I want to upgrade my GPU. Need a hand.

[Fascinate]

What? How could you get that out of my post. Im genuinely curious as to why you would specifically suggest the zotac model as the "best" 660ti available. In my eyes it is hands down the worst of the bunch for the reasons i listed above. If it was 40-50 bucks cheaper than the rest i could see recommending it, but not at the same price dude. Do you work for zotac or something?

---------- Post added 2012-12-08 at 11:22 AM ----------

Also there are no assumptions being made, i only list facts:

1. It has the lowest warranty period of all 660ti brands.
2. It has a shorter PCB which cuts costs for the manufacturer and provides zero benefit to the consumer (all cases accept enormous graphics cards these days). They also run hotter because the components are closer together on the board, reducing the lifetime of the card (which is probably also why it has a shorter warranty).


These shortened PCB cards need to have significant price cuts compared to full size cards to be recommended.

[Faithh]

What? How could you get that out of my post. Im genuinely curious as to why you would specifically suggest the zotac model as the "best" 660ti available. In my eyes it is hands down the worst of the bunch for the reasons i listed above. If it was 40-50 bucks cheaper than the rest i could see recommending it, but not at the same price dude. Do you work for zotac or something?

---------- Post added 2012-12-08 at 11:22 AM ----------

Also there are no assumptions being made, i only list facts:

1. It has the lowest warranty period of all 660ti brands.
2. It has a shorter PCB which cuts costs for the manufacturer and provides zero benefit to the consumer (all cases accept enormous graphics cards these days). They also run hotter because the components are closer together on the board, reducing the lifetime of the card (which is probably also why it has a shorter warranty).


These shortened PCB cards need to have significant price cuts compared to full size cards to be recommended.

Mate as a consumer you still are having the choice in your hands which brand you'll be buying.

It's just the same as making a topic here and asking for what footballteam you should support.

http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-23...e-Edition.html

Just an awesome heatsink that card has, the pcb looks clean and made of high quality. The heatsink they're using for that card is even better than Asus DC 3slot cards and msi. I'm a big fan of the Asus DC coolers just because of their fanprofile they're using and the looks. Seeing it from a view of extreme overclocking, I would take that card instead of a 660ti dc2.

Perfect picture -> http://www.hard-planet.net/wp-conten...-Edition-7.jpg

It's not really the 70°-80° temps which are going to reduce the lifetime that much as you'll be playing with voltages & power.

[Deleted]

What? How could you get that out of my post. Im genuinely curious as to why you would specifically suggest the zotac model as the "best" 660ti available. In my eyes it is hands down the worst of the bunch for the reasons i listed above. If it was 40-50 bucks cheaper than the rest i could see recommending it, but not at the same price dude. Do you work for zotac or something?

---------- Post added 2012-12-08 at 11:22 AM ----------

Also there are no assumptions being made, i only list facts:

1. It has the lowest warranty period of all 660ti brands.
2. It has a shorter PCB which cuts costs for the manufacturer and provides zero benefit to the consumer (all cases accept enormous graphics cards these days). They also run hotter because the components are closer together on the board, reducing the lifetime of the card (which is probably also why it has a shorter warranty).


These shortened PCB cards need to have significant price cuts compared to full size cards to be recommended.

alright finally got home , time to set this straight.
1: warranty is plenty if warranty would be the dealbreaker for anyone they would pick EVGA for sure. (zotac gives 3 years and their RMA is the no questions asked instant replacement kind)
2: you are just speculating on that part i raise you this quote from 660Ti test in which they tested 8 top of the line 660Ti cards.
"Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition is the smallest graphics card in this roundup and also the fastest across all the performance benchmarks. Comparable to the other cards in default GPU frequency, it features well-overclocked memory that helps it beat the others in sheer speed. It is inferior to the leaders of this test session in temperature and acoustic performance, though. Hopefully, the recently released AMP! Extreme Edition is better in this respect."
note it isn't the best card out there however it is the best for budget of the OP (since most of those cards are in the $300-$400 bracket), for $250 this zotac is a steal for overall best performance in games.

also do you work for zotac is just trying a desperate way of trying to put me in a bad light. (i work in a lunchroom, tech stuff is just my hobby)

last but not least source : (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/gra...-ti.html#sect0) a thing i haven't seen you bring to this thread , get proof or stop claiming assumptions as facts because they are not.

[Fascinate]

Warranty alone is enough not to recommend it, and those random 3rd party websites get paid by the companies to shine a light on their products (people like zotac who are in the cellar). Who cares if it benchmarks 2 FPS higher because of stock clock differences, seriously.

@Faithh, that is not the card in question. Im not saying zotac does not make good cards, just the one shroudster linked is not a quality product in relation to what you can buy from other PCB manufacturers for the same money.

---------- Post added 2012-12-08 at 03:12 PM ----------

From the article you yourself linked btw:

Like the rest of the products in this review, the Zotac was tested for overclockability at the maximum Power Limit parameter, which was 123% for our sample. The GPU frequency could be increased by 65 MHz and the memory frequency by only 260 MHz, which is the worst result in this test session.

---------- Post added 2012-12-08 at 03:13 PM ----------

Its performance is good overall but doesn’t match the best coolers. The GPU is 71°C hot in the automatic fan regulation mode and 65°C hot at the maximum speed of the fans.

[Deleted]

Warranty alone is enough not to recommend it, and those random 3rd party websites get paid by the companies to shine a light on their products (people like zotac who are in the cellar). Who cares if it benchmarks 2 FPS higher because of stock clock differences, seriously.

@Faithh, that is not the card in question. Im not saying zotac does not make good cards, just the one shroudster linked is not a quality product in relation to what you can buy from other PCB manufacturers for the same money.

bring sources or get lost, so far you brought nothing solid to this thread. (you make an issue about a trivial thing , the warranty which still is 3 years i don't see how you make a prime reason to not buy it)
lets not forget it was a showdown of the best of the best 660Ti cards out there and the ZOTAC took the performance crown with a 5FPS average lead (which is quite significant for a similar series test on overall)

also if you would bother with the source it is actually a site with a good reputation..............

edit: even while it overclocked less it still performed the best overall in actual FPS also 71 degrees is a fine temp for a gpu. (90+ is when you should worry)

[Fascinate]

I am not here to argue semantics with you, i am simply showing the OP their options, they can make their own decisions. Also if you would read a little closer, the zotac was one of the hotter cards in the lineup as well as being the worst overclocker of the bunch. Don't pretend 1 year is a trivial thing, it could easily break between the 2-4 year mark and then what? Not sure if you are simply a zotac fanboy (those exist?) or are just here to argue on a forum, either way this will be my last post in this thread.

Again, just showing the OP options.

[Deleted]

I am not here to argue semantics with you, i am simply showing the OP their options, they can make their own decisions. Also if you would read a little closer, the zotac was one of the hotter cards in the lineup as well as being the worst overclocker of the bunch. Don't pretend 1 year is a trivial thing, it could easily break between the 2-4 year mark and then what? Not sure if you are simply a zotac fanboy (those exist?) or are just here to argue on a forum, either way this will be my last post in this thread.

Again, just showing the OP options.

only thing you showed is that you are a biggot which cannot comprehend logic nor common sense.
simple denying it as an option because you cannot field any proof yourself is just pathetic.
temps are fine and performance is top notch, combine that with the pricetag and tell me how it is not a good choice with something other then the warranty. (if hardware is bad it usually dies within the first year anyway making warranty a moot point in the majority of the cases)

options are fine just be sure to back them up with sources/benchmarks and common sense else what value would they have in the first place.

[Faithh]

I am not here to argue semantics with you, i am simply showing the OP their options, they can make their own decisions. Also if you would read a little closer, the zotac was one of the hotter cards in the lineup as well as being the worst overclocker of the bunch. Don't pretend 1 year is a trivial thing, it could easily break between the 2-4 year mark and then what? Not sure if you are simply a zotac fanboy (those exist?) or are just here to argue on a forum, either way this will be my last post in this thread.

Again, just showing the OP options.

Dude do you even know how vicious Asus could be? They're using cheapass, used from older cards from rma capacitators and loads of cards are coilwhining. Don't start to QQ about zotac's quality. Warranty seriously you can ask a lifetime warranty, what's your point lol? http://www.zotac.com/index.php?optio...id=295&lang=us