So I'm in the market for a 980 with the reference cooler at the moment, and since I've been an EVGA fan for years I've not really paid much attention to the other manufacturers. EVGA give 3 years warranty to their cards these days, and I know that the RMA process is painless even as a guest. The question is, what do the other partners offer that might sway me? Price is slightly relevant, I'm not going to pay £70 more for a mild overclock I can easily manage myself. Any thoughts?
I would agree that Zotac seem to have the longest warranty period. Never had any of their products though so I've no idea how good their RMA process is.
Shirty, don't forget you should have the option of extending the warranty on the EVGA part when registering within 30 days of purchase, well something like that. Forget the prices but its grouped into price paid for the part, IIRC the options are an additional 2 years, so 5 years in total or an additional 7 years, so 10 years in total. However as noiz has mentioned, Zotac probably have the longest provided free (well, provided of course you register within the period allowed for the extension to 5 years), otherwise its 2 years IIRC.
Ah, it's free to get up to 5 years on EVGA now - looks like the deal is sealed... Do Zotac do a guest RMA? I feel like it adds a chunk of second hand value to a card if the new owner can RMA without hassle.
No, Zotacs is non transferrable. 5 years is excellent though, my friend bought a 560ti (I think) nearly 4 years ago, but its pretty amazing that he still has another year of warranty should it break.
I miss the old EVGA warranty. I think my old 8800GTX which I no longer have) will be in warranty for another few years I haven't read the small print, but I suspect that even with the free 5 year warranty upgrade on EVGA, the guest warranty will remain the standard 3 years. Still good though - I seem to be incapable of holding on to a GPU for much longer than a year...
My first thought was why a 980? It's barely any faster than a 780Ti, and the rumours have started about a 980Ti/Titan card already.
Ah, that's a separate question Dave. However, I'll answer it. I don't envisage changing this card for then next 2-3 years. Stop laughing, I'm serious! Bearing in mind that I'll probably be happy with 1080p for that duration, I'm going for the best I can afford. Or is that can't afford? Also I wanted to shed the 770 before I lose too much more value on it, £140 is low enough considering I would have got £50 more a couple of months ago! I would probably have got a 970 if they were offering it with the Nvidia cooler, but it seems only reviewers and OEMs will get the pleasure of those. Finally, low power consumption and that sexy stock cooler are big draws for my little Node
Ah, fairy nuff. The reference cooler does look nice, I have to admit. However, now that my rig is under my desk, I wouldn't care a jot. I just posted in another thread that Scan are doing a Zotac 780Ti OC edition for £326, but with a three fan cooler.
Would still only buy evga till they prove me wrong. There warranty still allows you to remove there cooler to watercool and keep the warranty on the actual card intact which is great for us that want it.
True - I once RMAd a GTX280 which had been watercooled and developed an intermittent fault which would prevent the PC from booting. No questions asked, new card in the post.
