quote:
Originally posted by Mike
I see that there are many companies producing the video cards (example: Gigabyte, Club3D, etc). What's actually the difference on all these cards?
As long as they are using the same Nvidia or ATI chipset, there is very little difference. If you were to compare the different brand cards side by side, you would find most of them even use the same circuit board layout (supplied by Nvidia or ATI as reference).
The two areas where there might be a difference are quality of construction and overclocking. Not-so-reputable brands might use cheap fans that fail in six months (although I've even had this happen with Asus cards), and generally cheaper components and materials (which could shorten the life of the card). Some makers (e.g. BFG) routinely overclock the chipsets beyond their spec, producing better performing (but potentially less stable) cards. It would be your friend's call whether he is comfortable with that approach.
I'd suggest you or your friend pick some top choices, then Google the particular brands and models, looking for reviews and comments from people who have bought those cards.
