Can someone explain GPU brands to me?

nathanjrb

Prolific Poster
You see, I used to think there were two brands of GPU - NVIDIA and AMD. I didn't realise they had different manufacturers? How does this work then? What's the manufacturing link with NVIDIA and AMD?!?!
 

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
There are quite a few Video card manufacturers,XFX, PNY, Sapphire and EVGA to name a few.
The manufacturers work from a basic design from the developers,such as Nvidia or AMD,this is called "reference design".
The manufacturers can make their own changes or additions to some of the features,such as cooling,varying outputs,e.g. the same card could have two DVI outlets from one manufacturer while another manufacturer may only have one,also some brands could be slightly overclocked.
 

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
Basically... what Vanthus has said. There are caveats to this however, often (as in the 690) the developers don't allow the manufacturers to tweak the reference design's initially hence all of the 690s are the same (barring the EVGA hydro copper 690, an exception haha). Of course there is the other side of the coin such as the ROG MARS which was two 580s (similar to a 590) but instead of them being underclocked 580s they were fully powered full fat 580's. There was a tech demo of the Mars 2 for two 680s but this was not released to purchase.

There is no manufacturing link between AMD and Nvidia though and a lot of the manufacturers seem to only produce cards for 'either' Nvidia or AMD.
 

Boozad

Prolific Poster
Its also worth taking into consideration that aftermarket cards can up more slots than reference cards too, for instance the ASUS GTX 680-DC2T takes up a whopping three slots. They're often longer too due to the aftermarket cooing systems so it's always worth checking the length of the card against available space in your case to see whether it will fit or not.
 

tom_gr7

Life Serving
three good posts there, good work guys :) Rep.

One thing i think is important to note, is some manufacturers offer better warranty than others, or allow you to remove the heatsink and re paste or to install a waterblock. On the other hand some manufacturers void your warranty if you remove the heatsink. EVGA for instance offers three years warranty as standard (need to register) and you can also remove the heatsink.

oh yea, its also worth taking some time choosing which style of cooler you want, as say this reference Palit GTX 670 will eject the hot air out of the back of the card, thus helping your case temparatures. However, this Palit GTX 670 Jetstream may offer slightly lower temps during gaming and idling, a large amount of air will be dumped into the case. Which may effect your cpu temps slightly. So make sure you have some reasonably good exhaust fans just to help remove the slightly warmed air.

edit, i think i will sticky this thread, as its probably useful for most new guys. I also moved it to the desktops section as opposed to the tech support section.
 
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Yamikotai

Expert
There is no manufacturing link between AMD and Nvidia though and a lot of the manufacturers seem to only produce cards for 'either' Nvidia or AMD.
Random fact, XFX used to only do Nvidia cards. Then they started doing ATi as well so Nvidia cut them out.
 

kruppsy

Master
OT: Anyone else struggle to say "XFX"?

No? Just me? Ok, moving on...

I can see Sylvester the Cat struggling with it...not sure why...

thinking about it...Louis Spence probably sticks to Powercolour, he must have a nightmare...minefield
 
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