EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB

Over the past several months, EVGA has produced multiple GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB SKUs. On the high-end, EVGA once offered their factory OC’ed e-GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB SSC. This card was produced for a limited time and ran at a whopping 700MHz on the GPU. Unfortunately, the SSC is no longer available for sale however as it obviously competes too closely with the GeForce 9800 GTX in terms of performance. Instead EVGA is focusing on the e-GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB. The card runs at the stock GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB reference specifications of 650MHz GPU/970MHz memory and is the card we’re reviewing today.

We’ve been told by EVGA that they’re focusing mainly on the stock e-GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB card but EVGA also manufactured a 675MHz e-GeForce 8800 GTS KO board. We’re using past tense here because EVGA no longer produces these factory OC’ed GeForce 8800 GTS cards. Like the SSC card, we’ve been told that production of these cards was stopped in order to make room for the 9800 GTX.

So what sets the e-GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB apart from other GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB cards? Since the card is essentially a replica of NVIDIA’s reference board design, the card’s main selling points are the same characteristics that have made EVGA’s cards so popular for years now.

One of EVGA’s most popular selling points has been their trade-in program. Dubbed Step Up, the program allows EVGA card owners to trade in their existing graphics card to a faster model. With Step Up, you’ll get the full value of your original graphics card, so if you paid $300 for your old card and you want to upgrade to a $500 card, you merely pay the difference of $200.

With NVIDIA rumored to be debuting their upcoming GT200 GPU sometime next month, Step Up could conceivably be used to upgrade from one of today’s GeForce 8800 GT or GTS cards to GT200. The only rules to Step Up are that it can only be used once, and the upgrade must occur within 90 days of the original card purchase.


EVGA is also famous for their lifetime warranty. EVGA warrants the card from defects for life, so if anything ever goes wrong with the card, EVGA promises to repair or replace the card. The really sweet part about EVGA’s lifetime warranty is that you can’t void the warranty by modding your card. Say for instance you decide to replace the stock EVGA cooler with an aftermarket cooler from Arctic Cooling or Zalman. Most manufacturers will void your warranty the moment you make any changes to the card, but with EVGA’s warranty policy you’re covered as long as you don’t physically damage the card or any of its components.

One important aspect to remember about EVGA’s warranty is that the card must be registered with EVGA before the warranty kicks in. If the card is never registered, EVGA’s warranty coverage is limited to just one year.

EVGA ships the card with two DVI adapters, a component video cable, power cable, and S-Video cable.