With all of this talk of video cards: knock-offs?

[MMike1]

Anyone have any thoughts on clone cards? I was looking at some nvidia ...I guess you would call them clones? It's a BFG brand GEForce.... would it be the same? I realize you get what you pay for and all of that. But should I avoid them like the plague or would they still be ok? BFG is not on the SWx list. But they have a line of cards that have the same model designations as nVidia.

Am I asking for touble?

"Beautiful satellite dish! Sony guts! You go talk to my wife!"

 

[Heckler]

MMIke,

I have a PNY card which is a Quadro4 750 XGL. I have been using it for three trouble-free years now. So is the BFG brand advertising nVidia chips or are they actually using nVidia graphics engines? I think most hardware manufucatures license the usage of certain technologies that's why we see "knock-offs" or non-branded components.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 4.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get me.

- Woody Allen

 

[MMike1]

I just looked on the BFG site and it says nvidia all over it, so I guess they are using honest-to-gosh chips...

Thanks....

 

[SBaugh]

I wouldn't even bother with them to be honest! I would get a CAD card and not look back. Quadro FX500 are good standard cards. If you have PCI-e then there are plently of the FX series out there for those too.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[Nate242]

nVidia is a gpu supplier. They don't normally make the video cards (other than a ref. design). BFG is one of many companies(like PNY, ASUS, etc.) that take nVidia chips and build a board off the reference design supplied by nVidia. These companies then cutomize the heatsink/fan, software package, clock speeds, etc to thier specs.

All Geforce cards are gaming cards and will not have SW approved drivers(although they may work acceptably). All Quadro Cards have SW approved drivers and should have guaranteed compatability with a number of apps.

Hope this clarifies things, these are not "knock-offs," just boards built by different companies.