Will I see much of a difference?

[Lac3y]

A gigabyte 7800gtx costs around £350, but a sparkle one costs just £300.

Why is this? Is just a brand thing? Or is there a performance difference (as if all these cards with confusing names isn't enough!)

Thanks

 

[jac006]

Yeha, it's brand, but also clock speed, heat sink quality I guess, and performance too.

 

[connchri]

Sorry, but I would dissagree with Jac006 on this one. Sparkle just use the Nvidia reference design most of the time and yes, Gigabyte is a major manufacturer but still, even big manufacturers use the reference designs from time to time. Check the clock speeds of the two cards. I'll do a search and see if I can find them. If there is no clock speed difference then the performance difference would be within 2% of each other. The cooler is there to do it's job and gigabyte aren't known to be silent. best you could do is lookup individual reviews, at the end of the day, they are essentially the same thing using the same nVidia drivers.

 

[Lac3y]

Oh yeah, thanks guys, I checked the clock speeds on both cards and the sparkle runs at 430, while the gigabyte runs at 470.

Is this a huge difference? (and if it is will I be able to overclock the sparkle to 470?).

 

[jac006]

Yeah, it's a difference, but not enough to really tell. Well, yeha, conchri, same gpu, but just different design, reputation, etc...

 

[connchri]

well, because there is a clock difference, you have to ask yourself if the extra 40MHz is worth the extra 50quid. If you have the spare cash, go Gigabyte, other wise i'd go sparkle. They both have reputations.

 

[jac006]

To tell you truth, and I read a lot, I've rarely seen sparkle. I've seen gigabyte a lot more...

 

[abowlofrice]

you will not see a difference with two same 7800gtx but difference makers. i bet u wont even see a difference between a 7800gtx and a 6800gt. (on counter strike)

 

[draconum]

I've honestly never heard of sparkle before


Chris

 

[connchri]

Must just be UK/European market or summint. I use them a lot in cheap builds, there more or less just products based on the manufactures reference designs so they do the job. Never had a problem with them.