Best brand for an ATi 5850 or 5870?

[liquidsnake718]

Powercolor, Sapphire, MSI, Asus, XFX? I am seriously rthinking of getting one of these but which is the most dependable and with the best heatsink, spacing, clocks, software, support, ect?

 

[OvrClkr]

XFX or Visiontek , warranty is a must.... Specially when you are going to pay 450.00$ for the GPU......

 

[hell_storm2004]

Sapphire for me! Wonder if Sapphire is planning to release the Vapor-X version of the HD5xxx cards!

 

[Maziar]

I like all those brands,however go for the one which has a better warranty

 

[MARSOC_Operator]

Powercolor, Sapphire, MSI, Asus, XFX? I am seriously rthinking of getting one of these but which is the most dependable and with the best heatsink, spacing, clocks, software, support, ect?

Sapphire Vapor-X, hands down!

 

[MARSOC_Operator]

Sapphire for me! Wonder if Sapphire is planning to release the Vapor-X version of the HD5xxx cards!

Old news...

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=0001&pid=293

Now the real question is: will they release a Toxic and Atomic versions of HD 5xxx?

 

[jay2tall]

The boards are all the same. Most have a stock reference cooler except the Sapphire Vapor-X I believe. I think XFX has some slightly OCed 5850's as well. But other than that they are virtually all the same (maybe a few BIOS items, but that is it). You are paying for the support and warranty periods. I personally replace my video card every year, hopefully the 5870 lasts me longer, so a lifetime warranty doesn't really matter to me. As long as its 2 years or maybe 3 I don't care.

 

[OvrClkr]

Agreed^^ I just cannot buy a GPU of that caliber/price if it only has a 2 year warranty, even if I upgrade every 2 years I would still benefit from the warranty. You never know what can happen and to be honest, if a 400 dollar GPU dies on me after 2 years it would be a shame to not be able to replace it, specially when it's time to upgrade and all you have to do is slap another card for CF.

 

[logitic]

Powercolor odd enough is the top of the line for ATI, but I would guess for the 5800 series they are all the same. So go with the one with the best warranty. And that would be XFX. You can't beat a lifetime warranty.

 

[hell_storm2004]

Wow! Did not know Vapor-X was out.
I only know that the Vapor-X comes with a non-ref cooler. What's are the Toxic and Atomic version special for?

 

[MARSOC_Operator]

Wow! Did not know Vapor-X was out.
I only know that the Vapor-X comes with a non-ref cooler. What's are the Toxic and Atomic version special for?

The Toxic is an overclocked version and the Atomic is a extreme OC'ed card. They all use the Vapor-X cooling tech and other tweaks.

 

[liquidsnake718]

OK the sapphire is actually cheaper than the xfx and powercolor ones

 

[hell_storm2004]

XFX charges a lot more based on brand value. But when it comes to ATI, Sapphire's special cards are awesome. Check if you find any Asus ones as well.

 

[liquidsnake718]

I got the Sapphire 5850, I was wondering why Powercolor is actually a bit more expensive and one of you guys actually said its the TOP of the line for ATi cards? Really? If so, why? How is Sapphire compared to the Powercolor one?

 

[rolli59]

MSI is usually the first ones to come out with an factory overclocked card.

 

[liquidsnake718]

The boards are all the same. Most have a stock reference cooler except the Sapphire Vapor-X I believe. I think XFX has some slightly OCed 5850's as well. But other than that they are virtually all the same (maybe a few BIOS items, but that is it). You are paying for the support and warranty periods. I personally replace my video card every year, hopefully the 5870 lasts me longer, so a lifetime warranty doesn't really matter to me. As long as its 2 years or maybe 3 I don't care.

thanks, i ended up getting the stock sapphire anyway and it was at a cool $260 so I dont feel one bit bad...

 

[redwave3099]

thanks, i ended up getting the stock sapphire anyway and it was at a cool $260 so I dont feel one bit bad...

where did you get it for 260?