Thoughts on this ECS GTX 275?

[Liet]

Hiya folks,

Around Christmas, my boss very kindly offered to buy me a new graphics card (well, using the BIG boss' credit card, hehehe) as a holiday present. The price point for the GTX 275 looked about right, and as most of the more well-known brands were sold out I went with Elite Group (ECS), who I discovered were a huge provider of OEM hardware. Though I was leery of buying from a company I'd never even heard of before, their 275 offering came with a MASSIVE Arctic Cooling heatsink, was ridiculously cheap, but most importantly: I was really eager to receive a card before our holiday break so I could enjoy some quality gaming time while the girlfriend was out of town.

The card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&Tpk=ecs%20275

My preferred gaming settings are not terribly demanding (1600 x 1200, between 4x to 8x AA, 8x or 16x AF). Unfortunately, after 6 weeks of normal gaming use the card has given out. Completely garbled starting at initial bootup. Switching out cards confirms it.

Aside from how cheap the card is, does anyone have comments regarding ECS graphics cards, or their customer support? This would be the first card in 20 years that I'd have to RMA, and I'm hoping they'll work with me.

 

[MagickMan]

It's nothing special, or bad, it's a normal OEM card with an aftermarket cooler. It was probably just a coincidence, call Newegg or the manufacturer and get a replacement.

 

[blanketyblank]

Nice boss. Probably not the best choice of cards/brands depending on when you bought it. Have you tried contacting their CS yet? I've tried getting tech support from them with a mobo once and the engrish was kind of bad in the response.

 

[zerocool84]

I didn't know ECS made video cards.

 

[tweakboy]

That was a mistake purchase. ECS group is a cheap horrible company. Just like ACER or Biostar and what have you.

The components they use are cheap and that's why it gave out. You were better off buying a GTX260 from a well known vendor. gl

What color is the board. If it's blue or red then its cheap PCB. I doubt its green..... let me know.. gl

 

[Quiksilver]

That was a mistake purchase. ECS group is a cheap horrible company. Just like ACER or Biostar and what have you.

The components they use are cheap and that's why it gave out. You were better off buying a GTX260 from a well known vendor. gl

What color is the board. If it's blue or red then its cheap PCB. I doubt its green..... let me know.. gl

You never get tired of trolling do you?

 

[chubbyfatazn]

If it's blue or red then its cheap PCB. I doubt its green..... let me know.. gl

I guess my ATI cards (all of which are at least 3.5 years old and still run) must be garbage then...

 

[MagickMan]

What color is the board. If it's blue or red then its cheap PCB. I doubt its green..... let me know.. gl

What a load of crap.

 

[blanketyblank]

well not all of what he's saying is wrong. ECS is not really a good consumer company it's more of an OEM so unless you are a big company like Dell or Frys it is not going to be nice dealing with them. They traditionally sell cheap mobos to suppliers, and have only fairly recently begun trying to enter the consumer market to become something like gigabyte or asus.
Since you're stuck doing it anyways might as well try RMAing through them, and let us know your experience. They are probably working on improving their CS. Product wise their mobos are free (I get them as part of combo deals at frys) and work. They just lack the bells and whistles of other mobos (so no OCing), but still just as durable from my experience.

 

[Liet]

Well, thanks very much for the comments, folks. Blanketyblank, I've heard elsewhere that they're trying to break into the consumer market - if so, hopefully their CS will go extra lengths to satisfy to generate good word of mouth...

I'll give RMAing a shot, and will post an update once I have one. Thanks again.