I need an answer!!

[Grendel]

hi all,

as i have been confused for a long time,i hope someone give me a straight answer in here...and explain things to me....

what is happening is that i hear about a certain graphic card (let's say like nVidia Geforce4 FX 5200)...but someone tells me that "not all that fx5200's are good"...and that different companies like Asus produces the same FX card that is let's say better than that FX manufactured by another company like Hercules !!....what i want to ask about is the following:

1-Is it true that different companies produce the same  graphic cards,however,there is difference in perfromance between these cards depending on the manufacturer??

2-If the answer is yes to the above question,how can I know about this difference... or how can I know which graphic card is "manfuactured" better ??

[Sean]

Possibly wrong, but my understanding is that the card itself is made by one company ie. Nvidia ATI, but different companies will sell it and change settings.

[Kablam]

no the chip is made by nVidia, but companies like MSI or aseus make them. its the same with motherboards. There really wont be any performance difference though between two cards with the same memory, and pipelines if one is made by a different company. HOWEVER! one may be cheaper

[Crusader12799]

Video cards using the same chipset vary widely in their configuration. For example the FX5200:
1. Some manufacturers use heat sinks, where others use cooling fans to cool the processor. Personally, I prefer cooling fans as opposed to heatsink solutions.
2. Some manufacturers use a core clock speed of 250 MHz, where others will have a 280 MHz core clock speed.
3. Some of the cheaper versions do not come with a DVI (Digital Video Interface). As to the disadvantages to this, well, it depends on the monitor you're going to use. If the connector is a standard VGA, then it's a non-issue.

[Grendel]

alright Crusader...what i meantb my question is the following:

does different fx cards manufactured by different companies show any difference in pc gaming??my question was actually about performance not components and structure of an fx card??

[Flame]

It's all about quality... And support... For axample, I like ATI better then NVIDIA, becuase their support sucks. But both cards seem ok to me...

[glb]Flame[/glb]

[Kablam]

No FX cards from different manufacturers will not show any difference. its more to do with warrentys, how long they last etc

[rs8389]

Actually....  I believe you're wrong, Kablam...  As far as my knowledge goes, each retailer modifies the chipset, so some FX5200s are indeed better than others.  Some have more speed, more RAM, more features, etc.  The warranty and such is true as well, but there is definitely a difference in performance.

[Grendel]

alrighht that is cool...now what about answering the second question  fellows...please!! how can i know this difference??

thanks for the help all

[Sean]

Read the box it comes in, or the specs online. If one says 260 mhz and another says 280mhz and theyre both fx5200 then one is clocked higher, even though you can overclock your card if you wanted (I think?). The box/online specs will also tell you warranty etc.

[Grendel]

thanx sean...but what is the difference between a 260 mhz and 280mhz? what are these?