EVGA Step-Up Program, is it worth it?

[necrokiller]

I just wanted to know if its really worth getting an eVGA graphics card to make use of their step-up program. The reason why I ask this is simple. If you check right now at their website, you will find that the cards are actually more expensive than what you can find them for at another store/website.

Say if I had a 8800GTS 512MB for $230 + tax + shipping and after MIR from Direct Canada, (which is actually for USD $359 at their website), and I wanted to step-up to the 9800GX2 SSC for $585 + tax + shipping and after MIR, (which is for USD $620 at EVGA's website), not to mention that you pay taxes and shipping to EVGA too. So basically you miss out on all the great deals that can be found on online stores.

Wheres the advantage of doing this? Whats all the hype about? The products listed at EVGA are fixed prices Im guessing (no special offers). So the ONLY 'little' advantage that I see is not going through the process of selling the card yourself. Or is there something else im missing big time here? This is not intended against EVGA or something, my younger brother is getting a new card and I wana make sure the steup-up program is worth it because the new GTX 200 cards are just around the corner.

 

[Slayn]

If you want to do all the number crunching you can probably make more money just selling the card off of ebay/craigslist in the end. Step up is good for people who buy a new card and realize that its not good enough for them and want to just go and pay the difference instead of buying a whole new card and selling their old one. Sometimes it pays off pretty well sometimes not. Depends. For the most part you can just ebay it and probably be ahead.

 

[necrokiller]

You basically wrote the same thing again with different wordings.

If you want to do all the number crunching you can probably make more money just selling the card off of ebay/craigslist in the end.

Exactly my point.

Sometimes it pays off pretty well sometimes not. Depends.

When does it pay off well? Depends on what?

For the most part you can just ebay it and probably be ahead.

So its useless then. Atleast in my case. Ive had better experiences selling it on my own.

 

[Jayws]

Well in my case it's wonderful. I RMA'd 2 9600GT's from eVGA. The first one had a physical warp in the silicon/PCB and it was chopping up games that an 8600GT had little to no problem with. The second card started freezing my computer with a black screen under certain load scenarios. I did everything I could to troubleshoot it, including underclock it, and still had trouble.

At this point I've got a working 9600GT but it doesn't overclock one inch. I'm used to slapping a new cooler on my videocard since the 6 series and pushing a few thousand more 3dmarks out of it but this thing just wont budge more than a few hundred at best. As a result I'm going to end up stepping up to the 9800GTX because I've heard a lot better things about it and it should have performance that exceeds my demands.

Another thing to add to your reason is say that my issue with the 9600GT is widespread, good luck selling it to someone else once word gets around.

 

[jason4207]

When the new cards come out it'll be hard to find them under retail for a little while. If you want to purchase during that time sometimes buying direct from eVGA is actually cheaper.

 

[reclaimer122]

The case that this would be best in is if you buy a card close to release date. Usually prices are higher then. For example, I paid $360 for my 8800GTS on NewEgg when they first came out. When the 9800GTX came out, they were selling for $340. That was a free step-up for me, I just had to pay a little under $8.00 for shipping. In that case, step-up was excellent. I got a brand new card for the cost of shipping, basically.

 

[ratbuddy]

Worked great for me as well. I paid $300 for an 8800GT from Newegg back in December. By the time the 9800GX2 came out, the 8800GT could be found for under $175, and if I sold the thing I would have gotten $150 or less for it. With step up, I was able to get the GX2 for $300 more, where if I sold the old card I would have had to pay $450 or so not including the proceeds from selling the old card.

I'd say step up is a good idea if you are planning to go with a new high end card that's likely to sell for the same price from EVGA as it does from normal etailers. GTX 280 is supposed to be $650, and I doubt it'll sell for much less than that in the first couple months. You'd be insane to buy a 9800GX2 right now from a vendor with no step up program, simply because the values are going to go down so much when the new cards release in a few weeks. Assuming the new GTX series performs better, of course.

With heavily discounted cards like the 9600GT/8800GT/8800GTS, step up probably isn't worth considering in the purchase decision due to the factors you mentioned..