Which NVIDIA card maker is your favorite and why?

B

Bansin

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
152
I'd like to know why you prefere a certain "brand" of maker. I find it interesting that most talk about RMA policy and such but not their hard opinion or irational opinions at that.

If your just a fanboy, the return policy, reliability, experience good and bad, etc is all excellent reasons to reply.

This comes about as I'm considering buying two GTX 260's for SLI.
 
My favorite is eVGA. I have read nothing but good things about those cards, and in the rare instance something bad happens, it seems as though everyone has a pleasant experience with customer service, plus, there is the step up program. I just purchased a GTX 260 from them, and I couldnt be happier. There was quite a change coming from an PNY 6800 GT, which was a great card, but the performance increase was going from a tricycle to a formula one car.
 
I have always had good luck with EVGA and BFG. I normally choose between those two.
 
I dig BFG as well. I have a bad taste in my mouth after the money shot I got from EVGA and my motherboard.
 
EVGA. Worthwhile factory overclocks on the high end (I like the guarantee of an non-trivial overclock), and step-up.

That said, I've bought BFG and XFX in the past, too, and haven't been disappointed.
 
I've always had good experiences with eVGA and BFG cards and their customer service is pretty good also.
 
EVGA. And yes I will talk about RMA and customer service because in my experiences EVGA's is overall the best I have had to deal with. Add to that their Step Up program, a warranty that allows me to overclock and add aftermarket cooling, it just does not get any better in my opinion.

Also the cards I have gotten from them usually overclock pretty damn well.One more thing, their work with Unwinder that writes Rivatuner to provide their own customized overclocking tool is friggin awsome. Oh, and pretty damn awesome forums too. :D
 
EVGA is a great company. their step-up program is well thought out and for me was a hassle-free process. they're quick and friendly with email correspondence and they also have a pretty strong presence here on [H]. Also all three of the EVGA cards i've owned were vanilla versions and all overclocked extremely well.

when i shop for a new card on newegg i filter for the card i'm interested in, sort by lowest price, and scroll down to the cheapest EVGA card. that's the lowest price for me.
 
I like EVGA. They seem to have great customer service. And I love that they host their own forums were you can interact with EVGA's customer service reps and other customers.
 
Porter_ said:
EVGA is a great company. their step-up program is well thought out and for me was a hassle-free process. they're quick and friendly with email correspondence and they also have a pretty strong presence here on [H]. Also all three of the EVGA cards i've owned were vanilla versions and all overclocked extremely well.

when i shop for a new card on newegg i filter for the card i'm interested in, sort by lowest price, and scroll down to the cheapest EVGA card. that's the lowest price for me.
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Well folks I was sold on EVGA because of all the people singing their praises and then I entered their step-up program....I don't know if this program has changed or not recently but I had major problems with the cost to upgrade and their customer service not following through with what they say they were going to do....

They wanted to charge me $320 and my old 8800gtx when I could go to Newegg and buy the same exact card for 289.00 and keep my old card.......wtf
 
Elvis said:
Well folks I was sold on EVGA because of all the people singing their praises and then I entered their step-up program....I don't know if this program has changed or not recently but I had major problems with the cost to upgrade and their customer service not following through with what they say they were going to do....

They wanted to charge me $320 and my old 8800gtx when I could go to Newegg and buy the same exact card for 289.00 and keep my old card.......wtf
Click to expand...

hmm, which card are you trying to step up to? something doesn't sound right there.
 
EVGA. Never had a problem so can't speak on their customer service.
 
EVGA FtW, great customer support, forum, step up, RMA etc.

I either go EVGA or BFG, but definitely EVGA is my 1st choice
 
Leadtek SUCKS!!!
EVGA and Palit are good. If i had to chose, id go with EVGA

dont know about xfx or bfg, since ive never owned a card by them.
 
MSI - The best OCers IMO
EVGa - I'm kinda neutral on them. They have a good step up plan, but I don't think their customer service is as cracked up as everyone makes it out to be.
 
Elvis said:
Well folks I was sold on EVGA because of all the people singing their praises and then I entered their step-up program....I don't know if this program has changed or not recently but I had major problems with the cost to upgrade and their customer service not following through with what they say they were going to do....

They wanted to charge me $320 and my old 8800gtx when I could go to Newegg and buy the same exact card for 289.00 and keep my old card.......wtf
Click to expand...

UPDATE: I figured I'd give them one more chance to correct the problem and I'm happy to say I finally got to talk with someone who can make things happen.....He was able to see all the trouble I've been through with the program so he unlocked me from my original choice and is allowing me to make a new choice at the new lower prices.... All is forgiven w/EVGA.....
 
XFX. My 8800GS had a loud fan and no fan control, contacted them, they shipped me a resistor free. Will definitely be buying from them in the future.

Had an old EVGA card 3 years back, wasn't able to RMA it through them either because I hadn't registered, swapped default heatsink, or something along the lines. Can't remember anymore, as it's been a while. Not gonna buy from them in the future though.
 
Used to be XFX but because they only give the UK a 1 year retailers warranty and the states gets a double lifetime warranty then XFX can go fuck themselves, EVGA FTW with their 10 year UK warranty.

If however XFX got off their asses and changed the shit terms that us brits get with their truly magic warranties, then I would say XFX as I havent had any problems with XFX hardware but until they do I wont be buying shit from them again as vid cards are too expensive to only get a 1 year limited warranty when they give you lot lifetime and you can even resell it and the new owner also gets lifetime cover, like wtf m8.
 
I have owned both EVGA and BFG. My one and only EVGA ran flawlessly and didn't require any warranty or anything. So, EVGA seems like a good brand to me. I have owned two BFGs. I had a 6800 for two years before it failed. Even though I didn't register it, BFG replaced it without a hitch. Sent the new card next day. My BFG 9800 GX2 overheaded after owning it for a month. They quickly replaced it over night again. My new GX2 worked fine until I sent it in for a trade up. Now, the new 280 OCX is will be here in a couple of days. So, it does seem like the BFGs overheated, but the warranty is great. The trade-up program worked out pretty well too. You can read about that in this thread.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1340623

So, with all of that said, I think I would go with BFG if the EVGA and BFG were the same price and product. However, if the EVGA had any sort of advantage in price or specs, I would go for it. IMO, warranty is very important for high end graphics cards. I won't consider a card unless it has a lifetime warranty. In my experience they are high strung parts and prone to failure. From my experience the three most failure prone parts are Video Card, PSU, and Hard Drive. You absolutely cannot skimp on those parts. Always go with the best brands and warranty. Of course Motherboard and RAM are critical too, but for different reasons. They contribute greatly to stability.
 
I've owned both EVGA and BFG......THey both have very good customer service departments......
 
Porter_ said:
hmm, which card are you trying to step up to? something doesn't sound right there.
Click to expand...

At that time it was the 280gtx......Since then I have gotten them to work with me so all is good with EVGA.....:D
 
For me it's always a toss-up between BFG and EVGA.

I have had a ton of BFG cards and they have never failed, ever.
I am currently in the middle of a Trade-up and so far that has gone smooth as silk.

I have had a number of EVGA cards and currently use an EVGA X58 mainboard which has been great right out of the box.
I have had one EVGA card go bad and my first X58 board arrived DOA, so I have used their RMA services and they are top-notch.

Both have great support. EVGA has been offering a bunch of cool software tools lately....their Precision is a great tool for fan control and mild OCs of GPUs and is good for any nvidia card brand. Soon they will offer a volt-mod software for only their cards that promises some insane OCs. Their e-leet software for the X58 mainboard is pretty good ,too.
I do like the EVGA advanced RMA, which BFG doesn't have; where EVGA will cross-ship an RMA for a small fee.
BFG has a longer Trade-up time by 10 days.
Of course both offer lifetime warranties if registered. I think EVGA allows you to place third party heatsinks on the GPUs without voiding the warranty, BFG doesn't.
 
I had a BFG 7800 and 7900, then went with eVGA just because of the good reputation they have around here. I've had one rma with them so far, and I was slightly disappointed that my 2 day cross-shipped "advanced" rma turned into a week-long deal just because they seemed to have trouble accessing my invoice via their website or even emails, but it was no big deal and they were pretty helpful overall. I just make sure I upload invoices to the product registration page as soon as I register now (have 4 or 5 evga cards total).
But I wouldn't have a problem going with BFG again either.
 
XFX

Been a fan of the company ever since my GeForce 4 440 MX SE card, and then the FX 5200 from them. Never had any artifacts or problems in general with the cards.

Nvidia company (got nothing against ATI) as a whole is cool too. I remember having frequently conversations with a Brian Burke, an employee from there.
 
Agree with all the BFG and eVGA sentiment. I always pick between the two and basically just go with whichever has the cheaper option at the time. Can't go wrong with either IMO.
 
I have a Evga card with no problems so I've never dealt with their customer support, which I hear lots of good things about.

I also had a Sapphaire card without any problems so I've never dealt with their customer support, which I hear is tretourous.

I hope I never have to deal with any customer support in the future but its always nice to know you're with a trusted reputation company.
 
BFG, because of the recent stepup from AGP to PCIe program, allowed me to trade in my 7800GS for a 9800GT.
 
I have been partial to BFG, but watch out for Galaxy now that guys from good old days at BFG are running US sales.
 
XFX or eVGA for the win.

XFX = double warranty
eVGA = step-up program
Both are quality products from my experience.
 
XFX, great support for me and readily replaced a faulty card. Was a 7800GT that I basically wore out. Currently using a MSI card and have been very happy with it (nice quiet non-stock fan on it, great pricing at the time with it). I'd be happy to buy from either company again, XFX for sure given their warranty's.

I'd also try EVGA for sure but not so much Gigabyte (for a video card, mobos are great though).
 
8800gts 320 > 3 8800gt > 2 9800gx2 > 2 9800gtx > 2 gtx260s > 3 gtx285s.
All evga. All overclocked past the fastest overclocked card you can buy. None failed.
 
I'm on my fourth evga card, starting with a 7800gt sc an ending with gtx260 ssc, and have never had any problems, they are all still running in various friends computers now. So I have never had to deal with customer support, but seeing the responses from evga to people with problems, just on this forum, I would venture to say that if i ever do have a problem they'll fix it. The funny thing is I normally go with the cheapest price and normally wind up getting it with evga, 260 ssc 165!
 
Ya, what was funny is that the SC 285 i bought was only 5 bucks more than vanilla. And now newegg is out of them :p
 
Evga & XFX, prob evga would be first due to their step up program, i choose xfx because of my 8600GT purchase in 07.
 
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