's gonna happen.

 

So, non-reference is the most preferred for efficiency? Is Sapphire one? They look like sports cars in the video card world.