PNY quality question

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CHAoS_NiNJA

[H]ard|Gawd
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May 26, 2005
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I've got my eye on a PNY 6800 PCIe card because it seems to be the best bang for my buck, but I wonder about the quality...after all, its the cheapest 6800 PCIe on Newegg, has a rather small heatsink that doesn't cover the RAM, and doesn't have a PCIe power connector.

My question is: Has anyone had any problems with these cards? PNY isn't exactly an ultra-high quality company, but should I grab this or lower my standards for a solid 6600GT made by a company I know I can trust (ie MSI)?
 
CHAoS_NiNJA said:
I've got my eye on a PNY 6800 PCIe card because it seems to be the best bang for my buck, but I wonder about the quality...after all, its the cheapest 6800 PCIe on Newegg, has a rather small heatsink that doesn't cover the RAM, and doesn't have a PCIe power connector.

My question is: Has anyone had any problems with these cards? PNY isn't exactly an ultra-high quality company, but should I grab this or lower my standards for a solid 6600GT made by a company I know I can trust (ie MSI)?
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if you do a search theres been a few "horror" stories with the pny 6800 but it is at a good price on newegg, so i guess youll just have to weigh the pros and cons..

theres always the x800 for 120 AR if youre not aware.
 
My findings are that PNY sticks to the nvidia reference like white on rice. Their in package bundle leaves alot to be desired. They don't oc the card out of the box. But it's pretty much the same as any standard 6800PCIe. I'm sure it'll work fine. If the price is good I say go for it. I've had 3 of their cards and all have been rock solid. Not because it's PNY but because they stick to the nvidia reference design. In my opinion the reference design is quite stable and most cards built to this spec can last several years.
 
Before buying a card I would always do some research. Sometimes its good to pay an extra 20-30 dollars for a better brand of the same card.
 
heero884 said:
if you do a search theres been a few "horror" stories with the pny 6800.
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Juic3 said:
Where are these horror stories ?
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heres one for those who dont know how to use the search button..
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=837377

as for whether this its compusa or pny's fault is debatable. i bought one of those pny 6800s and to my surprise it came with a "extra" cap in the box ;) the card worked fine and i could have rma'ed it but i decided not to take a chance with pny in the long run.

if i recall correctly juic3 you were debating on the pny 6800, what made you decide to get the evga? :p
 
I've had a PNY 6800GT for the last 8 months, overclocked to 425/1150. I've never had a hiccup except when I tried overvolting, which the card didnt like :p. However, you really cant expect the circuitry on the card to take more volts. It was the cheapest by alot when I first got it ($320), but I could be a lucky case.
 
heero884 said:
if i recall correctly juic3 you were debating on the pny 6800, what made you decide to get the evga? :p
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I did get the PNY but I sold it to a close friend and got this 6800GT from the FS forums :D

Its running strong and overclocked, no luck in unlocking though :(.
 
im not saying pny products are destined to fail after x time but if it were up to me i would stick to the better known names thats all :D

no offense to current pny owners of course :)
 
Juic3 said:
I did get the PNY but I sold it to a close friend and got this 6800GT from the FS forums :D

Its running strong and overclocked, no luck in unlocking though :(.
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PCIE 6800 don't unlock, there are no extra pipes there.
 
Juic3 said:
Where are these horror stories ?
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I think the person is referring to the cards that had severed capacitators that were sold the day after Thanksgiving last year cheaply at a retail chain.
 
I've had several PNY cards and have had zero problems. My current one is the 6800 NU AGP that's fully unlocked and OC to 385/900.
 
to be honest I had a pny ti4200 geforce 4, best card i had just replaced it 1 week ago and it handled hl2, doom 3 ect. brand makes no difference packaging neither since it ships with outdated software. Exp BFG 6800gt o/c only added 30 mhz extra to core, in benchmarks it only 3-4fps. Id get a nice evga or something similarily priced. or for bout $300 u can get a 7800gt wich is way nicer.
 
Juic3 said:
Where are these horror stories ?
Click to expand...
Believe me, some will crop up by the time halloween rolls around.

You always have the warranty to fall back on. I think it is 3 years for them. Otherwise you could always go ATi.
 
Isn't PNY still NV's exclusive Quadro board partner for North America? I don't think NV would want just anybody making their workstation cards ;) As others have said, they do a solid job of delivering cards that meet the reference specs, but often little to nothing more.
 
From what I read they have awesome support. On things they support they have some sharp technicians from what I've read in a few different places. And yes they still are the exclusive distributor and only support for quadro professional cards. I have a few buddies who do cad and use the pny quadro SLi setup to render stuff for a few big cg studios.
 
I haven't purchased one lately, but I purchased 2 PNY ti500 cards and a ti4600 card. The ti500's are serving continuous duty, one in a web surfing computer and the other in daughter's computer. The ti4600 is currently residing in the closet, serving as a backup card. It most recently served as a temporary replacement for a 9800Pro, and I realized then, how much I liked the 4600. Probably one of my favorite cards. I have had 0 problems with PNY, and given the right circumstances, wouldn't have a problem using them again. YMMV
 
Great cards, but their warranty is horrible. They do stick to nVidia reference PCB design, although they often invent their own cooling solutions.

The horror stories are all referring to the CompUSA/Black Friday incident, and I don't know of any others. BTW, I think it's pretty safe to say that was PNY's fault. After all, what are the odds of so many cards all suffering the exact same damage, even if they were all shipped on the same truck?

I think the card you are referring to is the same one I posted as a deal last week, and you can see my sentiments there.

I had a PNY 6800 (fully unlocked) which I just sold, and it worked just fine. However, getting any warranty work out of them was like pulling teeth.
 
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