Anyone Step Up With EVGA Yet? Would It Be Worth It For Me?

[jrphoenix]

Has anyone on this forum went through the step up process with EVGA yet? I was just curious how strict their standards are as far as "resellable" condition (i.e. I opened a splitter cable, so will I be charged the 15% restocking fee??).

Also... do you guys think it is worth paying $100 + shipping for an Ultra if you can't get to Ultra speeds with your GT?

I tried coolbits with my GT and it seems to have some very weak memory! The optimal settings the first time I ran the program were listed as 420 / 1100 the first time I ran it.... However, far cry would freeze for a couple seconds periodically and Halo would crawl at times. I set the memory at 1000 and the core at 400 and things were better. I still find a glitch every now and then unless I leave my core< 380.

The games I play / will play are (all at 1600 x 1200, my LCD resolution) and I want eye candy :

Far Cry (currently using 1.1 patch and it can run slow at times)
Doom 3 (Should be fine with gt or ultra)
Stalker (2005?)
Rome Total War (Should be fine with gt or ultra)
HL2 (may need ultra for 1600 x 1200)

Thanks for the input

 

[reallyscrued]

never used it, but id also like to know what are the prices of the cards that they give you credit for. like my 6800NU, would they give me 283 times the 85% (15 % restocking.) or do they have their own pricing?

 

[nitromullet]

Never tried their Step-Up, but I had to RMA my GT to them for a replacement, and their CServ was pretty good and fairly quick. As far as them being picky about the re-sellable condition, I don't think they will freak out about a cable - I forgot to include my free copy of FarCry when I sent my card back to them and they never said anything and even included another copy with the card they sent back to me. Now I have 3 copies of a game I had finished before I ever owned the card, yea!

...I assume the prices for their cards are those listed on their site.

Edit: for what it's worth, I don't think the Ultra is worth the extra $100 over the GT. There is nothing that is unplayable on the GT that is playable on the Ultra. Once titles are released that are unplayable on the GT, they will also be unplayable on the Ultra. They may just suck a little less, but it will be time for a new card anyway.

Edit 2: I'm getting PM'ed by people wanting a cheap copy of FarCry. Sorry, all these copies are already spoken for...

 

[klah]

Do they guarantee you will get an Ultra with 1.6ns memory? I wouldn't even bother if you just get overclocked 2.0ns like 80%+ of the current Ultras.

 

[jrphoenix]

Hey Nitro,

Good to here... I didn't think they would be picky. That has been my big debate now... upgrade or not. Far Cry runs good, slow at points when there is a lot of action. I have everything maxed except AA which I have at 2x.

If the GT is sufficient for all the games I will be playing at 1600 x 1200 (eye candy mode) I might just keep it and the $100 to spend on games.

My GT seememd to overclock well at first but would pause or slow down until I went back to stock settings I am not a pro at overclocking.... this was my first venture.

 

[nitromullet]

http://www.evga.com/products/m...-N345-AX&amp;tab=specs

The specs say 1.6ns.

 

[jrphoenix]

Originally posted by: klah
Do they guarantee you will get an Ultra with 1.6ns memory? I wouldn't even bother if you just get overclocked 2.0ns like 80%+ of the current Ultras.

WOW.... some are just overclocking the 2.0 ns memory? I thought they all used 1.6 or they weren't an Ultra???? I'll try writing to them. I was going to step up because I was having difficulty getting close to Ultra speeds with my GT.... I thought I may get lucky with an overclockable Ultra??

 

[nitromullet]

My GT seememd to overclock well at first but would pause or slow down until I went back to stock settings I am not a pro at overclocking.... this was my first venture.

I keep mine at stock speeds (even the one I had to RMA). There have been a number of people talking about getting good OC's for a while and then having to step it down a bit due to instability. Plus, with the demise of my own GT at stock speeds, I'm not overly confident about the cores in general. IMO, these are great cards, but nVidia is really pushing the envelope for heat/reliability with these cards. I would not suggest pushing these cards too much, especially with the stock cooling.

 

[klah]

Originally posted by: jrphoenix

Originally posted by: klah
Do they guarantee you will get an Ultra with 1.6ns memory? I wouldn't even bother if you just get overclocked 2.0ns like 80%+ of the current Ultras.

WOW.... some are just overclocking the 2.0 ns memory? I thought they all used 1.6 or they weren't an Ultra???? I'll try writing to them. I was going to step up because I was having difficulty getting close to Ultra speeds with my GT.... I thought I may get lucky with an overclockable Ultra??

All of the Ultras Anandtech has reviewed have had 2.0ns memory.


edit: when did you get the card? I would wait until near the end of the 90 days, just in case there is a small speed bump or price decrease.

 

[jrphoenix]

Thanks for the update. I remember Anand (in his blog) speaking about having a few 6800's die on him. Maybe Nvidia is pushing things a bit much? I will keep my at stock speeds while I have it (may or may not get an Ultra) to keep it running. I remember when the GT's first came out EVERYONE said they could run at Ultra speeds. I think they could for a time but, I can't believe that all the GT's are still stable.