Detailed Instructions: Given an Amazon review, indicate whether it is a 'Positive Review' or 'Negative Review'.
Q: Shipping felt like it took FOREVER but that's probably from all the anticipation. I've been running this card about a week now and have put it through numerous and frequently repeated stress tests from 2004's Half-Life 2 Source SDK to FutureMark11. As for the driver and crash issues that everyone keeps reporting I have had only one crash. I never even touched the included driver disc, installed the card - turned on the PC then went straight to AMD's website. DL'd the latest CCC Suite and the driver has not ONCE given me any issues.<br /> The card did crash once though not from/during game-play. There is a new feature built into most of the newer AMD GPU's that when the PC goes to sleep or standby the card goes into an ultra-low power consumption mode. A BRILLIANT idea on paper on AMD's part but the chinks haven't been worked out quite yet in the execution. So MOST of the driver crashes and locking up you read about is caused by the computer going to sleep and the card failing to properly reinitialize on start-up. Be confident though that future updates will work this out and all those complaints will not have been in vain. AMD is very good about listening to user feedback and utilizing it.<br /><br />**Turn off sleep/standby mode in your power control settings until such time as the issue is patched and you will be golden.**<br />**DOWNLOAD the newest drivers instead of trying to use the ones shipped in-box, they are almost NEVER up to date or even worth installing.**<br /><br />Build/Quality<br /> I bought THIS version on the card because GigaByte is the same brand-name as my MoBo and I like things to match. (NOTE** This has zero effect on anything so don't think it's going to help or hinder you at all; it is 100% a personal preference on my part!) Also it didn't hurt that the total price (item+shipping+tax) was at the time the lowest I had found anywhere. And for the most part I am satisfied with it. The large fan creates PLENTY of airflow over the heat-synch andis oriented to pull-in cool air across the GPU, pushing hot air away/out of the case. This helps keep circulation up and system temps down, especially under load. It does create more background/white noise, but honestly you can't run anything with this much power and NOT make some noise to cool it. That being said I was disappointed with the thin and VERY cheap plastic surround that the GIGABYTE logo is stamped on. Known for being one of the best, high-end, quality manufacturers of PC components; I was not expecting to see something that looked this cheap and felt so very flimsy. The fact of the matter is this bit of dressing, serves no actual function except to be the placeholder for the logo. So ultimately it's a moot point but still... It just seemed out of place for an otherwise high quality construction.<br /><br />Technical Stuff<br /> I am pleased and very excited about my purchase and since it's the first time I have the room for it I WILL probably buy another one in the future to utilize that CrossFireX so brazenly stamped all over the place. It's a GREAT value and a great card. It has taken every bit of punishment my stress tests can through at it and dominated them all. Frame-rates are consistently in the high 60's on every game/video-test I run. Even @ 1280p with 8x anti-aliasing and 16x Anisotropic filtering! My current test rig is an Intel Core i5-k OC'd @ 3.5GHz, 16Gb DDR3. After upgrading from an Nvidia I was blown away. This card is CRAZY powerful and I was salivating when 5 minutes after I placed my order I found the same GPU in a card with 2GB of on-board memory and a similarly OC'd GPU with a bigger/nicer looking inter-cooler for only about $30 more. To be honest that is the card I would say you SHOULD get, but at the end of the day I can't say a single bad thing about this card, it REALLY woke up the beast in my machine and only has room to improve with future driver updates! You really can not ask for more in a GPU. Sorry this ran so long but there is just so much right about this card I want you to know it's worth your investment!<br /><br />In Closing<br /> This GPU I would say is second place only to itself in the \"Bang-vs-Dollar\" for Budget-Gamers market! And to be honest for the near future, this really is more than enough power to run any program out there. The next level cards are more than $100 step up in price and tout lower core-clock speeds; go with the 2GB version and you've even got more memory than most next level cards. The pros and the well versed users will be the only ones that actually gain any advantage by using the more expensive GPU's. Because unless you really know your stuff, and are able to/willing to custom tweak your settings for every task you perform, you wont even begin to tap all the extra stuff on those MUCH more expensive cards. I run everything on true-maxed settings, with v-sync anti-aliasing and anisotropic filters turned up and my lowest results yet was Starcraft II during an extremely busy battle scene - the frames dipped into the low 30's for a couple of seconds there. And THAT is something I say with pride, this card has everything you want and need and then some. I HIGHLY recommend this card and brand name, if you don't choose the 2GB edition.<br /><br />Games Run: (so far)<br />Starcraft II - maxed<br />Half Life 2 - maxed<br />NfS Most Wanted - maxed<br />NfS The Run - maxed<br />Battlefield 3 - maxed<br />Mass Effect 3 - maxed<br />Fallout: New Vegas - Very High (moderate modding)<br />Fallout: 3 - maxed (EVERYTHING on and up, heavily modded)<br />Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - maxed (some light modding - textures/sky)<br />Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - maxed (heavily modded)<br />Fable: The Lost Chapters - maxed<br />Far Cry 2 - maxed<br />Crysis - maxed<br />Crysis 2 - very high<br />The Battle for Middle Earth I & II - maxed<br />Saints Row: The Third - maxed<br />Metro 2033 - very high<br /><br />VGA Stress Tests:<br />Half Life source SDK<br />Crysis<br />Far Cry<br />3DMark03 Pro<br />3DMark05 Pro<br />3DMark06 Pro<br />3DMark11 Advanced Ed.
A:
Positive Review