Powered by ATI (Sapphire) Vs Built by ATI

[hpk]

i was wondering if there is any real difference between the powered by and built by ati cards mainly between the ati 9600xt and the sapphire 9600xt and if there is a differnce is it noticable because the built by cards usually cost a bit more

[rsfnatik]

Generally speaking, most cards will be based off reference design for the PCB. Some of the makers of the PBA cards may then source different components (ie:memory), use a different cooling solution and may add additional features (ie: video in/video out) and software (games). This doesn't necessarily mean that a PBA is in any way "worse" then a BBA card, but the possibility is there - it can also mean the opposite. Some PBA cards will intentionally use *faster* memory and better cooling to produce a "performance" or "enthusiast" card.

I typically recommend going with the BBA cards, but if it's not in the budget a reputable PBA card will suffice - Sapphire/PowerColor are fairly common but there are others.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Not really, given that Sapphire make most of the BBA cards nowadays on Ati's behalf chances are you'll get the exact same quality components and build no matter which you buy. Indeed, the only really noticable difference between the two mos tof ht etimes, is that the coolers used differ between BBA and Sapphire

--Jakk:t

[rsfnatik]

Sapphire makes BBA cards for ATI? That's news to me. If that's the case then you can't go wrong with Sapphire (i've always recommended their cards anyway tho).

There used to be some PBA manufacturers out there who produced lesser quality products - this is what I was talking about. I just took a look at newegg an all of the PBA Radeon cards listed are from reputable manufactuers.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Originally posted by rsfnatik
There used to be some PBA manufacturers out there who produced lesser quality products - this is what I was talking about. I just took a look at newegg an all of the PBA Radeon cards listed are from reputable manufactuers.

There still are, Powercolour for example look extremely dodgy to me

--Jakk:t