I'm going out on a limb here, and assuming none of the other posters have ever owned a PNY card. This happens a lot on these forums where people tend to repeat what they assume is common wisdom, i.e. MSI, Asus, EVGA are always better.
As a current and past owner of at least five of their cards, here's the deal with PNY:
- It's the reference design that's not as good as the custom models. This goes for reference designs by MSI, eVGA, Asus, etc. Reference designs are all exactly the same in terms of component "quality".
- PNY has great customer service in my experience of two RMA's with them. The reason my RMA experience is so high is :
- PNY has a Lifetime Warranty. That literally can't be beat. It's nice to know that you can keep your card for longer than other company's three years and still get a replacement. Each time, they have given me a brand new in the box, unused model. I can't say that about MSI, who gave me a board that someone else had returned, still defective.
- Lastly, if it matters, PNY is an American company based in Brooklyn, NY. Just a minor item to some, a big deal to others.
Don't fear PNY. If you want a better card that will run quieter and cooler with higher Turbo Boost clocks look for a custom model. PNY even makes those as well.