i think 70% PC`s are bought for gaming , and 90% users overclock their cards anyway . The reference cooling solutions are bad designed on purpose , so you cannot gain better performance , because you achieve the performance of a higher class video card (read : pay less , get more ) , and means NV , AMD loose money .
"Refabbing and testing a custom PCB" is not rocket science since we all know that most of that is done by software ( the PCB design ) ,and after the card`s construction is complete they just plug it into a test rig , and if the numbers are ok , they pack the card . And a better cooling solution is not more expensive , trust me . The rest doesn`t matter because the ram will allways be Quimonda , Volterra VRM`s , same resistors, capacitors and so on . That extra 10% manufactures take for preoverclocked cards should be but in better cooling solutions , better bundle or research or whatever .
And yes "Reference designs are just that: reference."
So why pick Mushkin and not Manli , Asus , inno3d or whatever . What makes Muskin cards different , special ? That wooden box?
The company just announced plans on an entire lineup of products based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 200 series, called Mushkin UltimateFX
ultimate fx name , wooden box , green sticker , Muskin brand . ok ... so am i missing something?