For those three, my experience has been Asus - overpriced, Sapphire - great value, Gigabyte - optimised but close to manufacture performance. My target has always been a Sapphire Radeon because they're cheaper than Asus, but not suspiciously cheap that they might burn your rig down. ASRock are a good choice too, typically above average price:performance.
this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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Thanks. I'll consider that. What makes you decide one manufacturer is better than another?
I just do a lot of scavenging on the internet for prices, overclockers' findings (they're usually knowledgeable on how close to stock the cards are), specs like clockspeed, reviewers' failure rates (average score and trending complaint reasons give a fair idea of build quality) and YouTubers' gameplay comparisons with intensive games to see real-world framerate generation. Brands might change over time, so its always good to check again if its been a while, but generally their goals for modding GPUs stay the same.
If you are morally inclined, it'd also be prudent to do a quick background check on the brand for ethically terrible actions, like when was the last time they were responsible for a village's drought, people dying, supporting cruelty to others etc. You can rate a brand by not only their care toward their product, but also toward customers via support and success of RMA (returns for defects), and toward humanity as a whole. ASUS score low on the customer front.
Thanks for the great answer 👍😁
Do you consider sapphire to be morally responsible compared to others? Also, I'm curious, is there a case of one being responsible for a drought that you're referring to?
Those aren't reference models, the ones you named are called something like AIB or aftermarket cards. (Reference models are those made by GPU manufacturers)
Main differences between all are temperatures, clock speeds, build quality, and price.
They also have different "tiers" of cards using same GPU. Those of higher tier cost more, but have better coolers and higher clock speeds. The premium you'd be paying isn't usually worth it, unless it's a small amount.
Personally, I prefer Sapphire, PowerColor, or XFX for AMD cards.
Thanks for your answer.
Please forgive me, but I strongly believe they are reference cards. I'm referring to the cards built by those different manufacturers, but still using the reference design - all having identical pcbs and coolers - the cards that all look the same, despite having a different brand on the box.
I don't mean the cards that are designed by those manufacturers and look completely different.
You must be mistaken because reference cards are specifically those made by GPU manufacturers, aka AMD, Nvidia, and Intel.
They're called that because third-party manufacturers (Gigabyte, Asus, XFX, etc) use those as a reference to create their own designs of PCB, coolers, and settings.
Can you give links to the cards you're speaking about?
Ah, I see. Yes, you're right, they do manufacture reference design cards. First time dealing with reference models, since those aren't sold where I live, hence the confusion, haha
Those will all be the same in terms of temperature and clock speeds. Build quality should only vary insignificantly, although I do not trust Gigabyte, due to 3000 series PCB issues and how they handled it, and ASUS due to their borderline scam customer support.
You won't be getting any warranty buying used, I don't think. So, imo, just get the cheapest one. You should concern yourself more with the seller, and do make sure to thoroughly check everything after buying. Both physically and performance-wise.
You're probably right, I should maybe just buy a cheap one. I wondered if maybe some of them are known to use better components or have less coil whine but I don't think anyone has checked this yet 😅