This asus 5870 reference design?

[gothicghost]

Hi all.

I sent a email to scan asking if it was reference design but i got this.

I'm afraid we cannot confirm whether or not the cards are reference designs as manufacturers like asus etc always tend to revise the designs to improve various aspects such as power filtering and things like this. As such, they can revise the designs at any time, and unfortunately we do not get told any information to when they have done things like this.

The card i was looking to buy today is.

scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-Asus-HD-5870-PCI-E-20-4800MHz-GDDR5-GPU-850MHz-1600-Cores-DP-2x-DL-DVI-I-HDMI (can't use proper link as i need more posts i think.

I was also looking at version 2 but the power connections are on the back and not sure it would fit.

I am not 100% what to get as i read that none reference card use cheaper parts if thats true.

Thanks for any help.

[Lee H]

That answer is indeed correct and I actually composed that to you

What happens is when a card first launches all the major manufacturers adhere to the reference design.

However, as time progresses and their R&D departments look more and more into the cards they can effectively start to change many aspects of the card. For example, they might improve the power filtering and the way the power is regulated upon the card and as such they might use different parts than the standard reference design and this is why issues might occur if your looking to replace the cooling with a cooling system which uses the reference design.

As such, these cards just get changed by the manufacturers, and we do not get any notifications whatsoever as to when they change the design, and it's usually we only tend to find out via either reviews on the internet or alternatively by feedback from customers.

Best Regards,

I hope this information helps.

[gothicghost]

Ok thanks i will have to buy the card from another shop so i know what i am getting.

Cheers.

[rabbid]

If scan are cheaper than cost of return postage you can always try it, open it carefully, and DSR it if it doesnt have the cooler you want and pay for the postage back?

Havent lost anything then by trying and you might get the one you want and save some ££ if thats the case

[gothicghost]

I took a risk and got the card from scan it was no cheaper then the other shops.

It was rev 2 with the bigger fan and just about fit in to my case i had to move a fan a little bit but as it fit ok i will keep it.

Very happy with the card it silent upto 35% fan anything over that and it loud as hell

But it almost never goes over 35% fan speed on auto setting and stays around 60-70c gaming.

Had problems with city link not delivering the card the day it was meant to come but i got free delivery next time with scan so thats good i guess.


Cheers.