Best Manufacture of ATI Cards

[NoPeace]

I'm getting annoyed at my nVidia cards. Mainly at the fact they cannot do HDR with FSAA. I'm planning on getting a new rig once the Conroe comes out and wonder what's the best company outside of ATI for ATI cards?

NoPeace - out

[Blacklash]

I've used ATi, Powercolor, Sapphire, and MSI. Never had problems with any of them. My Powercolor and ATi cards tended to overclock well, and the others weren't bad by any means. I haven't used HIS and hear folks say they prefer their slightly more quiet dual slot coolers.

If you go budget try the X1900 GT because their prices are dropping and they will soon be able to do masterless|dongle free Crossfire. If you want much more power and game at 1600x and up with AA|AF active, get a X1900 master and X1900 XT. You can use a tool like ATi Tool .25 beta 14 to overclock both your cards. They run async, so if you use overdrive in the CCC you will just be overclocking your master, and not your slave.

Another extremely helpful piece of info; If you want to force AFR Crossfire support in a game rename the game .exe afr-friendlyd3d. You may wish to do this if you prefer afr over supertiling and|or if the game doesn't have driver support yet. I got massive gains in GRAW from doing this. I then usually just right click on the .exe and send it to the desktop as a shortcut. If you have more than one game altered like this you could use a folder short cut instead. I don't rename the .exe to another game .exe unless they are close in type. I would be worried CAT AI might try to apply bug fixes specific to another game to the one being altered.

If you shop it, last I checked, you can get X1900 Crossfire for around a total of 848usd. I am going conroe too and can't wait to see what that level of CPU support does for Crossfire.

ATi Tool:

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/259

[Demo]

Does the new ATI Xpress 3200 still require a master card? thought they didnt anymore

[Blacklash]

Does the new ATI Xpress 3200 still require a master card? thought they didnt anymore

I will only comment on what I know for sure. At this time for X1900 XT Crossfire level performance you need a master and slave configuration on any motherboard. X1900 GT master free Crossfire is supposed to arrive with the 6.6 driver. They say it includes the X1900 GT and any card below the X1900 GT. Maybe someone here at Xtreme who has tried an upcoming RD600 board early will comment on it.

The dongle never bothered me, and the composite chip blending on the master allows things like Crossfire Super AA at 14x to often be faster or as fast as nVidia SLi AA running at a mere 8x. That's a trade I'm willing to make.

[Emperor]

IIRC the most popular and best ati manufacturer is sapphire followed by powercolour.

[Demo]

I see, i was under the impression that the Xpress 3200 didnt need a MasterCard

[iguanodon]

Personal prefference for Powercolor, but without any really good reason.. expect warranty.

All the ATI seems to come from the same factory. (for high-end card)

For the AFR, you can also rename the game exe with a well known one, like sam2.exe (easier to remember than arf-friendlyd3d etc)

[Nazu]

Personal prefference for Powercolor, but without any really good reason.. expect warranty.

All the ATI seems to come from the same factory. (for high-end card)

For the AFR, you can also rename the game exe with a well known one, like sam2.exe (easier to remember than arf-friendlyd3d etc)
Yep, Pc-Partner produces the cards so they are the same except some HIS and Sapphire cards. I say get the cheapest cos there are no differences between them, only the sticker on the cooler and the package and the stuff with it is different.

[Brandybuck]

Absolutly sapphire..:)

[Rovtar]

sapphire, asus or club 3d

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

the big ones for ATI are deffiently saphire number one. HIS is nice as they have better stock cooler. powercolour is also big.

[C Stat B]

I've only ever used a BBA and a Sapphire, both were great.

[Celcius]

Sapphire's always worked best for me.

[Demo]

Sapphire always out lived all the GeCube's and PowerColor that my friends have/

[rob2687]

Powercolor.

[cadaveca]

ATi designs chips, TSMC or UMC makes the chips, Sapphire puts it all together. All other cardmakers get thier cards from Sapphire, so really, it doesn't matter.

I have seen BBATI as some of the slowest cards, Sapphire/Powercolor as the top. All the rest fit between them.

I have wondered whether Sapphire bins cards before they go to relabeller's, or whether they just send out a bunch of cards and the relabeller tests...that tidbit would be the one deciding factor that might influence my purchases.

[NoPeace]

Thanks for the info. I was planning on getting the x1900XT/XTX. Don't know wether to get CF or not. Does anyone know when the r580+ or r600 will be out. If it's 6 months for either of them I'll probally go for the CF.

On CF does the added speed of the XTX make any difference seeing as the MC is the same speeds as the XT?

NoPeace - out

[cadaveca]

increase in slavecard speeds do make a noticible difference in benches. Because of the heat the past few days, I've been running stock(no AC in my house), and haven't noticed any difference from playing @ stock, to playing overclocked, however. Rig specs are in the "rate my cables" thread.


Flashing the "toxic" bios to my slave also boosted scores, so for sure the speed of the slower card gets used, at least partially.

[Hicks]

There all the same basically.

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

ATi designs chips, TSMC or UMC makes the chips, Sapphire puts it all together. All other cardmakers get thier cards from Sapphire, so really, it doesn't matter.




this is not true.

there are many companies producing non reference pcbs for cards.

[cadaveca]

for r580? Question @ hand is the x1900...:stick: please show me this non-reference x1900...I'd like to buy one.:shakes: r480+ Sapphire only, AFAIK.

[IvanAndreevich]

there are many companies producing non reference pcbs for cards.
No offense, but for the last few years almost all high-end cards have been made on reference design. I think the last one that wasn't was ASUS X800XT.


OP, I would stay the hell away from Sapphire and Powercolor for their RMA policies. Go on their website and check 'em out.

[cadaveca]

I had no issues with Sapphire RMA. took 2 weeks was all...some are faster.

[einCe]

powercolor ftw

[cantankerous]

powercolor is the only manufacturer offering lifetime warranty on the X1900 cards. I used to prefer BBATI cards cause im a 30 min drive away from them and RMA was easy. They changed their warranty to only 1 year now and I find their cards more expensive then some of the third party cards so I now stay away.

[tvdang7]

any they are all pretty good. ive had saphhire,powercolor. ati. ati ati. all nice.

[IvanAndreevich]

cadaveca
einCe
So you guys don't mind that you have to pay S&H back, a $30 processing fee (depending on location)?

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

No offense, but for the last few years almost all high-end cards have been made on reference design. I think the last one that wasn't was ASUS X800XT.


OP, I would stay the hell away from Sapphire and Powercolor for their RMA policies. Go on their website and check 'em out.
my last card was far from reference. it was a vanilla x700 with gddr3.

[cadaveca]

um, x700 before x800. x800 and on.


Ivan,

Yes, i paid the fee, and no i didn't like it, especially since i know why my card needed RMA, but i ain't gonna complain about it. Guys doing the RMA'ing need to feed thier families too. ;) If i was concerned over $30, i wouldn't have spent so much on my pc in the first place.:fact:

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

um, x700 before x800. x800 and on.





x800 was released before x700 was.

[IvanAndreevich]

my last card was far from reference. it was a vanilla x700 with gddr3.
Oh yeah, low-end cards is an all-out. I was talking specifically of high end X800's X1800's X1900's and all 7800's and 7900 except the lone XFX 7800GT.

cadaveca
1 RMA = $30 2 RMA = $60... much better to buy some other brand for the same price and not pay anything, isn't it?

[MikalCarbine]

cadaveca
1 RMA = $30 2 RMA = $60... much better to buy some other brand for the same price and not pay anything, isn't it?

What brand are we talking about here that charges that? I am buying my XTX today and I was going to go with Sapphire but I am thinking about Powercolor, sorry to jack the thread

[Winterwind]

i have Sapphire X1900XTX but i like PowerColor:)

[cantankerous]

I have a powercolor in sig running fantastic.

[MikalCarbine]

I think I am going to go with the Powercolor, lifetime warranty and it is almost as cheap as the Sapphire, can't beat that :P

Has anyone noticed that Powercolor's website wants you to log in?

[cadaveca]

Sapphire charges the RMA fee of 30.

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

Sapphire charges the RMA fee of 30.


wow, ill never buy a sapphire card now.

[cadaveca]

What makes it worse is the change in surface components from my first card to my current card. Definately a design issue, or a component choice issue on behalf of Sapphire, because i have seen early samples that had the componets my card today does.

But then again, I overclock...don't run stock EVER if i can help it...so paying for my RMA is no big deal. Overclock=voiding warranty with most OEMs. Besides, I only had to pay because of the retailer refusing to test the card in Crossfire mode(issue was only in Crossfire mode, card worked fine by itself)..so if the retailer had actually found fault in my card, it would have cost me nothing. :fact: So, I don't hold any anger towards Sapphire in this issue...the retailer should have dealt with the issues appropriately..and did not. Told me "it's a compatibilty issue." I had to laugh as all my parts are form ATI's "Crossfire Approved" list. Compatibility my arse! I paid that $30 to overstep the poorly-trained retailer's tech, and get a working card. Sapphire does not owe me ANYTHING...they helped me out. It's the retailer that gets no more of my money.

You've got to realize too, that buying the latest-greatest hardware means that there ARE going to be ISSUES. I get great satisfaction from playing with hardware that few people have, and solving for myself the same issues others have, while they still struggle with it, or give up.

There have been rumours of a PCB revision for the x1900 crossfire cards...I think I can confirm this...although it's a SMD revision, and not circuit board.

All the issues people are having with the x1900's i have run across, and what made me RMA my card was nothing that anyone else has run into that i can find.

I paid $30 to have the chance to start over, and try with something new...another new part, that few people have. Don't wanna take that chance? Don't buy the newest hardware. Just ask all the 975XBX owners that have had failures.

You gotta pay to play, and if money is a concern for you, then maybe you shouldn't be playing.:fact:

[black_edition]

Sapphire for me

[Torin]

Sapphire charges the RMA fee of 30.
And you're pretty much guaranteed a new card in return.

[NickS]

No offense, but for the last few years almost all high-end cards have been made on reference design. I think the last one that wasn't was ASUS X800XT.


OP, I would stay the hell away from Sapphire and Powercolor for their RMA policies. Go on their website and check 'em out.

MSI's 7600GT w/the huge ase custom heatsink/heatpipe cooler is a custom PCB. Best 7600GT out there too, for overclocking & performance. :)

BTW, I've had two Sapphire cards. My awesome clocking X1800XT 256 & my Dad's old 9800 Pro which we raped the crap out of cooling & overclocking wise. That thing still lived up until the day we sold it. I'm sure it's still alive and kickin out there too somewhere. I've also had a Connect3D X800GTO. Raped that thing too. OC'ed to 550/550 all day all night, w/Arctic Cooling ATi Silencer 5 Rev. 2. Unlocked it to 16p too. My new card coming in, a HIS IceQ3 X1900GT will be interesting.

Nick

[IvanAndreevich]

What brand are we talking about here that charges that? I am buying my XTX today and I was going to go with Sapphire but I am thinking about Powercolor, sorry to jack the thread
Both Sapphire and Powercolor charge that :banana::banana::banana::banana:. How about buying Connect3D? They don't have the :banana::banana::banana::banana:face $30 charge.


And you're pretty much guaranteed a new card in return.
BS. You are no more and no less guaranteed a new card then with any other IHV. And no, I would not be mad to RMA a X1900 for $30. What I would be mad to do is RMA an X300 or an X700 for $30. It's plain dumb because that's more than what the damn cards cost in some cases.

NickS

MSI's 7600GT w/the huge ase custom heatsink/heatpipe cooler is a custom PCB. Best 7600GT out there too, for overclocking & performance.
This is kinda funny because I specifically said HIGH-END cards :)

[cadaveca]

I don't buy cheap cards, Ivan, so as you say, no big deal. But I must also add...I did not get a new card...I got a much older card than my original. serial number is about 1500 lower on RMA, in low hundreds. Not sapphire "box serial" number either.

Static bag card came in looked like it had been through hell and back...never seen one so crumpled...

But I popped in my card, and the issue I had is no longer there.

If it had been a lower-grade card, I know for a fact that the shop in question would have not just given me a new card. I also know that the two other Sapphire x1900masters they got were returned as well(within the first 30 days, so shop merely exchanged), as were the other 4 or 5 that have come into town. Sapphire requests this from all retailers, and going direct to Sapphire for RMA should be a last-ditch effort. It just so happens that they were the only shop local that had a card when i had cash. When i went to RMA my card to them, it was "outside of 30 days"

I RMA'd sapphire x1800xl, x1800xt, 9800SE, 9800XT, X800XT, all at other shop...got new cards before i left the shop from dropping off the affected cards. Sapphire RMA's are to be dealt with by retailer.:fact: Actually, this retailer offered to send my mastercard in free-of-charge, but that's not thier problem, so I did it myself.

Don't bash Sapphire RMA unless you know the policy, IMHO. It's the retailer not following policy that causes people to pay.

[NickS]

Both Sapphire and Powercolor charge that :banana::banana::banana::banana:. How about buying Connect3D? They don't have the :banana::banana::banana::banana:face $30 charge.


BS. You are no more and no less guaranteed a new card then with any other IHV. And no, I would not be mad to RMA a X1900 for $30. What I would be mad to do is RMA an X300 or an X700 for $30. It's plain dumb because that's more than what the damn cards cost in some cases.

NickS

This is kinda funny because I specifically said HIGH-END cards :)

I don't find that funny. Besides, 7600GT's arent half bad. I consider them a higher-end card.

[cadaveca]

I find it funny because the thread is about ATI cards, not nVidia. :fact:

[mrsean]

I have a MSI 1900XT that I just RMA'd back to the retailer. I'm lucky that I was still within the 30 day period.

Does anyone have any experience RMAing directly to MSI? Just wondering what they like to deal with.

[Trice]

MSI, only 445 bux for the XTX.

[IvanAndreevich]

I don't find that funny. Besides, 7600GT's arent half bad. I consider them a higher-end card.
You can consider it whatever you want, but a 7600GT is not a high-end card :shrug:

I am not sure how this discussion is even related to picking the best ATI card manufacturer which this thread is about. My point was that all the high-end cards which were being discussed come off the same factory line, so the choice should be based on RMA policies as the hardware is the same.