Best Ati brand to get?

[Massive Attack]

hi guys,

looking at getting a 3870 whats the best brand to get for warrenty/returns etc, like powercolor, sapphire, HIS ETC

 

[GhostlyPea]

All of the ATI cards i have bought have been Powercolor and no problems at all. Plenty of cables in the box, well packaged and the odd "extra". The important thing being the customer service area but fortunatly I have never had to deal with that bit!

- Pea0n

 

[Trunks9486]

The powercolor ones are loud, but overclocked...

Sapphire?

 

[TheMorningStar]

well if buying from here. ocuk seem to support the manufacturers warrenty. so i guess the longest warrenty wins. some ati partners offer 10 year/lifetime warenties but brands you dont usually see in the uk.

one warning though. never buy Asus. ever.

 

[Banjo]

Hey

I've got a sapphire HD 2900XT, I can't say about their customer/returns support but the GPU was pretty well packaged with all the cables you'd expect, plus a shiny little case badge

Banjo

 

[killersheep34]

The overclock on the Powercolor was about 800 3d marks extra then the standard one. Yes it's noisy because the fan sits on 100%, but I've put mine on a fan controller, and never turn it up and it still doesn't go above 52 degrees C

 

[GhostlyPea]

Yeah they are a bit louder but good cards. Maybe switching the cooler if possible would be a good bet.

- Pea0n

 

[manic111]

Getting a Gecube 3850 tomorrow, will let you know how it goes, apparently it has a nice cooler though-same one as on their 3870.

 

[icehot]

personally when ever i buy an ATI card i buy from HIS,

always always always had great quality cards from them, my 9500 pro is still going strong in an old machine

<3 HIS!

 

[LOAM]

All I can add is that Sapphire has a 30 WORKING day returns policy (over 6 weeks) and they wont even look at it until the last possible opportunity, Ive been waiting since the 10th Jan 08 (today is the 30th working day) and as yet Ive heard nothing other than "please wait the full 30 working days" when ever i have chased it, would i buy Sapphire again ? No chance

 

[Massive Attack]

cheers for the input guys im going to be swapping the stock cooler out for a D-TEK Fusion GFX block anyway, im on the fence between a 3870 and the new 8800GS

 

[LOAM]

Ironically within mins of posting I was informed by email that I would be getting a replacement Sapphire 2900XT lol. What am I meant to do with that now ?

Auction or MM (not got required posts for MM, despite being here for years and years )

LOAM

Edit, sold for £100

 

[jwilliams]

The powercolor 3870xt is meant to be overclocked but mine will not change from 775MHz in catalyst

 

[t31os]

Avoid Sapphire like the plague, the customer service and returns is shocking to say the least, worst RMA service i have ever dealt with.

Every ATI card i have had fail also has happend to have been a Sapphire, 3 times, and i've now pledged never to buy another Sapphire based on the 2 above points.

Now i have a Powercolor one... *i think.... just happy its not a shoddy Sapphire.

 

[shaffaaf27]

HIS i have delt with have been superb.

had to RMA an x1800GTO, go it with in 2 weeks, AND i had to send it over seas, but then this was 2 years ago, so might have changed their base to uk.

 

[Munky1080]

I would get a HIS, but they're more expensive...I'm looking at the 3780's and the HIS is quite a bit more expensive than the powercolor. I do like the dual slot cooling though...

 

[Smirnoff]

The brand with the longest warranty which is normaly Asus. HIS only have a one year warranty which says a lot about the quality of there cards

 

[BMW ///M Power]

HIS..gotta be!