Windows 7: Son of a...

You've GOT to be kidding me...

After I finally send my defective card in to BFG Tech, I just got an e-mail saying my RMA # was cancelled and will no longer receive support. To be honest, I should have seen this coming from the warnings given to me earlier by members of the board.

Here are the full details:

Ugh. Luckily, I only spent $5 to ship the damn thing out. I checked the tracking # earlier, and it looks like no one was available to pick it up, lol

On THAT note, is there a brand of video card I can buy that is known to last a good amount of time? I saw an Asus GeForce 8400GS card but it has no fan, so I assume it's not good for high-end stuff without overheating.

Thoughts?

Asus, XFX, ECS, Sapphire, PNY are good brands.

That sucks man.

Its really frustrating to see how the people you paid not giving you the support you also paid for.

But yeah, out of all of those listed above, I would go with ASUS.

Overheating isn't a problem, that card isn't capable of high end stuff.

Better question is what do you want to do with the card, and how much are you looking to spend?

Really sorry to hear that makes you wonder why they even bothered to provide the RMA to begin with, probably a good thing their no longer in the graphics card business.an obvious case of the left not knowing what the right hand is doing.
I only recommend XFX and Evga since they have lifetime and double lifetime warranties. And with some of the Evga cards you can qualify for a step up program. Noted you must register these cards within the allotted time.
I've had excellent support from both of them in the past.
I always check on the warranty on any graphics card before purchase since they seem to have a higher rate of failure than just about any other piece of hardware.
I can't comment on other manufactures, but now that XFX is making ATI cards I'd look at them first for an ATI especially if their still offering a double lifetime warranty helps with re-sale when you go to upgrade all you need to do is unregister the card and the new owner can register it for their lifetime warranty makes them easier to re-sell and usually can fetch a little bit more money with the buyer knowing their covered.
ON the other hand XFX doesn't have quite the rep it used to (So I've heard)
So being an Nvidia guy I use Evga almost exclusively. JMO. Fabe

Both of my 4670's are Sapphire, and I've had no problems. My wife inherited my ASUS 3450, and it's been going strong for about two years. I'd have no problem buying either brand again.

Although there are a few really good brands, as already mentioned
If going to ATI, I really like & would recommend Sapphire without hesitation.

Especially the Vapor-X and Toxic Lines.



I can't really say how good or bad thier customer support is though.

I have never had the need to contact them .. so I suppose thats a good thing in and of itself

EVGA all the way.

The warranty, service, and 24/7 tech support is second to none.
Also, the forums are active and loaded with nice helpful people.

The step up program will allow you to trade in your card to EVGA for full price if you decide to buy a newer card within 90 days of purchase.

You cannot go wrong with EVGA

Here's a gts250 for $79, EVGA | Products
I think its the best bang for your buck card right now.
And with 128 stream processors it will run Cuda enabled graphics applications very nicely.

I'd say EVGA have the best RMA/support service from what I've read. I use ASUS for my graphic card at the moment, but never had to RMA it yet (touch wood). XFX have gone downhill over the last few years. I've tried to get support from them on 3 different occasions about my old motherboard, but I got no reply to anything I sent.

At this point, I don't need anything that's over the top or with a high price tag, as I am on a budget. My last card (nVidia) was only $50 bucks for 512MB ram and it worked perfectly for everything I threw at it, so I plan to spend the same again.

I do play some games, which are mostly older made several years ago, 2007 and below, with some being arcade and console emulation. I also do photo editing with Photoshop CS5, video editing with Sony Vegas 9, watching online videos and HD movies, and other tasks that don't generally require a graphics card, but more a fast processor.

I've seen many of the brands listed here over at my local Frys, I was just never sure if any of them were good. EVGA always stood out to me as cheap due to their packaging, but then again, I was judging a book by its cover.

Keep in mind, I can only get a card that works well with a 300w power supply. Anything higher and I'll fry my motherboard.

I'll try out EVGA since I see a high customer satisfaction rating. I'll keep y'all posted to any new developments.