PC Master Race

16262 readers

3 users here now

A community for PC Master Race.

Rules:

No bigotry: Including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
Be respectful. Everyone should feel welcome here.
No NSFW content.
No Ads / Spamming.
Be thoughtful and helpful: even with ‘stupid’ questions. The world won’t be made better or worse by snarky comments schooling naive newcomers on Lemmy.

Notes:

PCMR Community Name - Our Response and the Survey

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

AMD reference cards - Difference between brands? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm looking at buying a used reference RX 6800.

I notice there are quite a few brands for the reference model (ASUS, MSI, Sapphire, etc) and wondered if any of them use better components for example. I would quite like lower odds of having coil whine if it's related.

Just to explain my choice of card:

Max 40mm thick
Supported by Ollama
No proprietary software when using linux

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Those aren't reference models, the ones you named are called something like AIB or aftermarket cards. (Reference models are those made by GPU manufacturers)

Main differences between all are temperatures, clock speeds, build quality, and price.

They also have different "tiers" of cards using same GPU. Those of higher tier cost more, but have better coolers and higher clock speeds. The premium you'd be paying isn't usually worth it, unless it's a small amount.

Personally, I prefer Sapphire, PowerColor, or XFX for AMD cards.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Thanks for your answer.

Please forgive me, but I strongly believe they are reference cards. I'm referring to the cards built by those different manufacturers, but still using the reference design - all having identical pcbs and coolers - the cards that all look the same, despite having a different brand on the box.

I don't mean the cards that are designed by those manufacturers and look completely different.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

You must be mistaken because reference cards are specifically those made by GPU manufacturers, aka AMD, Nvidia, and Intel.

They're called that because third-party manufacturers (Gigabyte, Asus, XFX, etc) use those as a reference to create their own designs of PCB, coolers, and settings.

Can you give links to the cards you're speaking about?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I agree the reference design is called that because the other manufacturers base their designs on it, but these cards are using exactly that design - without any changes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Ah, I see. Yes, you're right, they do manufacture reference design cards. First time dealing with reference models, since those aren't sold where I live, hence the confusion, haha

Those will all be the same in terms of temperature and clock speeds. Build quality should only vary insignificantly, although I do not trust Gigabyte, due to 3000 series PCB issues and how they handled it, and ASUS due to their borderline scam customer support.

You won't be getting any warranty buying used, I don't think. So, imo, just get the cheapest one. You should concern yourself more with the seller, and do make sure to thoroughly check everything after buying. Both physically and performance-wise.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

You're probably right, I should maybe just buy a cheap one. I wondered if maybe some of them are known to use better components or have less coil whine but I don't think anyone has checked this yet 😅