What is EVGA like in terms of the quality and longevity of its cards?

[greasy dave]

My dilemma:

I was going to buy this gigabyte geforce 1060 G1 3G:

https://www.alza.cz/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-1060-g1-gaming-3g-d4436000.htm?catid=18859503

But today this card went on sale for a brief flash sale at the same price:

EVGA Geforce 1060 6G

https://www.alza.cz/evga-geforce-gtx-1060-d4373381.htm?catid=18842862

I reserved one of the EVGA cards and I have 4 days to decide if I want to buy it.

My dilemma, which card do I want?

Background. I built my pc over 8 years ago. The basic system is:
CPU: i7 930.
MB: Gigabyte X58A UD3R,
RAM 12GB 3DDR
1080p Full HD
Corsair HX750

I had an MSI R9 280x 3GB but that broke last month - 1 month after the warranty ran out 🙁

I had planned to buy the Gigabyte card because its within my budget and I've only ever had good experiences with Gigabyte. Also I was under the false impression that my system would bottle neck any 6GB cards. Plus I was non-plused how the MSI card broke within a month of the warranty ending -I have found GIgabyte to be more reliable.

I've since spoken to a friend who knows more about hardware than I do and he explained that,
1 - having a 3GB 5DDR coupled with 12GB 3DDR could cause slowdowns in the future
2 - The 1060 GPU is designed to be strong enough to deal with 6GB RAM and my CPU and RAM wouldn't be bottlenecking it. Plus the 6GB RAM would be in a better position to deal with future games in 2 or 3 years time.

This all makes sense.

I know the EVGA card has only one fan and so will be noisier.
I know it's clocked slightly lower than the Gigabyte G1
On the other hand its 6GB and performs currently slightly better.

What I don't know is how reliable EVGA are as a brand. I've never bought anything from them.

In Gigabyte, I believe it's a card that from past experience will last a few years -but it will start to underperform sooner than the 6GB EVGA (I mean that future games will run better on 6GB cards)

On the other hand even if the 6GB EVGA will perform better its worth nothing if it breaks a month after the warranty ends like my MSI did.

So what's the consensus opinion about the EVGA brand and its products? Should I get the discounted card or should I stick with Gigabyte which I have personally found to be a reliable brand?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I have owned 3 EVGA cards and all ran for a long time no issues , 750ti , GTX 770's and a 980. Were still running when I sold them.

 

[Herc08]

The 1060 SC 6GB (single fan) is not loud at all, and I don't wear headphones. I even turn down my volume while I'm playing, and I can barely here it. My desktop is on my desk, and I leaned over...could BARELY hear it. Not sure if it's the fan, or the case, but it's quiet. I do love their warranty and quality, and it is a great investment. If it is on sale, I say jump on it.

 

[Lutfij]

IF you're asking about the superior build quality, then I'd side with the Gigabyte card. It's got the dual fan design which would mean it's quieter and cooler running than the EVGA variant. I recently purchased an EVGA GTX1060 Gaming FTW+ card for a friend and if that was the card you chose, I'd have said it was far superior than any card I've seen.

To be honest the ram you currently have will not interfere with the GPU you're looking at. If there will be an interference it'll be from an incompatible UEFI BIOS environment and that your processor would be the likely bottleneck when trying to run high details at 1080p.

 

[10tacle]

Long time EVGA customer here since the GTX 2xx series. The best thing about EVGA is their customer service should you need to RMA it. Painless and fast process. My 7-year old GTX 275s are still running like champs from a 2009 Core 2 Duo gaming build. As are my five year old GTX 680s.

With that said, I think Nvidia should not have labeled the 3GB 1060 as the same series at the 6GB card. It is a lower tier card beyond the cut down memory.

 

[geofelt]

A 6gb GTX1060 is stronger than a 3gb GTX1060.
It is more than just the difference in vram.

In the USA, EVGA is perhaps considered to be the top nvidia brand for customer support, and perhaps quality.
Where you shop, I do not know.

 

[Jan_26]

Definitely EVGA... 10 years warranty as long as you register the card after buying it and quality wise I'd say it's quite ahead compared to the rest.
And that's not speaking that 1060 6GB has more performant gpu setup than 3GB version, it's not just RAM size difference.

Edit: bear in mind you must be original owner of the card to apply for extended warranty. So don't take Alza's "opened", "used" etc. pieces, those few CZK are not worth losing that good warranty.