Non-Reference cards with Reference look?

[DavidBardock]

Can someone explain why some cards of Radeon have Reference look, but are called different? like Gigabyte, Club3D, they look the same, just some different sticker are on thats it.  :huh:

[Raudi_]

Can someone explain why some cards of Radeon have Reference look, but are called different? like Gigabyte, Club3D, they look the same, just some different sticker are on thats it.  :huh:

AMD doesn't do  sales for their video cards they rely on board partners to make the sales for them.

[79wjd]

Because AMD/Nvidia make the chip, not the card. 

 

Their board partners take the chips and build the board and card. With reference cards they follow AMD/Nvidia's spec, and for their custom boards, they design their own board with better power delivery. 

[Izaya Orihara]

Because AMD/Nvidia make the chip, not the card. 

 

Their board partners take the chips and build the board and card. With reference cards they follow AMD/Nvidia's spec, and for their custom boards, they design their own board with better power delivery. 

They don't make the chip either. Just the plan on how to build it. 

[79wjd]

They don't make the chip either. Just the plan on how to build it. 

Really? I always assumed Nvidia/AMD produced the chips and the board partners then binned them. 

 

TIL 

[DavidBardock]

so Club3D or Gigabyte R9 290 with reference look any good?

[79wjd]

so Club3D or Gigabyte R9 290 with reference look any good?

Don't buy a card with a reference cooler. 

 

For the R9 290: 

Sapphire Vapor-X > Sapphire Tri-X > MSI Twin Frozr > PowerColor PCS+ > Gigabyte Windforce >>> Asus DCU2 >>> reference cooler 

 

Club3D, HIS, Diamond, VisionTek, and XFX are all the less desired cards (higher failure rates / worse customer support) -- and I'd avoid them as they usually aren't much cheaper.