Graphics Card: The Difference Is there really a difference?

[108SOC 0]

Well I was looking online a graphics cards recently and I had noticed something. Two different companies had the same graphics card. This is where I got confused. Is it the same card, or is it different because another company makes them. It has me thinking that that little difference could be bad in the end. I know I should have asked before I bought my card, but I just remembered that I was going to ask someone.My real question that got me to make this post is:Is the ATI Radeon 9250 and the Visiontek Radeon 9250 the same card? Did I make a mistake by buying the Visiontek Radeon 9250 over the ATI Radeon 9250?I would really like any help I could get on this topic.

[evion 0]

Trust me, if you bought the Visiontek, stick with it. Just trust me on this one seriously. Just look at what kind of issues I've got just by buying the stupid ATI Radeon 9250.You probably have like a remake of the 9250. Visiontek might be part of Sapphire technologies since ATI is part of it. Or is it vice versa? Hmm..

[108SOC 0]

Well so far I have had no problems with this card. So I think I can agree with you that Visiontek is much better then ATI. And to your other question, I have no idea. I am not the big computer guy that most people here are.I am hoping to get into computers and learn as much about them as I can. Maybe then I will be able to answer my own question.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

These companies license the technology and core parts from ATI. It's all the same card, but different vendors with extra tweaks. They run the same drivers.xboxrulz

[108SOC 0]

These companies license the technology and core parts from ATI. It's all the same card, but different vendors with extra tweaks. They run the same drivers.
xboxrulz

Thank you for answering my question. Now I know exactly what I wanted to know, but I still don't understand why these companies do this. Is it cheaper than just making their own products? I don't even know if anyone can answer that question, but if you can it would be good.

Oh and I have one other question, how do you know who originally created the product?

[wutske 0]

It's quite simple. There are several chip makers, but the 2 biggest are ATI and nVidia. What they do is just creating the GPU (like, for example, the NV350 wich is an ATI Radeon9600PRO).Now, they sell those chips to different companies who put those chips on a PCB, together with memory and all other stuff needed to have a videocard and then they sell it.Now, ATI also sells it's own cards, but those are the most 'stock' cards available from ATI. nVidia does not sell cards and let other companies do this.Why they do that? More companies that sell cards means more diversity (memory configuration, cooling, ...) and better concurrency (and broken cards go to the companies and not directly to ATI & nVidia, wich also saves a lot of time and money)

[108SOC 0]

So what your saying is that for companies like nVidia, they are selling the chips to different companies and making money. Well if these other companies are doing different things with the chips, wouldn't that mean they would make more money than they spent on the chip? Wow big business can be very confusing.Wutske, would you say that getting the Visiontek Radeon 9250 was a smarter idea than getting the ATI Radeon 9250?

[roggle 0]

So what your saying is that for companies like nVidia, they are selling the chips to different companies and making money. Well if these other companies are doing different things with the chips, wouldn't that mean they would make more money than they spent on the chip? Wow big business can be very confusing.
Wutske, would you say that getting the Visiontek Radeon 9250 was a smarter idea than getting the ATI Radeon 9250?

I think it's also to do with Nvidia not having to spend a lot on facilities to actually produce their card and distribute them. Just sell the blueprints to them, get a sizeable profit without having to risk sales being bad in a certain area. Kinda like a franchise if you now what I mean.

Opening/closing factories/distributing is a huge amount of work by itself so it's not surprising that they choose to outsource it.

By the way, what are you using the graphics card for? Just a warning but the 9250 is really the bottom of the lot and can't really play modern games properly.

[108SOC 0]

Are you sure about that? I can play alot of the newer more modern games on it. It works well with all the games I play.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

yes 9250 isn't really good, it forced my cousin to go out and fished a 9600. This was just to play C&C Generals.xboxrulz

[wutske 0]

So what your saying is that for companies like nVidia, they are selling the chips to different companies and making money. Well if these other companies are doing different things with the chips, wouldn't that mean they would make more money than they spent on the chip? Wow big business can be very confusing.
Wutske, would you say that getting the Visiontek Radeon 9250 was a smarter idea than getting the ATI Radeon 9250?

That's possible yes. I don't know visiontek realy well, I've never owned one or know someone who has one (maybe if I think realy hard I'll remember ).

And what you say is correct. nVidia creates and sells their GPU's to other companies. These companies can either follow the reference design (the standard board that nVidia designed) and use the default chips (like voltage regulators, caps, memory) or they can design a complete new board (=expensive) or use faster memory than normaly or put another cooler on it or ... or all of the previous at once.

I'll give you an example.
This is the reference radeon 9600 PRO board: https://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/sapphire/9on%209600%20PRO

Now, this is the sapphire Radeon 9600PRO Ultimate: http://www.sharkyforums.com/

And here are 3 9600 PRO: http://www.tt-hardware.com/img/vga02/rad9600_03.jpg
Left: Sapphire
Middle: Hercules
Right: Reference

[roggle 0]

Well it all depends on the games you play but most of the big titles out there will run horribly on a 9250.Also note that some of the manufacturers tend to overclock their graphics card a bit and install nicer fan systems (good brands like Leadtek, BFG etc etc) so you get more performance as compared to the normal reference systems. They cost slightly more but they can be quieter and deliver better performance. When looking for a new graphics card just do a google search around and see which manufacturers give you the most bang for buck. Generally you get what you pay for.

[DjCalvin 0]

Well it all depends on the games you play but most of the big titles out there will run horribly on a 9250.
Also note that some of the manufacturers tend to overclock their graphics card a bit and install nicer fan systems (good brands like Leadtek, BFG etc etc) so you get more performance as compared to the normal reference systems. They cost slightly more but they can be quieter and deliver better performance. When looking for a new graphics card just do a google search around and see which manufacturers give you the most bang for buck. Generally you get what you pay for.

I would Strongly reccomend BFG hardware.
I have been using them since my 4200 and i have upgraded every year to the latest and greatest car out there (stopping at my current 6800 ultra oc) I have had 2 problems with bfg over the last 2 years, and both of them were resolved quickly and painlessly.

BFG gives you a lifetime warantee with their cards, which is friggin sweet when it comes to high end cards.
I had a bfg 5950 ultra that fried due to overheating. (i was overclocking it by 2%) I called up bfg, they didnt even ask me if i was overclocking, I would have told them yes though. (i try to be honest with a $600 card at the time) I shipped out my card, and got a new one within a week.

Now jump ahead to this year.
I shorted out my 5950 ultra when cleaning out my case (screw fell touching 2 capacitors leads) and when i powered the thing on.. you could smell the burnt chip.
I called up bfg, got an rma number and packaged up the box.
Now, I dont know if this will work anymore or even if that person still works at bfg, and I have 6 witnesses to the fact when i opened up the return box.
I put a little hand written note inside the box saying I loved their cards and they are rock solid, but I couldnt find a 6800 gt in my area at a low enough price for me to upgrade to, and asked if they had any suggestions for places in my area.

Well a week went buy and the box from bfg shows up. I opened it up and inside was a handwritten note from one of the sales persons saying something along the lines of: "Im sorry to hear that you cannot find a retailer that stocks the 6800gt oc, We value your return business and would like you to have this 6800 with our compliments"

I open up the shrink wrap and HOLY CRAP! its a 6800 Ultra OC a $700 card at the time.
I called up bfg and thanked them for a good 15 minutes telling them how i will always stick with bfg.
I was like a fat kid in a penny store when i opened that wrapper and to this day remember how happy i was with bfg and their customer service.

I wish i still had the letter from bfg, i'd scan it and post it.

You never know what a little kindness will do when your without a graphics card.
100000000000% true experience with bfg. (toss in all the extra zeros you want)

- C
Edited May 8, 2006 by DjCalvin (see edit history)

[108SOC 0]

yes 9250 isn't really good, it forced my cousin to go out and fished a 9600. This was just to play C&C Generals.
xboxrulz

Are you sure? I mean I really hope your kidding me.
If I gave up my good nVidia for this piece of crap I will be mad. Least I can get my nVidia back.

Okay, after looking my old card was:XFX Geforce FX5200 256MB DDR PCI Video CardMy new card is:VisionTekÂŽ Radeon™ 256MB 9250 PCI Video Card

I never had problems from my old card, but I have not tested my new one.

I got one other question, is it true that PCI isn't all that good?
Edited May 9, 2006 by 108Soc (see edit history)

[HellFire121 0]

Pretty much they are the same but with some tweaks.You can go for a cheaper version of the same card but it might perform just a little less than the one that costs the most.In most cases the cheapest to the one that costs somewhere in between are quite adeqate for normal gaming/office use.I'd only go for the top priced ones if you want the maximum fps out of your games, these ones usually come with a decent bundle of software too.In short, there is little difference to the actual chipset, but there can be some small tweaks that will show quite some performace gains-HellFire