i don't know how it's in the US, but in germany, xfx cards normally rank in the lower price segments, are reported to burn down and have a considerably shorter life time then e.g. asus cards. and scream (->louder fans than the average) plus, they have cards in their program that do not base on a nvidia reference design, such as the 7900 series for agp, which no other manufacturer ever built - for good reason, i suppose. however, i only read about this in a magazine, i never owned one of their cards, so if you are happy with this brand, good for you, i hope it stays that way.