Buying 4870 1GB, XFX or Sapphire ?

Sapphire is the way to go for ATi cards. The after sales service is also good compared to XFX (Rashi) and others.

saphhire has two models in the 4870 one which has a silent cooler(looks like vapor-x cooler but isn't).go for that one i also got one from amarbir.though i must say i was lucky because i didn't know about that one.and at no extra cost too.

@rdst_1
same here.
got from amarbir, and i was expecting a reference design one, and was amazed to see this cooler.
Its almost close to Vapor X

XFX if abroad, Sapphire in India

EDIT, thought it was 4890.
Sapphire all the way.

XFX is a Tier 1 brand and Sapphire is a Tier 2 (Correct me if I'm wrong). What you get is what you pay for. This makes XFX a little costlier. Depending on what's on offer, go for the respective brand. Same card might come factory overclocked by some brand and some underclocked so check the specs and the price before choosing a brand.

^^yes XFX is Tier 1 brand but not in case of ATI cards. Sapphire is the Ruler here

Nvidia: XFX
ATI: Sapphire/GeCube/Powercolor (Whichever is cheaper)

Sapphire used to be an OEM for ATI branded cards, but atm I would stay away from XFX cards be it Nvidia or ATI because of the distributor here.

Also for some reason XFX cards are priced insanely here, and its not because its build quality is better etc.. but purely because of a short sighted distri.

who are they?(distri)

edit:: Damn rashi stay away...

Sapphire Distributor is Aditya infotech in india- good n honest guys..recently I got replaced my 4670 with a 4850 with an additional 2k with any hassles..as other said BEWARE OF RASHI PERIPHERALS (even hardware dealer suggest that so),,XFX is like MAC; its is good but extremely overpriced.XFX is premier manufacturer of Nvidia card and recently got into ATI. Sapphire is numero uno in case of ATI from long time and reputed for their build quality

Powercolor too uses custon and good cooler for 4870, which u can consider if Sapphire isnt available.

I am using an XFX 4870 1GB. I got it from US. The Temp is high at 79 Deg C. But it is because the Fax runs at 23%. At about 62 Deg C, the fan slows down to 3-4%. But even at full load the Temp stays at 79 Deg C. So I guess the card is designed to maintain that level. Also probably they want the fan to last long since it is a mechanical part that wears out. Because I got a warning with the Ati Catalyst software that the Fan would wear out quickly if i manually increased the speed. Also it keeps the noise level down.

But I am pretty happy with the Card.

The 4870 card is cheaper as compared to GTX260 in USA. But here it is the opposite. In India I would recommend a GTX 260. The XFX 4870 1GB I got from USA for Rs 7300 costs around Rs14K (XFX) here! But the GTX is better priced.

working for long on higher temps ll reduce gpu life span
fan running at high speed will reduce fan life span.
its a tradeoff, which the user shud make, and i think 50% is the sweet spot, and have a good balance.

At 50% Fan speed, the GPU becomes noisy enough to irritate you. Moreover a GPU is just a 3yr investment at the most. Also I think AMD must have had something in it's head when it designed the GPU. Because it is the Catalyst Software and not the hardware that controls the fan speed.

But even at full load, the temp dont exceed 80 Deg C! And the exhaust is way cooler than a 8800 GTX that I tried before the card.

dont know about your graphics card with noisy fan @50% speed, but i can go till 60% fan speed to make it noisy - but still it is not that loud to irritate you while gaming. You can lower the fan speed towards 20-30% while not gaming

I have personally used XFX 4870 and trust me if you even think of doing 950, all you get is a BSOD and restarts or hungapp, stick to Saphire runs great on even at 1000 with Crossfire.

Em using crossfire hence em suggesting.