eVGA vs BFG

[d2arcturus]

[I am Canadian, using a Canadian credit card, but have an American shipping address, so I have more options than other Canadians in my choice of vendors, but am still very limited.]

I am really at an impasse here... the eVGA 6800 GT or the BFG 6800 GT OC? I can get either for $420 USD, and the sites offering me this price both take Canadian credit cards. I am torn between these two cards and can't choose, here are the facts I'm weighing (in no paticular order):

BFG:
1. Lifetime warranty with 24/7 tech support.
2. Out-of-the-box overclock.
3. New heatsink (with dual fans) is supposed to be crap.

eVGA:
1. Possibly better and more reliable cooling.
2. Doom 3 bundle.
3. Only 1-year warranty.
4. Possibly a good overclocker.

I am a veteren of OCing CPUs, but a novice when it comes to GPUs. I would like to run my card at the 400/1100 clock speeds, but am still iffy about it. I am on sort of a tight budget, and don't prefer to get a custon H/S like the NV Silencer 5, but maybe in the future (which would of course void the warranty).

 

[thejackal1]

I got the evga when it still had the far cry bundle. I got my up to 400/1100 at one time, but decided to go back to stock as it was running all of my games just fine. I'm sure I can keep it at 400/1100, but just don't need to right now.

 

[d2arcturus]

yeah, this is what i'm thinking

an overclock from 350(370)/1000 to 400/1100 will only bring up game fps rates a few points right? or will it actually bring the card to ultra performance?

 

[Corporate Thug]

i dont understand where this notion that the new HSF from BFG came from. not only does mine OC well, i have never had heat issues. i used to get freeze ups in games but that was a PSU issue. anyway, the warrenty alone should be convincing wnough to go with BFG. the one year warrenty is just plain bad

 

[THUGSROOK]

my 5900 came with the dual fan copper HSF thing ~ it was pure garbage.

i think its bad rep came from us BFG5900 owners

 

[d2arcturus]

i hope you two are right, i am leaning to bfg now

 

[Travis6586]

d2arcturus,
If you can still get the eVGA card with Far Cry, I would recommend that. Far Cry's a great game, along with a good card. I love my eVGA. Never had any problems with it. Mine clocks up to 415/1800 MHz, but I prefer to leave it at the stock settings. I had it clocked at 400/1100 MHz, but like the guy said in an earlier post, I didn't get much of an increase in performance, so I figured why put more stress on my card if I don't need to!

 

[CHfan4ever]

i purchase a XFX brand and it run flawless

AS for the other 2, well BFG seem to break kinda more offen, probably why they offer the lifetime warranty

 

[d2arcturus]

Originally posted by: ifesfor
AS for the other 2, well BFG seem to break kinda more offen, probably why they offer the lifetime warranty

dude, the reason companies include lifetime warranties is because they can rely on their product not to break
if they did break a lot, they'd be losing a hell of a lot of money replacing all those cards

i am leaning towards bfg because they stand behind their products more firmly than anyone else

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: ifesfor
i purchase a XFX brand and it run flawless

AS for the other 2, well BFG seem to break kinda more offen, probably why they offer the lifetime warranty

yes, they offer a lifetime warrenty because their stuff breaks more often :roll:

i'm guessing you arent an econ major...

 

[CraigRT]

I'd go with either.
BFG has a good warranty, and my buddy has an eVGA and it works flawlessly.

 

[Insomniak]

BFG has a great warranty, but I respect eVGA majorly because frankly, I've never heard of one of their cards biting the dust for no apparent reason. In other words, quality.

 

[imported_zenwhen]

My EVGA 6800 loves me long time.

 

[Subhuman25]

No personal experience with BFG,but from browsing around forums I'm definitely running into more issues with BFG cards vs. say eVGA.In fact I don't recall running into any eVGA problem threads on any forums other than of course eVGA's tech. support forum where you find the usual issues you'd find with any components i.e. driver installing,modding etc. No big failuers or overheating problems.No big game issues,articfacting etc.
On the the other hand I've seen several threads fried BFG's and cooling issues,noise etc.
If I had a choice of any brand 6800GT for the exact same price I'd choose eVGA all over again.
The 3 brands I would stay away from would be XFX,BFG and ASUS.I believe Leadtek also.Seems I've seen some issues with those cards well,but I'd have to go look around again to support that belief.
The irony is that eVGA has/had the lowest asking price from day 1 of any of the card brands in 6800GT format and the least problems.I guess the KISS(keep it simple stupid) principle pays off sometimes.eVGA stuck with Nvidia's base layout and cooling.
My card has run flawlessly.I did however add an AC NV Silencer5 just to maxmize my "silent PC" effort and my card runs in the 40's-50's stock/load without a hiccup,even during heavy gaming i.e. FarCry,JOP's on maxed out settings.
Also I experimented w/ some overclocking fer shits&giggles and was able to achive a 416/1164 overclock with stability and no overheating.Heavy gaming brought me to 69-71C with that overclock.I've since returned to stock settings just because I don't want to push my luck and I didn't notice a real appreciable performance increase with the OC.
This is my first eVGA product and I must admit that for years I shyed away from the brand because I always thought of them as lower end products.Much to my surprise I'm finding just the opposite is true.
And come to think of it I don't recall major issues with this brand video card in the past either(I may be wrong though)
My personal take on the differnces between the 6800GT brands is that simplicity seems to work out best(sticking with the OEM design) rather than adding frazzle dazzle cooling and extras.Seems that would just add to complexity and possible mistakes/flaws/damage during the production process.Not to mention biting a bigger chunk out of your wallet.
If you want superior cooling,theres always aftermarket products that do the job well,if not better.
You didn't honestly think X-brand 6800GT manufacturer could offer a superior HSF on a 6800GT and remain competitive in the pricing range.When I bought my card off NewEgg,the price difference between my eVGA and the BFG was a whopping $83.Considering the price I paid $386.That's a premium of 21.5% over what my eVGA costed!!!Almost a quarter of my card!
And then you have the results:My card overclocks just the same and has no issues whatsoever.
And the saved money bought my Pioneer DVR-108BK DVD burner
I hope gives some readers here a little perspective on things.

 

[Corporate Thug]

bear with me here guys, i just got through about a Million LSAT prep questions and this thread seems to fit the profile

the basic argument, if i understand it correctly, is that people have run across threads with more problems with the BFG than the VGA. therefore, the VGA must be of better quality

however, the reason why we MAY be seeing more BFG problems than VGA is cuz the BFG is more widely available and most likely has sold more than VGA. therefore, the odds of running into a BFG problem is more likely not because of the build quality, but rather there are more of them so the chance of a problem with the BFG is more


anyway, i was just putting my logical skills to work here. my post most likely has little or no relevance but it helps me maintain the state of mind while i nef here

 

[Subhuman25]

Very wrong.In fact your logic is totally illogical.At the savings I mentioned above you can bet the eVGA has sold far more than BFG.That's simple math.
And secondly,BFG's are not more widely available than eVGA.In fact the opposite is true.

I wish you a lot of luck on that LSAT buddy.I think you'll need it

 

[d2arcturus]

ok thanks for everybodies input
i've made the final selection

and the winner is...BFG dadada!
the lifetime warranty can't be beat!

 

[Travis6586]

Subhuman,
I'm with you when it comes to eVGA. I was a little doubtful as to what kind of quality card they made until I recieved mine. Since then, I've noticed the same thing as you have. Seems like BFG cards have more cooling problems than the eVGA. Course, that's just that I've noticed. Maybe there's plenty of complaints about the eVGA out there that I've inadvertantely overlooked.

 

[imported_Bleh]

Ive got a bfg 6800 with unlocked pipelines and vertex shader and it runs fine at its stock speed 350mhz core and 700 mhz memory. It also came with a free copy of farcry, all for 250 bucks at outpost.com

 

[Ironmanstl]

I don't see where you guys say the bfg dual fan heatsink has cooling problems.
The few I have seen with hi temps, after investigation, ends up being poor case cooling,

I am not defending bfg, thou I have one....
I have just done alot of reading on bfg cards... as i have one

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Subhuman25
Very wrong.In fact your logic is totally illogical.At the savings I mentioned above you can bet the eVGA has sold far more than BFG.That's simple math.
And secondly,BFG's are not more widely available than eVGA.In fact the opposite is true.

I wish you a lot of luck on that LSAT buddy.I think you'll need it

judging by my scores, i dont need the least bit of luck

i dont understand the whole saving thing. the BFG was offered at outpost for $350. btw, you cant assume cheaper = more sales. there are soooo many other confounding variables like brand loyalty, and the fact that the OCed BFG may be more appealing to consumers

as far as availibilty, i was referring to B&M stores: CC has eVGA, CUSA only has PNY, outpost has BFG and PNY so the BFG availbility is better

anyway, my point was the just because one may run into more thread with BFG problems, it does not hold true that BFG has more problems than eVGA. there could be one more a million reasons why one runs into BFG threads.



either way, i think i should get back to studying if i'm gonna hit 170

 

[Subhuman25]

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: Subhuman25
Very wrong.In fact your logic is totally illogical.At the savings I mentioned above you can bet the eVGA has sold far more than BFG.That's simple math.
And secondly,BFG's are not more widely available than eVGA.In fact the opposite is true.

I wish you a lot of luck on that LSAT buddy.I think you'll need it

judging by my scores, i dont need the least bit of luck

i dont understand the whole saving thing. the BFG was offered at outpost for $350. btw, you cant assume cheaper = more sales. there are soooo many other confounding variables like brand loyalty, and the fact that the OCed BFG may be more appealing to consumers

as far as availibilty, i was referring to B&M stores: CC has eVGA, CUSA only has PNY, outpost has BFG and PNY so the BFG availbility is better

anyway, my point was the just because one may run into more thread with BFG problems, it does not hold true that BFG has more problems than eVGA. there could be one more a million reasons why one runs into BFG threads.



either way, i think i should get back to studying if i'm gonna hit 170

Hey buddy,stop bouncing around all the stores.Take one reputable,very frequented store as an example .. say NewEgg.The vast majority use NewEgg. BFG 6800GT $469 and eVGA $386 at the time I bought my card.Get it?They don't have math tests on that LSAT do they?
Availability is a no-brainer .. BFG = new kid on the block vs. eVGA,who offers a much broader product menu and has been around a lot longer.Does your common sense really tell you that a "new kid on the block" card maker will have higher production yields than the established "big buy"?
Just do a check on Pricewatch.com to see for yourself what the offerings are for BFG vs eVGA 6800GT variety.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Subhuman25

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: Subhuman25
Very wrong.In fact your logic is totally illogical.At the savings I mentioned above you can bet the eVGA has sold far more than BFG.That's simple math.
And secondly,BFG's are not more widely available than eVGA.In fact the opposite is true.

I wish you a lot of luck on that LSAT buddy.I think you'll need it

judging by my scores, i dont need the least bit of luck

i dont understand the whole saving thing. the BFG was offered at outpost for $350. btw, you cant assume cheaper = more sales. there are soooo many other confounding variables like brand loyalty, and the fact that the OCed BFG may be more appealing to consumers

as far as availibilty, i was referring to B&M stores: CC has eVGA, CUSA only has PNY, outpost has BFG and PNY so the BFG availbility is better

anyway, my point was the just because one may run into more thread with BFG problems, it does not hold true that BFG has more problems than eVGA. there could be one more a million reasons why one runs into BFG threads.



either way, i think i should get back to studying if i'm gonna hit 170

Hey buddy,stop bouncing around all the stores.Take one reputable,very frequented store as an example .. say NewEgg.The vast majority use NewEgg. BFG 6800GT $469 and eVGA $386 at the time I bought my card.Get it?They don't have math tests on that LSAT do they?
Availability is a no-brainer .. BFG = new kid on the block vs. eVGA,who offers a much broader product menu and has been around a lot longer.Does your common sense really tell you that a "new kid on the block" card maker will have higher production yields than the established "big buy"?
Just do a check on Pricewatch.com to see for yourself what the offerings are for BFG vs eVGA 6800GT variety.

so you are saying people would rather buy from the reptuable retailer (newegg), rather than the much cheaper outpost? come on now, outpost is a established e-tailer. nobody is gonna buy from newegg when you can get the same card from outpost. generally speaking, i look for the lowest price i can get for my hardware, not just at newegg, but all over the internet (or B&M). $350 is less than the $386 newegg is charging for their eVGA. get it? like you said, its simple math. also, A LOT of people walk into B&M stores to buy their gear, thats why my bestbuy has trouble keeping their BFG 6800's on the shelf although we get a good amount every week

anyway, d2arcturus problem was solved as he made his decision so i guess there is no point in posting in this thread. to each his own. i perfer BFG so i got BFG (prolly because my 6800 GT only cost me $270 after my discount), you perfer eVGA and you got eVGA. bottom line: everyones happy

 

[stelleg151]

Quote:
anyway, d2arcturus problem was solved as he made his decision so i guess there is no point in posting in this thread. to each his own. i perfer BFG so i got BFG (prolly because my 6800 GT only cost me $270 after my discount), you perfer eVGA and you got eVGA. bottom line: everyones happy

Wow, mind telling me where you get that discount?

 

[miks23]

My BFG 6800 GT OC is an amazing overclocker. Coolbits detects ~425/~1.1 (these are averages). No temperature issues at all after running 3DMark03 a couple times. Monitored with Rivatuner, never got past 77 in my poorly cooled case.

If only it fit in my damn SFF case. I wouldn't be selling it.

BTW, who wants to buy it?

Mike