Preferred NVIDIA Board Maker

[JungleMan]

Which board maker do you prefer for NVIDIA-based cards? And why do you like them?

I prefer Leadtek, Gainward, and Asus, but if I had to choose one I'd go with Leadtek since they are the cheapest of the three.

I like Leadtek because the dual fan cooler is great

[Goldenlight]

I didn't vote, but I would choose one that had a good warranty and good telephone support.

[AznJunkie]

I voted for Abit cuz that's what I have.

But for looks either:
Asus: http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage....121-128-03.JPG

Or

Leadtek: http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?style=album

So prudy

/me droolz

[JungleMan]

Everyone always votes for what they have I have a Visiontek and it's OK but I'd much prefer a brand that OCs better.

Seems that the public likes Gainward so far, but the poll is far from over

[GoldenTiger]

While I'd be inclined to lean toward gainward for their bundles, I have to say Visiontek is my preferred brand. They have good support hours, lifetime warranty, typically is decent at oc'ing, and have americans on the support lines with short hold times. Some companies you have to talk to people who can't really even understand what you're saying, which is a bit of a hassle to say the least. It's always a tough choice for me between Vtek and Gainward, though Vtek is usually cheaper.

[Goldenlight]

Do any of these brands offer a speed different. I noticed the Pny offers a lifetime warranty and is cheeper then the rest of the geforce ti 4600 brands..


Also I notice these cards require a 300watt power supply to operate.

Is this 300Watts +200 aproximately totalling to 500watt power supply to run my system?

[JungleMan]

Originally posted by Goldenlight
Do any of these brands offer a speed different. I noticed the Pny offers a lifetime warranty and is cheeper then the rest of the geforce ti 4600 brands..


Also I notice these cards require a 300watt power supply to operate.

Is this 300Watts +200 aproximately totalling to 500watt power supply to run my system?

All the cards are clocked at the same speeds at default but some overclock better than others. The ones with the retail coolers, or clones of them, generally tend to overclock the same-- not bad, but not the best.

Some companies like Gainward or Asus use their own coolers or their own designs, which are usually built to provide higher overclocking performance, and Gainward and Asus also sometimes use RAM that has a lower latency and can overclock higher.

Leadtek, Gainward, and Asus all use specialized coolers built for OC, which is why I prefer those brands. Leadtek has passively cooled RAM (whereas most brands don't cool the RAM at all) and a nice dual-fan heatsink which is awesome.I don't need a software bundle, and I really don't need the lifetime warranty either.

Check out these articles to see why Gainward is the overclocker's dream card.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=2925
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=3231

Take everything from that site with a grain of salt, but I've no difficulty believing those articles.

[Fle@B@gL@ne]

PNY(IS MSI MADE) FAST,OCABLE,SMOOTH RUNNING, GREAT LOOKING 4XAA 8XAF NO TROUBLE. 11,300 3DMARK 2001SE

MaximumPC
gave the PNY GeForce4 Ti 4600 Earns Kick *** Product Award

Cnet
GeForce4 Ti 4600 review
"The PNY Verto board is consistently faster than its competitors and attains its greatest leads at the highest resolutions. On the Quake III and 3Dmark2001 Pro tests (at 1,600x1,200 resolution), the Verto is on average 30 percent faster than its closest competitor Visiontek. In the 3D WinBench 2000 test, the gap closes a little to about 17.5 percent. The Verto scored nearly identically to our Nvidia GeForce4 Ti 4600 reference card. read more...."

Anandtech
GeForce4 Ti 4600 review
"Coming away with our Editor's Choice silver award for the best GeForce4 Ti 4600 is PNY with their card. Anandtech, one of the leading gamer websites, has awarded the Verto™ Ti4600 their Silver Editor’s Choice award. Click through for benchmark information and performance stats versus competitive cards. read

[JungleMan]

Originally posted by Fle@B@gL@ne
[B]
GeForce4 Ti 4600 review
"The PNY Verto board is consistently faster than its competitors and attains its greatest leads at the highest resolutions. On the Quake III and 3Dmark2001 Pro tests (at 1,600x1,200 resolution), the Verto is on average 30 percent faster than its closest competitor Visiontek. In the 3D WinBench 2000 test, the gap closes a little to about 17.5 percent. The Verto scored nearly identically to our Nvidia GeForce4 Ti 4600 reference card. read more...."

http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0...5-9481751.html

They compared the card to a GeForce3 Ti500 so of course it's 30% faster...

Wow, impressive showing for Gainward and Leadtek. I'm surprised more of you don't like the Asus cards-- their Ti4200 is impressive.

What's up with Visiontek? I mean, they make decent cards but IMO not the best. And I own one...

[Fle@B@gL@ne]

I did not see that but the card is getting great reviews and now that its know that its a better rated MSI it has caused the price to go up and now on pricewatch.com which had it after the no names when I got it now it is more than Retail MSI, ASUS, ABIT and some LEADTEK which are retail too and have DVI- TV in & out , take a look only 3 months ago I paid $245 now last I checked for retail its

PNY Verto Geforce4 Ti4400 128MB AGP Retail Box Free Game Included Model # VCGF4TI44APBTI 4400 Titanium Series 128MB DDR AGP Video Card with TV out & DVI out
(Part - VCGF4TI44APB)
$ 243 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -2 diff in almost 3 months today.

Its not a bad brand and in some test I saw it was higher FPS 12by10 and ocing is in the middle of the pack not the end. I would have not have gotten it if its bad. Just look at my setup I dont go cheap, I do alot of reading and pick whats doing good I am at 290/640 I dont push it. and 11,300 3Dmark 2001 SE. Good ocing great 3D mark scores and great looking games,

Bottom line is that the all get the same GPU and same brand ram and all come with in 2% of each other its the bundle extras,cooling thats diff I got a 3d glasses which rock& only TV out because

[JungleMan]

FleaBagLane: The PNY is a reference card, as is the Visiontek. It uses a reference cooler and a reference design. You seem to be acting like it's the second coming of Jesus or something.

BTW, not to instigate a full blown brand war here but I see a Gainward listed for only $249 on Pricewatch. Check my links to the Inquirer stories above.

[Fle@B@gL@ne]

Went by work, called sick on on friday and my ATI AIW 128MB came whats the best driver anyone?

[JungleMan]

Take this into another thread please...thanks

[danny5]

Got my first visiontek recently. I got it as a gift, and I really like it. I e-mailed their support, a dumb question, just to see how many days it takes to get a reply. Their e-mail came back in 10 minutes, I was shocked. Heck, Asus took atleast 3 days.

[Goldenlight]

What is the warranty on Leadtek and GainWard, since they seem to be leading at this time?