Which Graphics Card should I choose? Does the manufacturer make a difference?

Hi, I would just like a little help on which Graphics Card I should choose. I will list a few so please let me know which one is the best, in terms of performance and also value for money.



Nvidia: (Gainward, Inno3D, Gigabyte, Asus)



GTX550Ti - $129-145



GTX560(Non-Ti) - $195-217



AMD: (Powercolor, HIS, Gigabyte, Asus)



6850 - $149-172



6870 - $169-198



6950 - $209-289



The reason the prices range is because they are the different manufacturer prices.. Does the manufacturer really matter? I want to save money and hope that I can go for the cheapest one (Powercolor, HIS, Gainward or Inno3D) if possible.



Other things I might mention are I will be running Windows 7 64-bit, I don't plan to Overclock the GPU and am planning to buy and overclock an i5 2500K CPU. If there are any other graphics cards you think I should get which is in my price range please let me know, this is my first build and I need all the help I can get so that I'm not wasting my money.



Oh and I will be buying these parts from MSY so if you mention anything it would be great if you would check if they sell it..



Thanks.|||MSY are a great Aussie company. You'd be hard pressed to find a place that sells parts for cheaper, though some individual components may be found cheaper elsewhere but in general, MSY are very competitive.



In terms of performance, the HD6950 is the best card out of the cards you listed. Best value for money ( bang for buck, price versus performance) is the 6870.



Performance of the same models of card but made by different manufacturers is identical unless one of the cards is factory overclocked. If it is, obviously it will out perform the same card at stock speeds and it will be known to be stable at the overclocked speed.



The only other differences between the same model cards made by different manufacturers is the cards cooler, the build quality and the warranties offered by each manufacturer. Some manufacturers make better and more efficient coolers and we all know that the cooler a component is, the better.



Build quality is of paramount importance when choosing a card and of the companies you listed, Gigabyte and ASUS are well known to be the best. Also, their warranties will reflect that.



Choose a brand that offers the best warranty. In my opinion, it's worth spending an extra $30 or so to get the brand which has the best build quality. Let me tell you from experience that there's nothing worse than shelling out $810 for a great card from a shitty brand (Gecube) and having it die two weeks past its very short warranty period.



If it were me, i'd get the 6950 ( if you can afford it), fire up a demanding game and watch it shine. It's a good feeling. In fact, that's pretty much what i do, after getting the 6970.|||You did not mention your application. I am running a (NVIDIA): EVGA 01G-P3-1430-LR GeForce GT 430 DDR3 1GB low-profile, $65 in my HTPC. I chose Nvidia because it has 3-D and at the time (Feb 2011) Radeon did not offer 3D cards. I also needed a hdmi port since it is being used in my HTPC. I have been very happy with it.|||The GTX 550 Ti is probably the one I would go for $175 AUD|||AMD is the best|||http://pcper.com/