Is PowerColor any good?

[DzOnIxD]

I want to buy the r9 290 card, and I was wondering if PowerColor is a good manufacturer, I would like to know what are your experiences with that manufacturer.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Powercolor is a second tier manufacturer. I recommend sticking with top shelf manufacturers like ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, Sapphire, XFX and EVGA.

 

[DzOnIxD]

Powercolor is a second tier manufacturer. I recommend sticking with top shelf manufacturers like ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, Sapphire, XFX and EVGA.

Thanks I will, but in my opinion XFX sucks, I had 2 XFX cards and they both fried...

 

[Darkbreeze]

Are you sure that wasn't due to a separate issue like a cheap PSU? If you're not using a Tier 1 or Tier 2 PSU, it's not surprising. I don't mean a unit with a worthless bronze, silver, gold or platinum 80plus rating either. Fake 80plus ratings are prevalent these days and don't count much towards quality anyhow. Stick with units made by Seasonic, XFX (All made by Seasonic), Antec (Most models), EVGA (B2, G2, P2 or V series units), Superflower or Rosewill (Capstone series).

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html#15349669


A cheap or faulty PSU is the most common reason aside from overzealous overclocking of the GPU for premature GPU failure.

 

[DzOnIxD]

It was a 6650, and the other i can't remember but, they were low end cards

 

[Darkbreeze]

Personally, I like and purchase only Sapphire for AMD gaming cards.

 

[DzOnIxD]

Sapphire usually gets the best reviews, it kinda doesn't fit in my black and red themed case with window 🙁

 

[Darkbreeze]

Then I'd recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127774

 

[Coolboy951]

I want to buy the r9 290 card, and I was wondering if PowerColor is a good manufacturer, I would like to know what are your experiences with that manufacturer.

ive used powercolor and there great cards but i personally like HIS the most out all companys due to their amazing cooling.

 

[Darkbreeze]

HIS, Zotac, Palit, Biostar, Diamond, Gainward, Galax, PNY, Powercolor, Sparkle and VisionTek are all budget manufacturers as compared to MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Sapphire, XFX and EVGA. They make good products in some cases, but not all their products are good. Also, don't expect the hardware quality, features and life cycle of their products to be on par with big name manufacturers. For the difference in price, which isn't usually all that much, it's not worth it to me to go with a second tier product.

 

[Coolboy951]

HIS, Zotac, Palit, Biostar, Diamond, Gainward, Galax, PNY, Powercolor, Sparkle and VisionTek are all budget manufacturers as compared to MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Sapphire, XFX and EVGA. They make good products in some cases, but not all their products are good. Also, don't expect the hardware quality, features and life cycle of their products to be on par with big name manufacturers. For the difference in price, which isn't usually all that much, it's not worth it to me to go with a second tier product.

lol that is true but vistionteks cards expensive sometimes.

 

[Darkbreeze]

It makes a big difference WHERE you live too. In some countries many of those names are the premium brand, because it's all that's available regionally. So in those cases you would of course see a higher premium charged for them. For example, in Europe you can get a European manufactured vehicle for a fraction of what it would cost to get one in the US after they applied shipping fees, taxes, duties and tariffs as well as any actual customs fees. Try to buy a Camaro or Mustang in England and you'll pay twice what it would cost you here. Most would rather just go with a regionally manufactured item, even if it's not the better of two products, and in many cases that's ok.

Think of it like this. A baseball bat made of Ash and one made of Maple will both smack a ball out of the park but the the bat made from Ash is likely to still be hitting balls out of the park long after the Maple bat has cracked or shattered. A premium GPU is likely to still be gaming five years later while a lower tiered one might only last three. Or it might never fail. You never know with electronics.

 

[PaulMakesThings]

Probably a bit late, but I'd just like to add that they stiffed me on a rebate, and their customer service just gave me an automated response every time I tried to contact them. It's only $20 but the fact that they gave me a run-around trying to get me to give up makes me want to avoid them.

More detail: I went to check on the rebate status and it said "rejected", the link to the reason why was broken, I tried it repeatedly from different computers, I emailed to ask and no matter what I said I just got "we're very sorry, view your rebate status at (same broken link)", I called and got a promt to leave a message, I left a message and never got a reply, I remailed the form before the time limit since I didn't have any info and it was never acknowledged.