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What is the difference between (for example) a Sapphire HD 5770 and an ASUS HD 5770
Does it make a difference to performance?
Does it make a difference to performance?
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Very little in general.
Some vendors
- slightly overclock,
- use different speed RAM,
- use different RAM capacities.
- have better cooling
- have better quality / warranty -
Generally speaking, all vendors of a particular model video card will be equal in performance within a few (single-digit) percentages, because moreso than any other device category, video cards are standardized by the manufacturer with a REFERENCE BOARD. What happens (to simplify) is the chip designer (ATI/nVidia) produces a prototype with specific tolerances and specifications that is distributed to end manufacturers. The Manufacturers can then build their own products based on this prototype within whatever tolerances are specified by the designer. Want to make the card cheaper? Skimp on RAM speed or amount. Want to make it faster? Overclock the GPU, etc etc. This accounts for the minor performance variations from vendor to vendor.
But these are the quantitative differences- things you can easily measure. The QUALITATIVE differences - things you can't measure apples to apples are such as technical support, driver releases or warranty and RMA support. These account for the rest, and if you're comparing the same two cards are really what your best value should be based on.
This model applies to any IT manufacturers using major components provided by a design firm- ATI, nVidia, AMD, Intel.. this issue isn't as clear-cut with motherboards because there are a LOT more components to differentiate besides the main chipset. USB and video support, networking, power draw, stability, BIOS features all of which are determined by the other components the manufacturer adds to Intel or AMD's chipset.Comment
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