which card to step up from my 9800gx2?

[imported_Redmist]

So I bought this EVGA 9800GX2 card in August for $285.

Long story short I'm on the third card and have 87 days left before my step up window closes.

This third card is good, I have zero issues with however I'm not satisfied and I believe its only a matter of time before this one craps out like my first one did a couple weeks ago. Also EVGA discontinuing the card shuns me away from it more.

I've never used the step up program before, do I pay the difference of my purchase compared to the purchase im making now? say if I buy this GTX 260 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150330 for 275, does EVGA give me the card for a trade AND $10 dollars? lol

I'm not sure exactly how the process goes and which card to get, I dont want to have to spend more than about $50 total and get the best card i can.

the monitor I play on is a 19 inch widescreen, I play at 1440x900 reso and the system its going into will have a PII X3 720 BE.

Thanks in advance!

 

[AVP]

contact evga, their step-up program is limited to upgrades, and usually upgrades of financial limitation. I.e. pay more...so they might say that you can upgrade to a card that is more expensive. Also you say you bought your card in august, your stepup might not have been reintroduced with each new card you got but limited, and therefore over from your original purchase. Call them is all I say.

 

[imported_wired247]

the only logical single card step "up" from the 9800gx2 is the gtx295. the gx2 still beats out the 280/285 in most cases at the resolution that you stated.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3517&p=6

start on this page and work your way forward, selecting the lower resolution for the charts.



honestly the gx2 is still quite a powerful card, what games are you having trouble running??

 

[imported_Redmist]

yes your right avp, my evga profile says step up is available but only because when i got the last card on the cross shipment it reset my purchase date to the date i received the card so its not the actual purchase date.
oh well.

I was looking at that gtx 285, it would of been a nice upgrade for only $75 and that it was really only 1 of the 2 choices i could step up to, that and a gtx 295.

 

[imported_Redmist]

Originally posted by: wired247
the only logical single card step "up" from the 9800gx2 is the gtx295. the gx2 still beats out the 280/285 in most cases at the resolution that you stated.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3517&p=6

start on this page and work your way forward, selecting the lower resolution for the charts.



honestly the gx2 is still quite a powerful card, what games are you having trouble running??

yes you are right.

the reason I wanted to step up is not because of performance, the card like you said is powerful but when I bought the card in august and it crapped out slowly as in fans getting quieter and quieter and temps rising and rising (even though I blow my computer out twice a month) and it eventually was running idle at 80C and 110C while gaming and changing the fan speeds made no difference, its like the fans wouldnt spin as fast as they should.
I've also read all over the place people have the same problems, with the heat, with the crappy fans and what not.
I am just worried this will happen again as I didn't register this card within 30 days of purchase and missed my lifetime warranty and im stuck with the 1 year.

and the gtx285 uses less power and runs cooler. I wasnt looking for much more performance, just a better quality card.

 

[imported_wired247]

Originally posted by: Redmist
and the gtx285 uses less power and runs cooler. I wasnt looking for much more performance, just a better quality card.

That - I can understand... your reasons aren't stated in the original post so it looked like you were on a fool's errand to throw your money away.

Sucks that you missed the boat on your lifetime warranty. My card is still working great and running strong, if it had a problem I'd send it in for warranty immediately.

 

[AzN]

Overkill at that resolution. I would just keep you gx2. There's no card that will touch it at that resolution except 295

 

[mhouck]

What size case and cooling do you have? I've never had mine reach those temps, overclocked and all.

 

[imported_wired247]

Originally posted by: mhouck
What size case and cooling do you have? I've never had mine reach those temps, overclocked and all.

same here... mine maxes out around 75 under load but I can imagine there were some people with issues. the GX2 was not a very well received card.

 

[core2kid]

Have you tried AS5 on the card or aftermarket cooling?

 

[imported_Redmist]

Originally posted by: mhouck
What size case and cooling do you have? I've never had mine reach those temps, overclocked and all.

those temps were on the card I had before I RMA'd it.
the one I have now idles at 65C and gets around 80C under load with fan on auto control.

 

[nitromullet]

I have done a similar switch, and I have no regrets.

I went from a 9800GX2 to a GTX 280, then to GTX 280 SLI, and now I'm back to a single GTX 280. I personally prefer the GTX 280 over the 9800GX2 because it just has an overall more consistent and smooth feel to it. Sure, there are situations where the 9800GX2 will benchmark favorably to the GTX 280, but I'm pretty confident that when the going gets tough the GTX 280 will maintain higher minimum fps than a 9800GX2 in most cases.

 

[mhouck]

Originally posted by: Redmist

Originally posted by: mhouck
What size case and cooling do you have? I've never had mine reach those temps, overclocked and all.

those temps were on the card I had before I RMA'd it.
the one I have now idles at 65C and gets around 80C under load with fan on auto control.

If your temps are fine now and you have 80+ days left on the step up, why don't you just wait a while. I would say just resell the GX2 and apply that to the purchase of your next card. You will get better value for your money than the step up because the MSRP price on EVGA's cards don't adjust over time. You'

Additionally, if you bought your card in august, how do you have 80+ days on your step up now? I don't think getting an RMA resets the clock.

LOL. I just looked at AVP's post. Pretty much everything he said.

 

[imported_Redmist]

well my step up was approved even though original purchase date was august 2008. I think it was the fact that evga sent me a bad card on the RMA, so they did me a cross shipment to replace the replacement... that must of restarted my step up clock because I was approved and just paid the $75 difference.