Does brand matter?

[muwu24]

I am looking to upgrade my computer, just get a brand new one, so I am looking to the GTX 1050Ti as my GPU of choice. A significant component of this is due to its low power usage, as I will be putting it in a pre-built HP PC with only a 300W PSU, so I don't want to bother with replacing the PSU, removing the RX470 or GTX 1060 3GB from the equation.

So does brand actually matter or should I just go for the cheapest one? I'm not really an overclocker, so that doesn't really matter too much for me. The ones I'm seeing available so far are, from cheapest:

Zotac GTX 1050 Ti Mini
Zotac GTX 1050 Ti OC
MSI GTX 1050 Ti OC
Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti OC

 

[heavyartillary9]

zotac for me is kinda iffy, i would go with msi, cause i like msi better, but msi. gigabyte, evga , etc are all good ones to go with, some people like zotac, im definatly not one of those!

 

[SBMfromLA]

Some people will tell you that brand does not make any difference because all the cards will have the same exact chip inside and use the same exact driver. The one thing that mostly sets everyone apart is the cooling solution.

I personally like eVGA because of a good experience with them and their "Step Up Program". My first Gigabyte card was bad.. but the replacement one I was given has performed flawlessly. I had problems with my first XFX card and none of the three replacements worked correctly in my computer... but I later found out that was because I was using an older motherboard that had an AMD Chipset in it and it just refused to play nicely with an NVidia card.

So I suppose in the end... a bad card can come from anyone... and your particular configuration/motherboard can affect the card's performance. So just buy what you can afford.. but make sure the store has a good return policy... and what ever you do.. DO NOT... I repeat... do not send in for any rebates (removing UPC) until after you've had time to use the card. I learned that the hard way with my XFX Card. I sent in for the rebate the day I got my card... and it stopped working the next day... and to add insult to injury, XFX never sent me my rebate check.