Choosing between XFX and Evga

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:41 am

Hi!

I am changing soon my HD 3850 256MB slightly more effectiver card. I really want to have decent horse power without blowing my piggybank and rear exhaust would be excellent.

Since I am playing sub 1600x1200 resolutions I think HD 4850 was the choice. However it seems to go forever with decent cooling solutions and chaning cooler would void your warranty.

However since 9800GTX+ performs equally with HD 4850 looses some, wins some and has better stock cooler which exhausts hot air out of the case, I think I go for the green team this time.

XFX and Evga seems to be quite popular choices. Both availeble in here. After looking warranties it seems Evga might have superior warranty, at least in 9-series.

But I'd like to ask user feedback on XFX and Evga generally. There are Asus' and MSI's OC version also as possibilities... The choice is hard.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:10 pm

I have yet to buy an video card where the hardware itself has been a problem. My biggest headache came when I bought my first ATI card, the X1950 GT. I doubt the card has any defects, but it was just released and the drivers were non-existant or broken as far as Vista was concerned.

Yes, some will be quieter than others, and some will use GDDR3 vs GDDR2 and vary the clock speed somewhat and add some OC software but the chips on the card are pretty set, plus or minus a couple of capacitors and VR's. I've had:

Asus
Abit
Sapphire
Leadtek or was it Chaintek? One of the teks.

I've never had a problem with any of them, AGP, PCI, PCI-E all the way back to ISA. Haha.

I think it's more important to buy from NewEgg so you can ship it back in 30 days no questions asked, if you have to.

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:57 pm

i think that Evga may have one of the best warranties. unless it's changed, their warranty still stands if you change the stock cooler.

they also had that step up program, but that was limited time? i doubt it would be useful though at this point.

Evga has had its warranty at least since the 8 series, i remember that warranty on the 8800 a while ago too.

XFX is a great brand, but Evga is better once you compare warranties....unless it's changed.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 5:01 pm

bonestonne wrote:i think that Evga may have one of the best warranties. unless it's changed, their warranty still stands if you change the stock cooler.

Had I know that I probably would have gone with them, but there will be more.

NyteOwl · Post by **NyteOwl** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 6:11 pm

think that Evga may have one of the best warranties. unless it's changed, their warranty still stands if you change the stock cooler.

I believe this applies to XFX as well.

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 10:33 pm

Both EVGA and XFX allow you to change the stock coolers. I honestly wouldn't really worry about buying one over the other. Like artside1, I have yet to buy a video card where the warranty was an issue. Either it was DOA (1 card) or it's worked flawlessly (the rest of them... umm... 20?).

dragmor · Post by **dragmor** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 10:40 pm

NyteOwl wrote:
think that Evga may have one of the best warranties. unless it's changed, their warranty still stands if you change the stock cooler.
I believe this applies to XFX as well.

XFX's warranty changes between regions. While North America has a life time warranty, Asia and the Pacific gets 1-2 years depending on product.

In my experience with XFX they make good solid cards that are cheaper than most but have noisy coolers. However I've only used 6x00 series and 7x00 series cards from them.

kittle · Post by **kittle** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:05 pm

Well after getting 2 bad XFX cards the brand has left a bad taste in my mouth.
the first was an ATI 9xxx card, and the included drivers would not find the card.
the second was a 6600 card that showed dozens of hardware conflicts in windows, and yet again, the drivers would not work.

Swapping to a xtasy Ti4600 card in the first case (yes it has been a few years) and an evga 6200 card in the 2nd case solved the problems.
I also own an asus 6800EN card that runs and runs. and if not for excessive cat hair on the fan one time, it would still be going strong.

I will say that XFX tech support is pretty decent. I was able to talk to somebody on the weekend, and they were not afraid to say the card was bad & to send it back.
however with the other cards ive had, there has never been a need to call tech support -- they work.

I just wish Asus would sell a 'normal' clocked GTX280

Post by **CA_Steve** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:30 pm

It looks like only stock cooling solutions from vid cards vendors at the moment for the 9800GTX+.

Both EVGA and XFX are ok brands. Check the EU version of the warranty to see if they'll cover failure when using an aftermarket cooler.