In my country, the RMA looks at the current depreciated value, not the original value. That means if a GTX 980 bought in year 2014 is now dead, I'll probably get a 1060 at best.
In my experience, most video card RMA's result in you getting the same or comparable card back depending on stock. MSI has been known to cut you a pro-rated check if they don't have anything close to your card in stock. Evga use to have a lifetime warranty on their cards, I still have a few that qualify ( 7950GT- 2x 9800GTX). The 7950GT was purchased in 2006 and needs to be RMA'ed as of yesterday.
Had to RMA my son's GTX 570 with Evga 4 times in a span of 5 years (lifetime warranty). The first 3 RMA's, I got back another GTX 570, the 4th time they must of ran out of stock and they sent me a GTX 960 SC 4GB. That's one hell of an upgrade. I'm really curious what they will replace that 7950GT with.