Is EVGA a Good Brand?

Believe it or not, Nvidia does not produce its own graphics cards. Instead, AMD and Nvidia sell their chips and architectures to manufacturers who’ll produce these graphics cards. Here’s a caveat: the chips sold to these manufacturers will never have the maximum clock speed. Nvidia and AMD will keep these chips for themselves.

When AMD or Nvidia manufactures the same chips, they won’t always have the same clock speed (boost or base). The discrepancy in the frequency is minimal at best, so you won’t even notice that you got a slower chip than other GPU brands.

Now, Nvidia will sometimes manufacture their own graphics cards using the max speed chips that they kept. These graphics cards are branded as Founders’ Editions. An Nvidia Founders Edition GeForce RTX 3060 will have a higher clock speed compared to other brands of RTX 3060 such as EVGA or ASUS or MSI, but the architecture and features remain the same. They are also more expensive and rare, which is why users often just go for the other brands.

The different GPU brands often differ in terms of how they are built, the kind of hardware they were using, and the kind of users they’ll be catering to. And in this article, we’ll be talking about one particular brand: the EVGA GPU.

What Is EVGA?

EVGA started in California on April 1999 and debuted as one of Nvidia’s close partners for graphics cards. Since then, EVGA has been a popular brand for all types of users. The brand is also known for its power supplies, PC coolers, and other peripherals.

What Makes a Good GPU Brand?

There are different brands that manufacture Nvidia graphics cards, but how does one know exactly which one is better and which one’s worth investing in?

Each of the different brands of graphics cards is unique in its own right. Sure, they have the same chip and architecture, but what separates them is the build quality. Some brands are better than others. MSI and ASUS Strix cards are known for their superb performance and good customer service. EVGA and Zotac are known for their affordability and quality products.

If you want to know if a brand is any good, you’ll have to look at certain factors such as:

• Superior support (technical or customer service)
• How a GPU company handles warranty
• Lower or higher power consumption
• Compatibility with computer hardware the GPU will be working with

What brand produces the best graphics cards? The simple answer is: it depends on whether or not you have money to burn. If you have a fat wallet, then go for the big brands like ASUS or MSI. If you want to save money on PC builds, then go for EVGA and Zotac.

What Is EVGA Known For?

As we mentioned earlier, EVGA is one of the manufacturers of Nvidia graphics cards. EVGA cards will bear the following branding: Nvidia EVGA GeForce GTX/RTX Series Number.

For example, Nvidia EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 SC would what you’d see on the box or a website listing.

EVGA is mostly known for its graphics cards, excellent customer service, extended warranties, and trade-in policies. Apart from graphics cards, they also produce power supply units which are also popular amongst different PC builders.

Is EVGA A Good Brand?

This is a legitimate question given that you have other Nvidia graphics cards such as MSI and ASUS that are slightly more expensive but also a bit more powerful than an EVGA card.

But there are three factors that make EVGA a good brand and good choice for a lot of builders and users:

• Product Quality
• Customer Service
• Warranty Policy

Product Quality

Product quality is what makes EVGA a good graphics card. Online, you’ll find a handful of negative reviews but the general consensus of EVGA graphics cards is that they’re durable and made of good quality hardware.

The EVGA Corporation has been partners with Nvidia for more than two decades, so they already know what Nvidia wants and what users want out of Nvidia products.

EVGA products are quality products in their own right, but what really sets them apart from the rest of the GPU brands is their affordability. Both EVGA and Zotac boast of lower prices for their quality products. Even their EVGA power supplies are of great quality but still easy on the wallet.

This level of affordability is the reason why gaming laptops often carry Nvidia EVGA graphics cards.

EVGA has also entered the gaming laptop scene with their concept laptops. The most popular one is the EVGA SC17 1070, a whopping 17-inch laptop with 4K resolution, 32GB of RAM, and EVGA GPU (Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070). Their gaming laptop’s specs are competitive enough to go against the bigger brands such as ASUS ROG and MSI.

Good Customer Service

EVGA Corporation is known for their excellent customer service. Users have nothing but praise for their customer service because EVGA treats them like royalty.

This is what makes them a good brand.

EVGA Warranty Policy

Their warranty policy covers all EVGA products, from graphics cards to power supply units. There’s a minimum three-year coverage for their global warranty on all products. You don’t need to register your product to avail of the global warranty.

The warranty is also transferable from one owner to another, but there’s a catch. Warranty starts when you buy the video card from the official dealer. The warranty period is reduced when the warranty is transferred. If you bought a secondhand EVGA graphics card, there’s also a chance that the warranty may not be honored.

But in 2018, EVGA made some changes to their warranty policy. You’ll need to present proof of purchase to be eligible for the warranty. Secondhand owners must present proof that they bought it from the original owner too.

What Is EVGA’s Step-Up Program?

EVGA made it easy for their users to upgrade their graphics cards while also helping them save money. Their Step-Up Program just does that.

You can upgrade to a new and powerful graphics card so as long as you registered your graphics card within the first 14-days after purchase. For example, if you bought a brand new EVGA GeForce 1070 and had it go through product registration, then you can technically be eligible for the Step-Up Program. Another way to qualify for the EVGA Step-Up Program is to sign up for the Extended Warranty within the first 90 days.

Sadly, the EVGA Step-Up Program is only available to US, EU, and Canadian residents only.

The Bottom Line

Is EVGA a good brand? The simple answer is YES.

The EVGA line of graphics cards are known for their high performance, energy saving features, and excellent value.

EVGA GPUs are generally considered to be budget-friendly but you get good value from their graphics cards. I’ve known a couple of people who’ve been running EVGA GeForce GTX 1070s for years now and it’s still running smoothly.