Why is this Gainward GeForce GTX 970 card cheaper than the rest?

[severdnerv]

Ive been advised to go for a GTX 970 and been looking around for the cheapest best option and have came across this card 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gainward-GeForce-GTX-970-4GB-...

Now what i want to know is why is it so much cheaper than the other 970s and is it worth getting that compared to a standard £250 Zotac one 

Is there any Decrease in performance or anything as i really want to know if its worth buying.

also here is the Official GAINWARD page details of the card http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=964&lang=en

Any help finding out why this is like this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance
 

[ben dover kid]

it has 2GB memory, also its pci x1 slot, so whatever that means. gtx 970 that i have has 4GB(well, 3.5), and also its gen3 pxi x16 slot

[manikyath]

from the looks of it, they for a starter slapped a very cheapo cooler on it. that looks like something i'd get out the discount bin at my local diy store.

 

beyond that, i guess they just dont do as much R&D or marketing as other companies, so they can run off a smaller profit margin.

[severdnerv]

so basicly im buying a not well known brand gtx 970 compared to a gigabyte , msi or asus one is that all it is ..

cause if its the same specs as the others ill just go ahead and pick this up

 

[oldkingdragonslayer]

7 minutes ago, ben dover kid said:

it has 2GB memory, also its pci x1 slot, so whatever that means. gtx 970 that i have has 4GB(well, 3.5), and also its gen3 pxi x16 slot

BTW if you look at the specs not the ebay specifics it is Gen 3 PCIe x16 and has 4GB of memory 

[ben dover kid]

Just now, oldkingdragonslayer said:

BTW if you look at the specs not the ebay specifics it is Gen 3 PCIe x16 and has 4GB of memory 

well the least thing i expected from ebay is to at least have the correct mothafaking specifics. not even that..

[Thony]

22 minutes ago, ben dover kid said:

it has 2GB memory, also its pci x1 slot, so whatever that means. gtx 970 that i have has 4GB(well, 3.5), and also its gen3 pxi x16 slot

It means it can run on as low pci-e as 1x. But when u open item description it gives u proper specs and says 4gb memory bus and pci-e 3 x16.

 

I haven't compared the clock speeds with othrmer brand but with this low price point I would think the cooler or cheapest part. 

 

Other than that, there is nothing wrong with it if it's brand new

 

Gaineard and PNY are often the cheapest brands. I think Elric from TechOfTomorrow recommends a lot of Gaineard and PNY cards in his reviews and builds.

[Benji_w]

37 minutes ago, severdnerv said:

Ive been advised to go for a GTX 970 and been looking around for the cheapest best option and have came across this card 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gainward-GeForce-GTX-970-4GB-...

Now what i want to know is why is it so much cheaper than the other 970s and is it worth getting that compared to a standard £250 Zotac one 

Is there any Decrease in performance or anything as i really want to know if its worth buying.

also here is the Official GAINWARD page details of the card http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=964&lang=en

Any help finding out why this is like this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance
 

Pretty sure its voltage locked so it's not going to OC very far.

[Mantisean]

1 hour ago, manikyath said:

from the looks of it, they for a starter slapped a very cheapo cooler on it. that looks like something i'd get out the discount bin at my local diy store.

 

beyond that, i guess they just dont do as much R&D or marketing as other companies, so they can run off a smaller profit margin.

And maybe, they're using like "3rd grade" fab chip and a non-branding so it can be way much more cheaper than the rest of the market

CMIIW 

[cleb]

Have you looked into the company itself? It might be sort of a vamry kinda thing. 

[manikyath]

1 hour ago, severdnerv said:

you'rso basicly im buying a not well known brand gtx 970 compared to a gigabyte , msi or asus one is that all it is ..

cause if its the same specs as the others ill just go ahead and pick this up

 

yiu're buying the same GTX970, its just what's around the GTX970 that probably wont be as awesome as other brands.

(cooler design, fan reliability, fan noise, etc.)

[Opsilon]

Oi man, listen

1. I have no idea why this card is cheap, but out here where i live it is not that cheap.

2. I have a Gainward GTX 670 Phantom series, and i have it over 3 years now, still runs strong, Gainward has good cards, and QC is good.

3. The problem here is that it uses the "blower" style cooler, now if this was Asus i would say go for it, but in the past ( geforce 600, 700 era ) Gainwards blower coolers were noisy and showed signs of coil whine, i don't know know about the newer stuff.

4. If you are planing to buy a gainward card try to find a Gainward Phoenix or Phantom cards:

http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=953&lang=en

http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=970&lang=en

5. As far as performance goes it's a 970, so there should be no decrease vs any other one, but i am more worried about the noise.

6. Oh and be carefull to have space for your card if you wish to go for the phantom cards, they are 2,5 slot cards!!!

[Xerora]

Not sure why its cheep but its definetly not the specs that they listed in the "about item" box. the tag even says 4GB GDDR5. Personally, i would stay clear of ebay for computer components.