How We Lost The BEST GPU Company

追加: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]EVGA wasn't just another company that makes GPUs. They were arguably the most beloved GPU company in PC gaming history. And honestly, that's not even an exaggeration. If you were building a PC in 2000s or in 2010s, EVGA was basically the dream brand. People trusted EVGA the same way people trust Honda or Toyota. You just knew they have your back. Why are they so loved, you might ask? Simple. EVGA had an absolutely legendary customer support.

[00:00:28]And I don't mean good for a tech company. No, I mean genuinely insane levels of support. Take this Reddit story, for example. The guy bought a used GTX 1080 Ti. The card was already out of warranty, and the guy who sold it to him apparently had overheating issues. So, after buying it, it overheats and dies. At that point, companies would hit you with the classic, "Sorry, we can't help. No proof of purchase. Out of warranty. Not our problem." But EVGA, they accepted the RMA anyway. And when they sent him a replacement, they sent him an RTX 2070.

[00:01:06]Not just a replacement, they upgraded his GPU for absolutely free. And the craziest part, the guy didn't even have the required documents for this RMA, and he still got a free GPU. That's the type of thing that creates lifelong fans.

[00:01:22]Because EVGA didn't treat customers like just an order number, they treated customers like actual human beings. And stories like this can be found on YouTube comments and Reddit and in forums. You can find stories like this everywhere. That's how EVGA built almost a cult-like reputation amongst gamers.

[00:01:42]But it wasn't just support, either.

[00:01:44]Their GPUs themselves were absolutely amazing. EVGA cards were known for having excellent cooling, great build quality, and some of the best overclocking potential ever. And EVGA took overclocking and squeezing performance out of a GPU very seriously.

[00:02:02]So seriously that they hired Kingpin himself, one of the most legendary overclockers ever. The guy was breaking records with liquid nitrogen while normal people were just trying to slightly do some changes to their cards.

[00:02:17]Kingpin was doing crazy numbers with overclocking. And EVGA partnered with Kingpin to create the Kingpin GPU series. These cards were absolute monsters, massive coolers, insane power delivery. Take this picture for an example. Three eight-pin power. It's insane. Built specifically for enthusiasts who wanted to squeeze every bit of performance out of their GPUs.

[00:02:44]And people loved the Kingpin series.

[00:02:47]Owning a Kingpin GPU was basically a flex in the gaming PC community. It was the type of GPU you would just >> [music] >> stare at instead of actually using.

[00:02:57]That's how beautiful the cards were. So, with all this goodwill and all this reputation, all the customer loyalty, and the massive fan base, what on green Earth could possibly stop EVGA from making GPUs? [music] The answer is one word, Nvidia themselves.

[00:03:14]>> Nvidia has been the single worst company we've ever [music] dealt with. So, Nvidia, [ __ ] you. That guy was Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. Now, imagine this. If this guy, Linus Torvalds, hated dealing with Nvidia this much, imagine how horrible it must have been for EVGA. Because unlike Linus, EVGA's entire GPU business depended on Nvidia. They were partners, [music] or at least they were supposed to be partners. But over time, Nvidia started treating partners horribly, especially EVGA for some reason. And things completely exploded [music] around 2022. So, picture this. EVGA is just chilling, business as usual, probably expecting Nvidia to communicate the details about the upcoming RTX 4000 series. You know, important details, GPU specifications, power targets, MSRP pricing, and other critical information that EVGA must know in order to design the cooling system, the PCBs, and other things that they add to the GPU. And suddenly, out of nowhere, boom, Nvidia decided to announce the 4000 series to the general public. And EVGA was like, "What the fuck?" According to reports, Nvidia gave EVGA no useful information about the RTX 4000 series. They were as shocked as me and you, the general public. Just think about how insane that is. How are EVGA engineers supposed to design coolers and PCBs, and power delivery systems, and, you know, prepare stock, and do all of that business work in literally no time. The cards were released to the general public. That is not a partnership. That's chaos. But somehow, Nvidia still wasn't done, because then they decided to compete directly with EVGA and other partners like MSI and Gigabyte by making their own Founders Edition cheaper than third-party GPUs like EVGA and MSI. What is wrong with you, Nvidia? And this completely destroyed the economics [music] for board partners. So, EVGA had two options. You can either price your GPUs at the same price of the Founders Edition and lose hundreds of dollars for each GPU you sell, or you can price them higher, and then no one would buy from you, and you're also going to damage your reputation. EVGA chose to lose money rather than hurt their reputation.

[00:05:50]And for certain GPUs that they sold, they were losing hundreds of dollars for every single GPU. Just think about how insane this is. You manufacture the card, you build the cooling for it, you pay for shipping, you handle warranties, you hire support staff, you take all the risk and all the business stuff, and then the company supplying you with GPUs decides to undercut you.

[00:06:16]That's like opening a pizza shop and the guy who's selling you dough decides to open a pizza shop and starts undercutting you. Like that's the What What is wrong with you, Nvidia? How are you supposed to survive that?

[00:06:28]Eventually, though, EVGA hit their limits. They were done. The RTX 4000 series was the final straw. After years of poor communication, shrinking margins, and getting squeezed by Nvidia, EVGA was just done. So, in 2022, EVGA announced that they were leaving the GPU market entirely. [music] No RTX 4000 cards, no future Nvidia GPUs, nothing. [music] And the entire tech world lost its mind.

[00:06:56]Tech YouTubers were covering the story.

[00:06:59]PC enthusiasts were furious at Nvidia.

[00:07:01][music] And a massive amount of blame went to Nvidia, as they deserved, to be honest, because people didn't just lose another GPU manufacturer, they were losing arguably the best one. The company [music] who actually cared about customers. The company that stood behind its products. The company who [music] promised crazy warranties and they actually cared and stuck to their words and promises. [music] The company who replaced dead GPUs with newer models just to help somebody [music] out there.

[00:07:32]And honestly, that's why EVGA disappearing hurts so deeply as a tech enthusiast. Not because they had the highest market share, not because they made the most money, but because they made the PC community feel like somebody actually cared about you as a customer.

[00:07:47][music] Now, to be fair, EVGA didn't completely disappear. They only left the GPU market. They still make amazing power supplies, motherboards, and other PC hardware. In fact, their power supplies are considered [music] to be one of the best power supplies on the market, but sadly, Kingpin left them and partnered with PNY, and EVGA's line of motherboard has vanished, and it looks like EVGA is slowly fading away into nostalgia, which is just very sad, to be honest. A lot of PC gamers still miss EVGA to this day, [music] and researching this video made me fall in love with EVGA, and I wish they somehow [music] come back to make maybe Radeon GPUs or Intel GPUs. Sorry for being too emotional. This is just This is just really annoying. I love EVGA, and I It's just so annoying. I I got emotional cuz this kind [music] of touched me, actually. I didn't enjoy writing this story. It was painful to write. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe for more, and check out this video where I talk about tech fails that ended companies. And EVGA, you may rest in peace.