I mean no offense to anyone, though I know that someone will go off about this, and that's fine. There are children everywhere. To Anandtech, for a very long time I along with many other have come here for info due to the lack of bias or obvious 'bought'n'paid for' reviews. Then there is eVGA.
Anandtech, just like most any other site that has received one of their test cards to test has raved over the performance of their cards, which is undeniable. I have purchased 6 of them since last December, and still have 3 of them in the two PC's in my home. It would be 4, except for the one that failed after 3 days. That's the third bad one out of 6. It was originally 2 out of 3 that were bad, so their failure rate has now risen to 50% in my experience.
Now, it is not Anandtech's job to research things such as failure rates. In fact, that is something that we as PC performance part buyers simply do not get. In reviews of cars, you get the good and the bad as a norm. In PC parts, we just hear how the perform. Things such as reliability...well, we can only guestimate by reading user reviews.
However, Anandtech did specifically rave about eVGA's wonderful "lifetime warranty". Did anyone read anything beyond those two words? Did anyone notice that the warranty is only good for the original purchaser that registers the card with eVGA? That once registered, you'll never sell that card for anything because any potential buyer is put off a bit by the fact that they will instantly have absolutely no warranty at all if they purchase it? Did anyone find out that to even begin an RMA, you have to provide eVGA with your credit card info? Before you even know if they're going to honor their lifetime warranty, they want your money?
This is the only industry that I know of where this kind of thing is tolerated. Back about 5 years ago, virtually everyone that I know stopped using Abit boards due to the old P-4 Max series debacle, and the generally horrific service that we were getting. Yet all of the websites continued to just talk about their how great their motherboards were.
So, here we are continuing the status quo. Folks, it does not have to be. Someone with a bit more clout that I needs to just freaking say it. Someone like Anandtech should say it. In this case, eVGA has extremely high performance video cards at great prices, with what appears to be a wonderful warranty. But they also have a horrible failure rate, a really arrogant position in the industry, and its a damned good thing that they offer a lifetime warranty since so many of us are repeatedly using it. They also have a forum with lots of angry customers in it, and a great number of them in the same boat as myself. Don't take my word for it, see for yourself. http://www.evga.com/community/messageboard/defaultmb.asp
Oh, and if by some twist of fate, this is the same thing found with any other video card manufacturer, or any other hardware manufacturer, then there is a much larger problem. Just like everyone else, I lay my money down, lots of it, on parts to keep my PC more or less current. I just want it to freaking work. I want the parts that I purchase to work; I just don't see why that is so much to ask
Thank you for your time.
Against my better judgement, I'll let this go a while. It's not really a forum issue and as far as rants go, it's a weak one.
AnandTech Moderator
Anandtech, just like most any other site that has received one of their test cards to test has raved over the performance of their cards, which is undeniable. I have purchased 6 of them since last December, and still have 3 of them in the two PC's in my home. It would be 4, except for the one that failed after 3 days. That's the third bad one out of 6. It was originally 2 out of 3 that were bad, so their failure rate has now risen to 50% in my experience.
Now, it is not Anandtech's job to research things such as failure rates. In fact, that is something that we as PC performance part buyers simply do not get. In reviews of cars, you get the good and the bad as a norm. In PC parts, we just hear how the perform. Things such as reliability...well, we can only guestimate by reading user reviews.
However, Anandtech did specifically rave about eVGA's wonderful "lifetime warranty". Did anyone read anything beyond those two words? Did anyone notice that the warranty is only good for the original purchaser that registers the card with eVGA? That once registered, you'll never sell that card for anything because any potential buyer is put off a bit by the fact that they will instantly have absolutely no warranty at all if they purchase it? Did anyone find out that to even begin an RMA, you have to provide eVGA with your credit card info? Before you even know if they're going to honor their lifetime warranty, they want your money?
This is the only industry that I know of where this kind of thing is tolerated. Back about 5 years ago, virtually everyone that I know stopped using Abit boards due to the old P-4 Max series debacle, and the generally horrific service that we were getting. Yet all of the websites continued to just talk about their how great their motherboards were.
So, here we are continuing the status quo. Folks, it does not have to be. Someone with a bit more clout that I needs to just freaking say it. Someone like Anandtech should say it. In this case, eVGA has extremely high performance video cards at great prices, with what appears to be a wonderful warranty. But they also have a horrible failure rate, a really arrogant position in the industry, and its a damned good thing that they offer a lifetime warranty since so many of us are repeatedly using it. They also have a forum with lots of angry customers in it, and a great number of them in the same boat as myself. Don't take my word for it, see for yourself. http://www.evga.com/community/messageboard/defaultmb.asp
Oh, and if by some twist of fate, this is the same thing found with any other video card manufacturer, or any other hardware manufacturer, then there is a much larger problem. Just like everyone else, I lay my money down, lots of it, on parts to keep my PC more or less current. I just want it to freaking work. I want the parts that I purchase to work; I just don't see why that is so much to ask
Thank you for your time.
Against my better judgement, I'll let this go a while. It's not really a forum issue and as far as rants go, it's a weak one.
AnandTech Moderator
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