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GTX 970 PCB's compared!!!! Pic's. EVGA fails..

Tags:
  • EVGA
  • Gaming
  • Computers
  • Gigabyte
  • Gtx
  • MSI
  • Graphics
  • Asus
  • Graphics Cards
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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September 24, 2014 7:21:23 PM

I recently got the EVGA GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 and it was pretty loud. I returned it and got the ASUS STRIX version coming. The main problem I had with the EVGA version was how junky the PCB board was. I looked up pictures of the 4 major brands PCB's for the 970 and sure enough, EVGA's looks like shit. Way worse components in my opinion. Seems kind of sad coming from EVGA. MSI's looks the best imo. I just got the ASUS because it had a backplate. I can't recommend EVGA this time. Here is a picture I combined of the 4 PCB's...

More about : gtx 970 pcb compared pic evga fails

a b 4 Gaming
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a c 207 U Graphics card
September 24, 2014 7:40:27 PM

How is that EVGA board "junky"?

Do you even know what makes a good component versus a bad one or are you just spouting nonsense?

They all seem to be using pretty much the same components, slightly different layouts, if anything i'd say the EVGA board is a better design, they managed to pack everything tighter so the card doesn't have to be ridiculously long.
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a b U Graphics card
September 24, 2014 7:49:10 PM

hunter315 said:
How is that EVGA board "junky"?

Do you even know what makes a good component versus a bad one or are you just spouting nonsense?

They all seem to be using pretty much the same components, slightly different layouts, if anything i'd say the EVGA board is a better design, they managed to pack everything tighter so the card doesn't have to be ridiculously long.


agreed, because it has pinkish components it looks cheaper? You need more to back your claims, like information on where caps came from etc.
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a b U Graphics card
September 24, 2014 8:07:19 PM

bignastyid said:
Evga's problem with the 970 isn't so much the PCB but the fact the ACX cooler is misaligned so it doesn't cool properly.
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/evga-geforce-gtx-970-a...


EVGA's official response.

Quote:
"The way the EVGA GTX 970 ACX heat sink was designed is based on the GTX 970 wattage plus an additional 40% cooling headroom on top of it. There are 3 heat pipes on the heatsink – 2 x 8mm major heat pipes to distribute the majority of the heat from the GPU to the heatsink, and a 3rd 6mm heatpipe is used as a supplement to the design to reduce another 2-3 degrees Celsius. Also we would like to mention that the cooler passed NVIDIA Greenlight specifications.

Due to the GPU small die size, we intended for the GPU to contact two major heat pipes with direct touch to make the best heat dissipation without any other material in between.

We all know the Maxwell GPU is an extremely power efficient GPU, our SC cooler was overbuilt for it and allowed us to provide cards with boost clocks at over 1300MHz. EVGA also has an “FTW” version for those users who want even higher clocks.

Regarding fan noise, we understand that some have expressed concerns over the fan noise on the EVGA GTX 970 cards, this is not a fan noise issue but it is more of an aggressive fan curve set by the default BIOS. The fan curve can be easily adjusted in EVGA PrecisionX or any other overclocking software. Regardless, we have heard the concerns and will provide a BIOS update to reduce the fan noise during idle.

Thanks,
EVGA"


Pretty much talking their way out of it. I mean, it works ok even with the weird alignment. Someone brought up the fact that it might be built for 980 and not the 970. I haven't even looked into the new cards though so I'm not sure if that's reasonable.
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September 24, 2014 9:31:14 PM

I back up my claims by the fact that I have had all these Card brands in the past and EVGAs board this time is the only one that physically wasn't built as well. (I.e. Alloys, soldering etc.) I am not the only one to have noticed this. Also, note that I actually had this card in my possession and can testify that it felt cheap. also, it is well know how that the fans are loud and heat sink sucks.
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September 24, 2014 10:31:19 PM

Huh my EVGA GTX-970 runs quiet and plays all my games just fine... guess I'm not to worried about how it feels in my hands when it plays my games with ease.
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a b 4 Gaming
a b Ĉ ASUS
a b U Graphics card
September 24, 2014 11:02:27 PM

Laytonoid said:
I recently got the EVGA GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 and it was pretty loud. I returned it and got the ASUS STRIX version coming. The main problem I had with the EVGA version was how junky the PCB board was. I looked up pictures of the 4 major brands PCB's for the 970 and sure enough, EVGA's looks like shit. Way worse components in my opinion. Seems kind of sad coming from EVGA. MSI's looks the best imo. I just got the ASUS because it had a backplate. I can't recommend EVGA this time. Here is a picture I combined of the 4 PCB's...


Just to note, the EVGA PCB you have in your picture is not the one you had in your card; it's the short form PCB used with the blower coolers. The ACX cards, like the one you had, use a longer PCB - this one to be precise:

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September 25, 2014 5:46:32 AM

LOL. That PCB is even worse. Look at that shoddy craftsmanship. Your right. That is the correct PCB for the ACX coolers.
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a b 4 Gaming
a b Ĉ ASUS
a c 75 U Graphics card
September 25, 2014 5:55:44 AM

Whats shoddy about the craftsmanship?

I have been hearing about the EVGA versions suffering from coil whine.
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a b U Graphics card
September 25, 2014 6:03:34 AM

uhm they have some components that're misaligned (sarcasm). lol.
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a b 4 Gaming
a c 89 U Graphics card
September 25, 2014 6:04:59 AM

RobCrezz said:
Whats shoddy about the craftsmanship?

well for example the solder hasn't really wetted the pads properly on the pcie power plugs, so much copper showing. They have propably chosen boards with OSP coating and rather poor one at that...
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September 25, 2014 6:05:56 AM

In comparison to the MSI, ASUS and GIGABYTE PCB's I should say.
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September 25, 2014 6:13:05 AM

I am not hating on EVGA here. I normally buy EVGA actually. It just looks like EVGA has nothing to offer over the other brands and I wanted to point that out. EVGA card also has 4+2 phase vs Asus and MSI which appears to have an 8 phase. The cooler is 5C hotter +/-. It's fans run considerably louder. No backplate unlike Gigabyte and Asus versions. Components are misaligned and/or not as good of quality. Some of the other brands have passive cooling which is suppose to be awesome. Heatsink is not properly placed and 1 pipe is not touching at all.

Note that I am not the only person that has found these issues. It looks to be hit and miss for some of these but EVGA came out and replied to these claims and basically said it was "normal" which is just their way of going around it.
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a b 4 Gaming
a b Ĉ ASUS
a c 207 U Graphics card
September 25, 2014 2:29:47 PM

Kari said:
RobCrezz said:
Whats shoddy about the craftsmanship?

well for example the solder hasn't really wetted the pads properly on the pcie power plugs, so much copper showing. They have propably chosen boards with OSP coating and rather poor one at that...


The PCI-e power plugs were liked waved so the lack of solder on the topside isn't a significant concern. They appear to have gotten 100% hole fill on them which is far more than the industry standards require.

The orangish coloring on the remaining copper means its OSP rather than ENIG, but OSP works just fine for SMT which is 95% of that PCB, it just sucks to hand solder onto later, but if you don't hand solder it doesn't really matter.


@Laytonoid - you keep saying stuff like "Components are misaligned and/or not as good of quality." Start putting up or shutting up
Which components are misaligned? Which components are of not as good of quality? If you can highlight them on the board or point to a source that can go sit in the corner and stop spreading FUD.
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September 25, 2014 3:07:52 PM

Use google
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a b 4 Gaming
a b Ĉ ASUS
a c 207 U Graphics card
September 25, 2014 3:41:54 PM

Laytonoid said:
Use google


Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt it is then! If you wish to spread FUD please go elsewhere.
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September 25, 2014 4:10:00 PM

Dude, EVGA even responded to these complaints. All you have to do is type it into Google and you will see a number of people with issues or go look at reviews from people and critics. Even if you don't go to google, you can clearly see on the PCB of the EVGA that it is not as high of quality as the others. Even people that know nothing about the PCB can see that. Use your eyes. Your fear, uncertainty and doubt will be gone once you use google.
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September 25, 2014 6:54:09 PM

hunter315 said:
@Laytonoid - you keep saying stuff like "Components are misaligned and/or not as good of quality." Start putting up or shutting up
Which components are misaligned? Which components are of not as good of quality? If you can highlight them on the board or point to a source that can go sit in the corner and stop spreading FUD.


i'm no electric engineer so i can't comment on the misaligning or poor craftsman ship. but, the EVGA card has a crap cooler. one of the 3 heat pipes doesn't even touch the GPU making 1/3 of the cooler useless. the fans are junk too. EVGA tried to pass the blame on the BIOS saying that they spin too fast or something along those lines. but that's a load of BS. in every review i've seen so far the EVGA cards run at least 10% hotter under load while ALSO being louder. if they tune the fans down in the BIOS like they said they would the damn thing will be even hotter than that.

the EVGA card uses a 4+1 phase power delivery. 4 for GPU, 1 for memory. 5 total. the asus card uses 6 phases while the MSI uses 8 phases (6+2). not too sure about the gigabyte card. also, the chokes on the EVGA card are lower quality than the ones on the MSI, ASUS and Gigabyte cards.

i'm really disappointed about this. my previous cards (2x GTX 470, 2x GTX 570, 2x GTX 680, 2x GTX 770) were all form EVGA and I loved them all. i had ordered 2 EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX from newegg. i installed only 1 of them just to test out what i've read in read in reviews. mine made an annoying coil whine even when i was just watching youtube videos. ended up sending both back and got 2 MSI cards. my current MSI GTX 970 Gaming cards both overclock to 1500MHz+ without any problems and are dead silent. no coil whine. no fan noise. just pure overclocking bliss.
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September 25, 2014 8:04:18 PM

"Evga's problem with the 970 isn't so much the PCB but the fact the ACX cooler is misaligned so it doesn't cool properly.
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/evga-geforce-gtx-970-a..."

I thought it looked misaligned at first too, but it's not. Look at the pic closer and you will see a faint square edge where the GPU chip rests centered over the 8mm pipes. It's just that EVGA plastered on so much TIM, and without it even being centered on the chip, that it got pushed to one side, creating an illusion.

The problem with it's cooling is the cooler itself, not it's alignment. It's not even made for that GPU/card. It's very misleading that EVGA in their damage control about it on their forum claim it's "overbuilt for the 970".
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September 25, 2014 9:42:16 PM

I have used EVGA's GTX's every since i owned a gaming PC tower and never had one issue.
The only issue i ever had with a GPU was a ASUS 7970 matrix that i was told to try in place of evga,this was right before
the GTX 780ti supeclocked i own right now is the best card i ever owned and there is NOTHING shoddy about it.
EVGA is my go to brand regardless of your opinion which is nothing but a opinion and we all know what opinions are like, have a nice day! goodbye
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September 25, 2014 11:00:51 PM

ERIC J said:
I have used EVGA's GTX's every since i owned a gaming PC tower and never had one issue.
The only issue i ever had with a GPU was a ASUS 7970 matrix that i was told to try in place of evga,this was right before
the GTX 780ti supeclocked i own right now is the best card i ever owned and there is NOTHING shoddy about it.
EVGA is my go to brand regardless of your opinion which is nothing but a opinion and we all know what opinions are like, have a nice day! goodbye



Yeah I almost always used evga too until I learned about this stuff. Look at reviews from other customers and they say the same thing. Your 780ti is irrelevant. We are talking about the new cards.
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September 25, 2014 11:08:33 PM

ERIC J said:
I have used EVGA's GTX's every since i owned a gaming PC tower and never had one issue.
The only issue i ever had with a GPU was a ASUS 7970 matrix that i was told to try in place of evga,this was right before
the GTX 780ti supeclocked i own right now is the best card i ever owned and there is NOTHING shoddy about it.
EVGA is my go to brand regardless of your opinion which is nothing but a opinion and we all know what opinions are like, have a nice day! goodbye


and that's exactly the sort of mindless following EVGA was hoping for. truth be told, EVGA's GTX 970 cards aren't bad. even though they have like 9 versions of the GTX 970 they are all usable. but when compared to the competition they simply not worth buying. the problem is that EVGA decided to cut corners with this card like they have been doing with their last 2 generations of intel motherboards and it's unacceptable.
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September 26, 2014 9:16:45 AM

Yeah. That is the point I was trying to make. Not that evga won't work and doesnt work but that the compotition really makes the evga offering look bad.
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September 26, 2014 11:12:27 AM

Mine is still running quiet and cool...Happy gaming all!
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September 27, 2014 4:05:54 AM

I don't doubt the quality of EVGA's chips, after all, they're an exclusive Nvidia manufacturer and can get good binning based on that alone. What I find odd is their having held out so long on non ref coolers, and they insist on slapping on ones that aren't even made for the 970, and green lighting a 73c load result, which is open test bench, more like 78c in a closed case.

That is just half ass if you ask me for an exclusive Nvidia partner. The Giga may cost $40 more, but it has a full backplate, an alu shround, and 13c cooler temps at the same noise level, and I'd say the OC results are worth it and prove that Giga's GPU Gauntlet Sorting and superior cooling assure the best results available.
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September 30, 2014 6:11:05 PM

Laytonoid said:
LOL. That PCB is even worse. Look at that shoddy craftsmanship. Your right. That is the correct PCB for the ACX coolers.


And I suppose you could do better, correct?

Just saying.
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September 30, 2014 6:17:42 PM

BTW, Giga just announced a slightly lesser clocked version of the 970 for $350. Only difference is it's clocked at 1114 vs 1178.
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