eVGA Warranty & Replacement question

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deadman_uk

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 30, 2003
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My almost 2 year old eVGA 7900GT CO 256mb died on me the other day. What happened was I was playing a computer game then all of the sudden my PC froze. I noticed that the screen was covered in faint horizontal blue lines which I thought was strange. I rebooted and noticed all artifacting on the POST screen, the Windows XP welcome screen was completely unreadable, it was covered in white marks.

Trying my friends 8800GT on my computer and trying my 7900GT on his computer made me come to the decision that my card has died. I have contacted eVGA to RMA my card and recieved an email from them today telling me to post the card back to them and they will repair/replace the card.

My question is, what should I expect to happen with my card? How likely it is that it will get repaired? AM I more likely to receive a replacement card? and if so, what am I likely to get given? They don't make the 7 series any longer. I know eVGA are considered a good brand among the community, I just hope I don't recieve a card that's lower spec than my 7900GT CO. I can just imagine the horror on my face when I discover the replacement is a 7900GS or 8500GT....
 
deadman_uk said:
My question is, what should I expect to happen with my card? How likely it is that it will get repaired? AM I more likely to receive a replacement card? and if so, what am I likely to get given? They don't make the 7 series any longer. I know eVGA are considered a good brand among the community, I just hope I don't recieve a card that's lower spec than my 7900GT CO. I can just imagine the horror on my face when I discover the replacement is a 7900GS or 8500GT....
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When I sent my 7900GT in to EVGA for a RMA (last summer, 2007 that is; its RAM had finally gone bad and I was noticing random bits of color everywhere) I received a 7900GTX in return. Definitely not a downgrade for me, but now that the Geforce 7 series is a bit older I'm unsure of what they're sending out. I'd try not to worry too much, they should take care of you.
 
With the card you are sending back, tape a note indicating you do NOT want a 8600 back as that is an inferior card. By listing what you dont want, you now either get back the same card or an upgrade to the 8800.

Im betting they still hve the 7900 series in stock, probably from some sucker who bought the 7900 and did a stepup to the 8800.
 
With the card you are sending back, tape a note indicating you do NOT want a 8600 back as that is an inferior card. By listing what you dont want, you now either get back the same card or an upgrade to the 8800.
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Oh really? I look at benchmarks and indeed the 7900GT does beat the 8800GT/GTS but in a lot of tests, the 8600 is on par and sometimes beats the 7900GT. Can you explain why the 8600 is inferior?

Thanks everyone for your comments! I will send the card back tomorrow.
 
deadman_uk said:
Oh really? I look at benchmarks and indeed the 7900GT doesn't beat the 8800GT/GTS, but in a lot of tests the 8600 is on par and sometimes beats the 7900GT. Can you explain why the 8600 is inferior?
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Corrected?

I think what mle is trying to say is that the 8600 is inferior in it's generation. i.e. If you ranked a 7900gt in the 7 series and the 8800gt in the 8 series they would be on par (equal rank) for each generation.
 
deadman_uk said:
Oh really? I look at benchmarks and indeed the 7900GT does beat the 8800GT/GTS but in a lot of tests, the 8600 is on par and sometimes beats the 7900GT. Can you explain why the 8600 is inferior?

Thanks everyone for your comments! I will send the card back tomorrow.
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8600GT is definately inferior, 8600GTS may be more questionable, but I still say inferior, consider these benchmarks (and, bear in mind that a GT KO will be faster than the GT listed here):

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=711&model2=854&chart=318

"Overall FPS":
8600GTS: 1127.5
7900GT: 1353.6
7900GTX: 1516.7
8800GTS: 1881.4 (640MB version)

This link, BF1942 1280x1024 4xAA 8xAF might be a better comparison than the "overall FPS":
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=711&model2=854&chart=277

Too bad they don't have UT3, Crysis, and COD4 in the charts yet... And too bad the [H] doesn't inculde older cards in their reviews.

Maybe you all don't respect Tom's Hardware much, but, that chart is a good general reference, I think. Until somebody can show me a link to a superior comparison of so many cards it will continue to be linked to...
 
When I recently returned an older 7900gs card to XFX, they gave me the option of 3 cards to choose from. All were different models because they didn't have anymore 7900gs in stock. One choice was an even swap for a 8600gts, or pay $20 for a 7950gt, or pay $339 for a 8800gtx.

Not sure how EVGA handles things, but I would assume they would do something similar.
 
EVGA's Policy is to replace your card with the exact same card if possible. If they do not have any in stock a card of comprable performance will be shipped to you instead.
 
gibber said:
8600GT is definately inferior, 8800GTS may be more questionable, but I still say inferior, consider these benchmarks (and, bear in mind that a GT KO will be faster than the GT listed here):

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=711&model2=854&chart=318

"Overall FPS":
8600GTS: 1127.5
7900GT: 1353.6
7900GTX: 1516.7
8800GTS: 1881.4 (640MB version)

This link, BF1942 1280x1024 4xAA 8xAF might be a better comparison than the "overall FPS":
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=711&model2=854&chart=277

Too bad they don't have UT3, Crysis, and COD4 in the charts yet... And too bad the [H] doesn't inculde older cards in their reviews.

Maybe you all don't respect Tom's Hardware much, but, that chart is a good general reference, I think. Until somebody can show me a link to a superior comparison of so many cards it will continue to be linked to...
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What? 8800GTS (any version) will shame a 7900GT.
 
RussianHAXOR said:
EVGA's Policy is to replace your card with the exact same card if possible. If they do not have any in stock a card of comprable performance will be shipped to you instead.
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I currently have an RMA that was received by EVGA on January 8th. It was a 7900GT KO. I returned mine after running into a faulty voltage regulator. I shipped it off on the 24th of December. They just sent me my tracking# tonight. I'm fine with the wait time considering we just went through Christmas and New years. The big thing is I'm wondering whats in the box? I'll post back when my package gets here.
 
My card just go here today and as promised here is what I received: 7900GT KO same product as what I sent out, different card. I'm surprised the card looks new but I thought they stopped making these a while back. Oh well I'll pop it in an see what she can do.
 
Ok my 7900GT CO 256MB replacement arrived just an hour ago, sealed... it's a standard 512MB 8600GTS. I am now going to check the benchmarks but is that a fair swap? I am pleased with their service.

UPDATE: It appears the 8600GTS 512MB is on par with my 7900GT.... in some games it performs a tad better, in some it performs a tad worse. Before my 7900GT died, I was looking at upgrading to an 8800 or waiting for the 9 series to appear. This 8600GTS won't give me the performance I require in the long run, and since my monitor died the other day, and I am looking at a 24" LCD.... this 8600GT (and my once working 7900GT) would crawl in games at high res.

Question: If I open the 8600GTS, register it on my account, use it for a month, sell it, and unregister my card, does the person I sold it to have a warranty service? If not, I may as well sell this card as new along with the warranty and buy an 8800.
 
deadman_uk said:
Question: If I open the 8600GTS, register it on my account, use it for a month, sell it, and unregister my card, does the person I sold it to have a warranty service? If not, I may as well sell this card as new along with the warranty and buy an 8800.
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No, once its been registered under your name it cannot be warrantied. Also, since it was an RMA there is no invoice to confirm wherever the person your sold it to had bought it from nor a purchase price. They are effectively buying a non-warrantied card. And if you unregister a card i don't think it can be re-registered again. Either way, whoever buys it from you wont have a warranty.
 
RussianHAXOR said:
No, once its been registered under your name it cannot be warrantied. Also, since it was an RMA there is no invoice to confirm wherever the person your sold it to had bought it from nor a purchase price. They are effectively buying a non-warrantied card. And if you unregister a card i don't think it can be re-registered again. Either way, whoever buys it from you wont have a warranty.
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I RMAed the card because mine broke and I needed a new one but then a few days later, my monitor also broke and I am using this 15" Dell that is on it's last legs as an emergency backup. It's a shame because neither the 7900GT or 8600GTS will be good enough for my needs once I get this 24" LCD monitor next week so a new card is needed. The question is, what do I do with this new and sealed 8600GTS? The only thing I can think of is to sell it, and that would help pay for the 8800 I will probably get along with the monitor.

It's a shame eVGA don't have the double lifetime warranty I hear BFG have...
 
Space_Coyote said:
That would be XFX.
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Oops, my bad. Let me adjust that.... BFG has a transferable lifetime warrant (As far as I hear) which is good and it's a shame EVGA doesn't have that. I don't understand the whole "you need a receipt" business. What if the card I own was a gift from someone and I don't have the receipt? I thought the whole idea of a 10 year warranty was to not need a receipt because it's will always be covered.

One thing about the experience I dislike was I gave EVGA my receipt (which had other items I purchased such as hard drive and processor) but they never sent the receipt back. Lucky I took a photo of the receipt before I sent it off.
 
I just received my RMA today for my EVGA 256MB-7900GT KO and got a 512MB-7950GT. I was actually hoping for an 8600GTS (for HD viewing) since its going into my HTPC, but I can't complain. :)
 
TheArchitect said:
I just received my RMA today for my EVGA 256MB-7900GT KO and got a 512MB-7950GT. I was actually hoping for an 8600GTS (for HD viewing) since its going into my HTPC, but I can't complain. :)
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So how does that 7950GT 512mb compare to my 8600GT 512mb?
 
deadman_uk said:
Oops, my bad. Let me adjust that.... BFG has a transferable lifetime warrant (As far as I hear)
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Nope, that's still XFX.

EVGA = Lifetime Warranty, Step-Up Program
XFX = Transferable Lifetime Warranty
BFG = Plain vanilla Lifetime Warranty

So BFG's is actually the least featured of the three, but if you don't plan to step-up in three months or less, or sell your card on eBay or give it to somebody else, then it's really no worse than the other two.
 
farfromhome said:
Nope, that's still XFX.

EVGA = Lifetime Warranty, Step-Up Program
XFX = Transferable Lifetime Warranty
BFG = Plain vanilla Lifetime Warranty

So BFG's is actually the least featured of the three, but if you don't plan to step-up in three months or less, or sell your card on eBay or give it to somebody else, then it's really no worse than the other two.
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Wow, that's an idea... Can I use my 8600GTS that I received as a replacement to step up to an 8800GTS 512mb? I have read the terms and conditions on the eVGA website and it says only cards purchased from retailers qualify for the step up program... so I can't step up?
 
deadman_uk said:
So how does that 7950GT 512mb compare to my 8600GT 512mb?
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Performance is similar with the 7950GT winning out usually. The 8600GT has the ability to run DX10 games (albeit with low performance) it also has the VP2 video engine chip which offloads 100% of H.264 ( HD video) decoding. The VP2 is ideal for an HTPC, especially a low end CPU based one.
 
@ deadman_uk

That's correct. You CAN NOT step up from an RMA replacement card. Only cards bought from legit EVGA retailers - ie: Circuit Crappy, Newegg, Mwave, so on are eligible - and on NEW boxed cards ONLY.
 
kush said:
That's correct. You CAN NOT step up from an RMA replacement card. Only cards bought from legit EVGA retailers - ie: Circuit Crappy, Newegg, Mwave, so on are eligible - and on NEW boxed cards ONLY.
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Hmm...not even if it's within the first three months? It would seem kinda odd for EVGA to punish you for getting a dud by invalidating the step-up. I'd think it's more that you only have three months from the initial purchase to step-up, RMA or no, not that you have to step-up from the initial card no matter what. So deadman_uk would still not qualify, but not because of the RMA, but rather because it's been much more than three months since he got his original 7950 GT (I'd assume).

RussianHAXOR, care to clarify? ;)
 
I don't see why I can't step up though... this 8600GTS is still in its unopened box, sealed in cellophane wrapping so it must be brand new. If they sent me a 2nd hand card, then I would understand but they can take my card and sell it as new.

I guess it will have to go on eBay then :( I do want an 8800 card now.
 
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