I’m looking at buying a used reference RX 6800.
I notice there are quite a few brands for the reference model (ASUS, MSI, Sapphire, etc) and wondered if any of them use better components for example. I would quite like lower odds of having coil whine if it’s related.
Just to explain my choice of card:
- Max 40mm thick
- Supported by Ollama
- No proprietary software when using linux
I agree the reference design is called that because the other manufacturers base their designs on it, but these cards are using exactly that design - without any changes.
Sapphire
MSI
Gigabyte
AMD
Ah, I see. Yes, you’re right, they do manufacture reference design cards. First time dealing with reference models, since those aren’t sold where I live, hence the confusion, haha
Those will all be the same in terms of temperature and clock speeds. Build quality should only vary insignificantly, although I do not trust Gigabyte, due to 3000 series PCB issues and how they handled it, and ASUS due to their borderline scam customer support.
You won’t be getting any warranty buying used, I don’t think. So, imo, just get the cheapest one. You should concern yourself more with the seller, and do make sure to thoroughly check everything after buying. Both physically and performance-wise.
You’re probably right, I should maybe just buy a cheap one. I wondered if maybe some of them are known to use better components or have less coil whine but I don’t think anyone has checked this yet 😅