GIGABYTE GV-N550D5-1GI GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Pros: The price!! 120$ for a NEW SLI card is perfect. The 550ti line must be getting phased out cause there aren't that many to choose from on any site.

Bought this to run SLI in my machine. Current card is an EVGA 550ti that came with my computer. Compared having the EVGA as the master card versus this one, and the Gigabyte definitely handles the anti-aliasing a lot better than the EVGA, mostly in water reflections and really complex textures.

The EVGA ran way hotter than this card too, it would surpass 70c easy and level off at about 73c... which was my main reason for putting it as the piggy back card.

This card is very quiet, fan is on 100% and you can't hear it over the EVGA's at 56%... but that card's fan is just plain ol' loud, but it's all I have to compare it to! Idles cool in my system @ 32c and Bioshock Infinite on Ultra plays at an average of 32 fps.

The Gigabyte card however never goes over 65c under full load and all in all I'm impressed and satisfied to the fullest.

Purchased Newegg since I got a few computer parts off bAmazon but I just don't know how their RMA stuff is and Newegg is the best so I got all my major parts here!

Cons: -Should have come with a bottom vented case back plate... you can't put anything right there it's a 2 slot card, why not let it breathe and put the slotted end like most other graphics cards? I have the case plate in right now but I'm going to order some vented ones...

-Wish it came in 2GB :(

-I guess it just a con of most video cards today since I was looking at other manufacturers but there is no hardware support. No screws, no adapters or brackets, just an outdated driver disc and a 6 pin to molex... I bought an 8600gts back in yesteryear and it came with so many extra doodads I loved it :(
oh well must be how they squeezed this down to 120$!

Other Thoughts: -I don't know how this card performs by itself. I have an Intel i7 3770, with 16GB of RAM, and the primary HDD is a Hitachi 1TB. The computer came with a 550ti so I'm running dual SLI and that is what I based my review on. Would definitely purchase again.

-Still really wish it came in 2GB, would have 5 all around if I could be sitting on a 2GB master card!

-Should have gotten expedited processing fricking got 1 day shipping and it took 2 days to build the order! Ahhhhh!!!!!! lol lesson learned

Pros: I like this card because it was both affordable and it performs well. I didnt need a multi display card. I only use one monitor for my gaming. I use this card to play COD2, TF2, L4D2, and many other games. It seems very stable, quiet, and cool.

Cons: zilch

Pros: great quality, easy to use

Cons: had one of three overheat

Other Thoughts: used in a personal computer with great results, bought 2 more for a customer, one overheated due to dirty computer

Pros: Very decent card for the price, runs the witcher 2 on ultra 1600 x 900 around 30 Fps which isn't the best but playable. Runs starcraft 2 max no lag avg 60 fps. Clocks safely to 955 MHz tried to push it further didn't get stable results. Runs cool at 63c on games and 28 at idle

Cons: Price dropped a couple of days after I got it bummer

Pros: Works great, I have yet to experience lag issues with it. I was able to stream skyrim with several graphical enhancing mods to our HDTV without lag.

Cons: None so far.

Pros: Performance and power are what come to mind on this solid GPU. I've read some reviews that say it runs hot. I just crank my fan up before intense gaming and it won't break 70c. Which leads to...

Cons: How loud this thing is. When I first got it hooked up, I thought my CPU fan was the issue but with individual fan control, I quickly saw the problem, a cheap cooling fan. For the money, I coulda got another MSI cyclone and been waaaay better off as far as sound goes.

Other Thoughts: Again loud enough to dock an egg on it. A fresh coat of thermal paste with a whole lotta lube on the fan bearings have helped some, but a new GPU cooling fan would be the best fix for this cards's fan issues.

Pros: excellent, hope it lasts.

Cons: Fan shroud is loose but no vibration.

Pros: Nice card for its price. I think its chip set is of the higher end of its generation in speed and quality. Supports direct X 11. Im happy with it... when it works.

Cons: WARNING!!!! This baby is hot. Very hot. I always go over board to make sure my cpu and memory is cool. Ive never thought to double up on my video card. Im curently looking into other ways to cool it as its own heat sink and fan are not enough. 100+ degrees C. Dont know where it tops out couse it crashes at 100.

Pros: Performs well, plays all modern games and produces a quality picture on my 50" 1080P TV screen.

Cons: There's an issue with this card performing a 'handshake' with HDMI devices. When I connect the card to my TV or an HDMI monitor (or DVI-D on the card to an HDMI monitor/TV) in Win7, I often hear the chime to tell me it's connected but will get no picture. I have to physically unplug the monitor from the card then plug it back in, sometimes several times, before I actually get a picture. Every time I change the "Input Selection" to a different AV source on my TV, then switch back to the PC source again I have to do this all over again - disconnect it, reconnect it, rinse, repeat. Same thing happens with my TV as with an HDMI monitor I have, and when connected via the HDMI port or the DVI-D port. It's a handshake issue, as the VGA port (which does no digital handshake) has no problems like this. However, it's not my PC as my onboard HDMI/DVI video NEVER exhibited this issue for the past 2 years, I just get it with this newly installed card.

Other Thoughts: If it weren't for the handshake issue above, I would have rated this thing 4 or maybe even 5 eggs. I just don't get how the onboard nForce video always performed this handshake just fine, but a new graphics card just can't make it work. Failure on Gigabyte and/or NVIDIA's part here.

FWIW, my motherboard: ASUS P5N7A-VM LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300/nForce 730i HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard, with an Intel Core2 Duo E7500 Wolfdale.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your comments. We apologize for your difficulty with your Gigabyte product. Please contact us at newegg-support@gigabyteusa.com with the case number 84750 in the subject line. We will provide personalized service and analysis to help solve your issue ASAP. If the matter is urgent, please send us your contact number, and we will contact you.

Gigabyte VIP Support Team

Pros: Great card for the price and had no problems installing. Haven't had any problems with any games can run Diablo 3 on all high settings with no lag. I know it isn't saying much but to me that means all the difference in the world.

Cons: Wish I had money for 2 and a better motherboard with 2 pci express slots.