Legit Reviews

I've kinda noticed that the high end users tend toward certain brands of video cards.

I know that I'm going to an 8800 geforce card for directx 10 compatibility, probably the GT series when they release due to the $100 price drop from the higher end 8800s. (the ever persistent quest for future compatibility and speed)

Is their any manufacturer that is better to buy (IE XFX, PNY, nVidia, BFG) appreciate some input cause knowing my better half I'm only going to get one shot at getting a good video card.

personally I don't notice much of a difference using my 8600gt leadtek brand vs my old 8600gt evga. The only difference is that the evga overclocked a little higher and my benchmarks were only 1-2% different. BUT, I had more options and features such as full fan control, and shader/core wasn't linked. As the 8800gts I think the leadtek I built for my friend was better than most brands when compared to common benchmarks. But, could just be his processor overclocking good too. altho its the cheaper one.

Benefits of using a big brand... warranty and customer service.
ps the 8800gt is better in every benchmark than the more expensive 8800gts and ALMOST as good as the gtx overall.

ALL highend GFX cards are made by only a couple of manufaturers (Flextronics, TUL (Sapphire) etc.).
The "unbranded" cards are then shipped to the "manufaturers" who just put their own sticker on them.
the only exception is the pre-overclocked ones, these are tested/binned for speed prior to getting the new sticker.

The cards will also get a new BIOS added, this just adds the "manufacurers" name and increases clock speeds, if applicable.

You're best best is to go with a well known brand and forget the pre-overclocked versions (as they don't have any real world benefit).

You could also go with XFX/BFG if you want their lifetime warranties, but this is a scam IMO as if the card will die, it will do so in the first year. If it dies after 5yrs, I wouldn't even bother to claim on the warranty, as it would be soo outdated by then.

Go with what you can afford and a well known brand I say.

You kinda confirmed what I already thought, XFX and BFG are the two I see high end users buying mostly. I'm, trying to hold out until they release the 8800gt for the alleged $100 price drop. I'm dual booting XP, and Vista and trying to get ready for the shift to Vista and directx 10.

Appreciate the input!

XFX of EVGA, both have life time warranties and they are modder friendly as well. This means that it will not void your warranty if you OC your card or swapp out the OEM coolers. With both companies all you need to do is return the card with all stock components installed and no user borked parts and you'll get your card replaced. They are about the only 2 vendors that allow this sort of thing (US warranty).

As well as the lifetime warranty, EVGA allows a 90 day step up program during which they will give you 100% credit of your purchase price towards a new card via their website.

XFX offers a double lifetime warranty last I checked. Its a nice little perk to be able to offer a warranty with your used XFX card. I currently have an EVGA card, but by the time I was ready to upgrade it, the 3 months had already passed. I wish it were longer.

XFX, BFG, and EVGA are the three at the top of my list. The 90 day upgrade thing isn't to important to me though cause if I go out that much for video it's gonna be a year or so before I open my wallet for video again. (barring un-forseen lottery hits lol) My lowly Asus Nvidia Gforce 7300 GS PCIE is currently running all my games with no noticeable hesitation. That's usually my standard, unfortunately along comes directx 10, being on dual boot XP/Vista for any chance for maximum vista compatibility with games I feel like I need a DX10 compatible card. That and from the bench marks that 8800 just rocks lol.