Why is everyone so obsessed with Classifieds from EVGA?

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BlueSaber80

Gawd
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Mar 10, 2015
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I've heard this the last few years in the GPU market over and over and over....


"not bad overclock, but classified will be better"


"Eh, classified will get better overclocks and cool better"

"My classified does it all better then "X" brand "
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Seriously? If evga was only one few gpu 3rd party makers/resellers of GPUs with different coolers and modified PCBs, I could see them actually maybe standing put.

As such, there is well over a dozen other companies churning out higher quality and better designed non reference Nvidia cards.


So beyond a shit ton of marketing that evga is so good doing with ther products in general, as well as basically a cult like following among tech forums for the renowned "Classified" godly gpu, I am not seeing anything special about Evgas "supreme" choice that is Classified GPUs in design and function the other makers haven't already done.

And this is coming from a previous 3 time owner of evga products in the past when I finally got sick of their business strategy, marketing lies, rip off pricing and product selection and moved onto other avenues, so I'm hardly "biased" with having owned their products at all
 
Usually classifieds constantly were in the top 1% this has lessened overtime though, they are also known for there great customer service. I prefer MSI though


they also are the only company that does advanced RMA's for there cards.
 
One of the main reasons is Kingpin. For the longest time he was always at the top of leaderboards for OCing GPUs and he used EVGA classified cards. Much of the original designs of their classified brands were because of input from Kingpin. It is hard to blame a lot of users for thinking EVGA products are superior when they consistently see them on the top of the leaderboards for OCing performance.
 
I always found that Classifieds brand is overpriced compared to the competition (thanks to strong marketing).
I go with EVGA for reference stuff but I prefer Asus and Gigabyte for non-reference.
 
RadXge said:
I always found that Classifieds brand is overpriced compared to the competition (thanks to strong marketing).
I go with EVGA for reference stuff but I prefer Asus and Gigabyte for non-reference.
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Oddly enough, with this generation (980ti) the srp of the classified is only $50 more than the reference design. Seems like a reasonable price increase for the extra vrms, larger cooler, and backplate, imo. Interested to see if they actually OC any better.
 
the key thing to know is Classifieds are NOT binned. Only Kingpin cards are.

That said - Classifieds are very well setup cards - in that they're setup with great power, cooling, etc. so that your OC will likely be more successful.

I've owned dozens of cards over the past 2 years - IMO stock cards are king. Buy aftermarket when you're bored or if you don't buy cards very often...but keep the cost down when you do so. The performance you gain is negligible with overclocking compared to buying another card or upgrading to the next best card (when applicable).
 
sk3tch said:
I've owned dozens of cards over the past 2 years - IMO stock cards are king. Buy aftermarket when you're bored or if you don't buy cards very often...but keep the cost down when you do so. The performance you gain is negligible with overclocking compared to buying another card or upgrading to the next best card (when applicable).
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Actually, gains of overclocking the 900 series have shown time and again in a variety of games to gain noticible FPS increases, the 980 ti is no differet
 
CrazyRob said:
Oddly enough, with this generation (980ti) the srp of the classified is only $50 more than the reference design. Seems like a reasonable price increase for the extra vrms, larger cooler, and backplate, imo. Interested to see if they actually OC any better.
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I agree. $50 is not much (and much less than in the past) and I would be curious to see how it compares to the G1 and Stryx.
 
BlueSaber80 said:
Actually, gains of overclocking the 900 series have shown time and again in a variety of games to gain noticible FPS increases, the 980 ti is no differet
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I think he means that the gains OCd vs OCd are minimal. As in an overclocked Zotac is likely to be within spitting distance of an OC'd classified for most people not running extreme cooling. At $50 it's not a big deal but some in the past have been $100-150+ which is a big premium for a potential 100mhz higher OC.
 
my 780 classified was only $50 above the reference model.

in the future i would probably stick with reference models, however.
 
The only card that I have bought, that didn't work flawlessly out of the box was from EVGA. Stuff happens, I understand, but it would have to be an advantageous deal for me to buy another one.
 
I used to go EVGA but found that I had more issues with their custom solution. ACX coolers look like crap and perform like crap compared to the competitors. Went with a Zotac this time.
 
sk3tch said:
the key thing to know is Classifieds are NOT binned. Only Kingpin cards are.

.
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Before Kingpin models, the classifieds were binned with better chips.

The kingpin models, now, steal all the Samsung memory.

It seemed like the late 780ti's and present cards, asus an d the HOF in my mind, stepped up with beefier PCBs comparible/greater than the classifieds.

Now classified does seem like a "branding" only with all the other competitors producing equivalent quality cards.
 
BroHamBone said:
Before Kingpin models, the classifieds were binned with better chips.

The kingpin models, now, steal all the Samsung memory.

It seemed like the late 780ti's and present cards, asus an d the HOF in my mind, stepped up with beefier PCBs comparible/greater than the classifieds.

Now classified does seem like a "branding" only with all the other competitors producing equivalent quality cards.
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I am not just talking about the Kingpin models, those came later. The classified series was based off of recommendations by Kingpin and Shimano. EVGA has sponsored Kingpin for a long time.

The problem EVGA had is they got big early, had a lot of growing pains, and then lost a bunch of their top Customer Service Reps. Their quality went down, their CS quality went down and then they had to start saving money in different places. They still make some great cards and they seem to have really good products every other release or so.
 
BlueSaber80 said:
Actually, gains of overclocking the 900 series have shown time and again in a variety of games to gain noticible FPS increases, the 980 ti is no differet
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Youre not getting the point. Besides the custom PCB with extra little things, you can do the same thing to a reference designed 980ti and achieve close to the same result.

Point is its still a 980ti. You cant fundamentally change a card by adding extras, the whole point of the special edition cards are for hardcore crowd wanting to OC just for the hell of it. The main chip is still the same, but the power delivery has changed for OC purposes.
You can still OC reference cards just fine, provided you have ample airflow.

IMO the Classified pricing is only going to go up, as the demand will far outpace the supply. Etailers seem to be taking advantage of that since the 290x debacle.
 
I don't really understand what goes into this whole "Kinpin" level of overclocking

I mean...how many tools/tweaks does he have access too when it comes to a GPU? when overclocking a CPU, you have tons of settings to tinker and tweak in the motherboard bios, but on add-in card GPU's all we get is a voltage and a clock speed offset. what's all the commotion about?

I just don't understand what actually goes into this "high end overclocking" nonsense other than dousing the die with liquid nitrogen and tweaking the....what, 3 variables (?) we have access too for the GPU?
 
Exyia said:
I don't really understand what goes into this whole "Kinpin" level of overclocking

I mean...how many tools/tweaks does he have access too when it comes to a GPU? when overclocking a CPU, you have tons of settings to tinker and tweak in the motherboard bios, but on add-in card GPU's all we get is a voltage and a clock speed offset. what's all the commotion about?

I just don't understand what actually goes into this "high end overclocking" nonsense other than dousing the die with liquid nitrogen and tweaking the....what, 3 variables (?) we have access too for the GPU?
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The one thing I never understood about these hardcore overclockers is why they need an air cooled card to set records...they can get far better results by putting a waterblock on it. Which is why I dont understand the need to waste time designing an air cooler for a top end card.
 
Exyia said:
I don't really understand what goes into this whole "Kinpin" level of overclocking

I mean...how many tools/tweaks does he have access too when it comes to a GPU? when overclocking a CPU, you have tons of settings to tinker and tweak in the motherboard bios, but on add-in card GPU's all we get is a voltage and a clock speed offset. what's all the commotion about?

I just don't understand what actually goes into this "high end overclocking" nonsense other than dousing the die with liquid nitrogen and tweaking the....what, 3 variables (?) we have access too for the GPU?
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There is also a voltage controller EVGA makes, EVBOT, which cost around $200 private sales due to lack of production.. Supposidly there is another controller in the works, but it is has not been said when it will be released.

Also, Kingpin cards are more directed to those who are actually going to use liquid nitrogen and benchmark. Dont get me wrong, you can buy 4 of them and never overclock them one bit, but they are made for those insane overclockers.
 
Exyia said:
I don't really understand what goes into this whole "Kinpin" level of overclocking

I mean...how many tools/tweaks does he have access too when it comes to a GPU? when overclocking a CPU, you have tons of settings to tinker and tweak in the motherboard bios, but on add-in card GPU's all we get is a voltage and a clock speed offset. what's all the commotion about?

I just don't understand what actually goes into this "high end overclocking" nonsense other than dousing the die with liquid nitrogen and tweaking the....what, 3 variables (?) we have access too for the GPU?
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Igroock said:
The one thing I never understood about these hardcore overclockers is why they need an air cooled card to set records...they can get far better results by putting a waterblock on it. Which is why I dont understand the need to waste time designing an air cooler for a top end card.
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Kingpin uses an entirely different setup. He has a few different methods that he does OCs on, but his records are all usually based of his LN2 setups. I believe he should have some information about his current setups at kingpingcooling.com.

EDIT: Also some more current news about Kingpin: here and here
 
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There are different quality grades of silicon.
The better ones can achieve the same speeds with lower voltage and produce less heat.
This gives a bit more overclocking headroom.

The Classified/Kingpin versions will be those cards that are better clockers.
Not by much compared to a well clocked normal card, but it gives some bragging rights and you are more or less guaranteed to get a good overclock.
Whereas there is a chance a normal card might not be that good a clocker.

You can often match the classifieds performance by fitting a high end cooler (like the AC Extreme series) to a normal card which makes the GPU run cooler so it needs less voltage, again giving more overclocking headroom.
But thats a bit more faff and you have to weigh up the cost difference.
 
NoOther said:
Kingpin uses an entirely different setup. He has a few different methods that he does OCs on, but his records are all usually based of his LN2 setups. I believe he should have some information about his current setups at kingpingcooling.com.
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nothing but the generic pictures/descriptions

question still remains unanswered....wtf does he actually do other than throw LN2 on it, turn up voltage, and increase clock offset....all of which we can do on any other card

again - CPU I can respect - so many more variables to play with...but GPU I just don't understand. I want to be proven wrong by ignorance, but nobody who actually knows anything is speaking up - just fans drinking the kool aid of the name brands
 
Exyia said:
nothing but the generic pictures/descriptions

question still remains unanswered....wtf does he actually do other than throw LN2 on it, turn up voltage, and increase clock offset....all of which we can do on any other card

again - CPU I can respect - so many more variables to play with...but GPU I just don't understand. I want to be proven wrong by ignorance, but nobody who actually knows anything is speaking up - just fans drinking the kool aid of the name brands
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He is just the man in the spotlight,, a pioneer, that is all.

Article about him during the gtx 580 series - http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/vince-kingpin-lucido
 
actually all the chips are binned the question is by how much. Nvidia uses one process for each generation and the chips that have broken or incorrectly formed transistors are locked in firmware to be a lower number. Companies Evga get the chips and run them at stock voltage and if the can get more cycles out of a chip at reference voltage they speed that chip to what ever avg values they get from testing a thousand chips or fifty thousand chips... so that the classified chips are all the chips they got that run at x speed at stock voltage with no tweaking. If their is not a lot of room at stock volatage they offer a slightly hotter card at warranty or a better cooler... if there is a lot of head room they sell them at premium to the over clocking crowd which runs them hot for six months to two years then replaces them, with a new refresh or new generation. personally I find that buying one step down if you can helps get you more bang for your money but I don't always follow that advice when a large contract clears...
 
I loved my 780 classy. It felt very solid, and OCd like a beast. That said, I've been reading that since they launched the Kingpin line, the regular classified cards aren't what they used to be. Granted, this generation of classified is a low enough premium to justify over a reference card imo. You still get the better cooler and power delivery.

I just ordered a Zotac 980ti AMP! Extreme this morning. I've never had a Zotac card, but the reviews combined with the new lifetime warranty swayed my wallet this time. It's the same price as the classified and has a better cooler and seems to be in the same league as the G1 Gaming.
 
Good background info to know and honestly, the EVGA cards are just helluva boring to look at. I like to show piece my hardware so I want it too look semi good for my needs anyway so I ended overnighting my first MSI product ever in 14 years of building computers, the MSI gaming 980Ti. The gigabyte was real dissapointing and Zotac just isn't trustworthy yet in my book and the Asus STRIX 980ti is a collosal dissapointment
 
What sold me on the EVGA SC+ ACX2.0+ was how very quiet it is and barely uses more power than the reference card yet it is overclocked 10%.
The cooler is a fair bit better than the standard allowing an overclock well in excess of 1400MHz with little noise.
Even at 70% fan, its not loud "according to what I have read" (mine is still on its way here, hmph).
And its priced very close to the reference cards if you avoid the scammers.

They are a bit square looking, hey ho.
Shrug :)
 
Honestly, it bothers me even more that a famous overclocker is now an employee of an AIB. EVGA uses Kingpin for marketing. I just can't support that. If the guy was buying the cards and modding them on his own and reselling them, then it would be a better cause. Its all for profit with EVGA, IMO.
 
Rvenger said:
Honestly, it bothers me even more that a famous overclocker is now an employee of an AIB. EVGA uses Kingpin for marketing. I just can't support that. If the guy was buying the cards and modding them on his own and reselling them, then it would be a better cause. Its all for profit with EVGA, IMO.
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What?

eVGA is competing against hundred-million dollar (in USD, and that's just MSI/Gigabyte as ASUS is well into the billions) corporations in an industry known for razor-thin margins after the first leg of the supply chain.

eVGA still does this with most of its operations and support based in the United States.

Competitive advantages are a necessity for them, not an option. I don't want them going the way of BFG Tech, and I don't think many others would.
 
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BlueSaber80 said:
Good background info to know and honestly, the EVGA cards are just helluva boring to look at. I like to show piece my hardware so I want it too look semi good for my needs anyway so I ended overnighting my first MSI product ever in 14 years of building computers, the MSI gaming 980Ti. The gigabyte was real dissapointing and Zotac just isn't trustworthy yet in my book and the Asus STRIX 980ti is a collosal dissapointment
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I really like the simple and clean design of the ACX cards. Looks sleek once it's installed in your case, IMO.
 
CrazyRob said:
Oddly enough, with this generation (980ti) the srp of the classified is only $50 more than the reference design. Seems like a reasonable price increase for the extra vrms, larger cooler, and backplate, imo. Interested to see if they actually OC any better.
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classified is only $50 more because these days Classified on a card is only a sticker.
 
drakken said:
actually all the chips are binned the question is by how much. Nvidia uses one process for each generation and the chips that have broken or incorrectly formed transistors are locked in firmware to be a lower number. Companies Evga get the chips and run them at stock voltage and if the can get more cycles out of a chip at reference voltage they speed that chip to what ever avg values they get from testing a thousand chips or fifty thousand chips... so that the classified chips are all the chips they got that run at x speed at stock voltage with no tweaking. If their is not a lot of room at stock volatage they offer a slightly hotter card at warranty or a better cooler... if there is a lot of head room they sell them at premium to the over clocking crowd which runs them hot for six months to two years then replaces them, with a new refresh or new generation. personally I find that buying one step down if you can helps get you more bang for your money but I don't always follow that advice when a large contract clears...
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Classified GPUs are not binned. Period. The card is tested to validate that they can reach the "stock" Classified clocks, and that's it. EVGA does not go through their stock of GPUs and hand select GPUs to become Classified cards. They only do this for Kingpin cards.

The process you're describing is the standard process for all GPUs. This is why we have TITAN X and 980 Ti, for example. TITAN X GPUs that don't make the cut will live another day as 980 Ti.
 
sk3tch said:
EVGA does not go through their stock of GPUs and hand select GPUs to become Classified cards. They only do this for Kingpin cards.
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....Now they do. Kingpin gpu's have only been around for three series, including the upcoming 980 Ti version. And like i said before, they only pick the Samsung memory for Kingpin boards. In the first release of the Kingpin, 780 Ti series, I have read about Classifieds out performing Kingpin cards.

Of course I have read about reference out performing Classified cards also. ;)
 
BroHamBone said:
....Now they do. Kingpin gpu's have only been around for three series, including the upcoming 980 Ti version. And like i said before, they only pick the Samsung memory for Kingpin boards. In the first release of the Kingpin, 780 Ti series, I have read about Classifieds out performing Kingpin cards.

Of course I have read about reference out performing Classified cards also. ;)
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There was a Kingpin 580. So it's 4 series.

The overall point is - the money spent to "upgrade" to a higher end, same GPU card is typically not worth it - but it is fun. And that's what the hobby is about. So if you have the coin - go for it. Just don't expect your Classified 980 Ti to blow you away versus a vanilla 980 Ti. You will not be able to tell a difference - except with things like temperature and also the fun of the additional tweaking/tuning you may be able to do. On the other hand - stock OCing is what OCing is all about. Getting more bang for your buck. So the whole crazy card trend is kind of funny to me. I fall for it too...don't get me wrong. :)
 
Classifieds are clearly not binned.

Early results are in. This card is also shite. Max overclocks possible are 1480 on the core and about 7200 on the memory. So pissed off right now. ASIC of 70%. In terms of marks I am getting about 200-300 points over my MSI card.

Only positive thing is at default it boosts between 1380-1406 MHz. Also remains very silent for the most part. Temperatures remain in the ballpark of 70-75 tops.

But damn why am I getting such poor overclockability is beyond my comprehension. 2 cards in a row. :(.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10032725

P21241

Default speed

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10032842

P22048

OC

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/7687419?

17213

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/7687481?

8931

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/7687526?

4830
 
Since when is "only" 1480 core clock considered poor? I get artifacts over 1406 on my reference EVGA.

It's all luck of the draw man. Both of my 680s would run at 1300mhz on stock voltage which was well above the average at the time. You win some, you lose some.
 
I lost twice this time. Both my MSI and this classified didn't break 1500. That sucks ass. Even though in terms of real world performance it is meaningless but given how much you pay for these puppies, you expect better.
 
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