depends on the manufacturer in question , a card by Creative , Diamond, Asus , Hercules, etc is going to be as good or better than a reference card, and much better than cards made by the likes of , say, Sparkle.

reference cards (the kind meant for OEM systems by Dell , Compaq , HP , etc), are usually quite well built , but I would say they are not useful if you plan to over clock the card.

With newer cards I prefer non-reference cards. The coolers are much more easier to replace / repair for example.

@silikone game discs >>> girls ;p

@PhilsComputerLab non-reference? are not most of the separately bought oc-oriented gfx coolers prepared with the reference pcb in mind?

On newer cards the reference coolers are mostly the type that blow air out the back. I find these hard to work with. The non-reference usually have fans mounted on top, which are very easy to replace.