(Gpu)Reference Vs. Non Reference

I think reference can be tweaked a little more. You can mess with the voltage on them, non-reference, I don't think you can...I might be mistaken, but my 5850 is a non-reference from HIS, and from what I know, I can't go higher than the CCC limits which is what I set them at the max available 775/1125.

in terms of AMD from what i remember the reference cards are actually made of higher quality components then the non reference gpus,

but in general reference cards vs non reference pick what suits your needs most,

example my 7970 Direct Cu II cost me $630 shipped its max clock speed stable was 1090 core,

MSI offers for the same price aka $599 on the Lightning edition which comes clocked at 1070 core out the gate, will it clock alot further maybe maybe not,

but if my $630 DCII at 1000 core stock only hit 1090 for the same price id have bought a 7970 lightning for 1070 out the gate and tried my luck,

I honestly prefer better quieter cooling out the gate, since i cant hear my GPU fans at all im happy with my purchase for the most part. You just have to ask yourself whats more important

great performance good cooling lower noise output
or
top performance for the money

it all depends on the model; Powercolor has mad some good and not so good non ref designs. I prefer Sapphire; got 2 ref 4850s and slapped VF1000s on them and they never let me down even to this day. My 6870 is the Dirt 3 Edition w/ 2 fans dual heatpipe coolers. Both have clocked well, the 4850s from 625 to 700 and the 6870 from 900 to 940, both with temps under 60C.

If the non-reference cards run cooler and quieter with improved power systems I'm in. If it doesn't do all of that then forget it. I don't water cool so I don't know the difficulty of setting it up on a non-reference card.

I can't stand the sound of a stock cooler (CPU or GPU) whining in my case :shadedshu

It all depends on the actual card. Some non-reference cards are designed to cut costs, and hence are worse than reference parts wise, and some are designed to outperform the reference design and hence are better than reference parts wise.

I generally prefer reference, just to guarantee that it will be easily supported in tweaking utilities. A lot of non-reference cards require that you use the manufacturer's specific tool to make adjustments, if adjustments can even be made.

newtekie1 said:

A lot of non-reference cards require that you use the manufacturer's specific tool to make adjustments, if adjustments can even be made.

Click to expand...

ya but i feel better knowing Trixx is done by Good Ole W1z