Final words and conclusion

Final words and verdict

We very much like the Classified for what it is, a crazy weird, goofy high-end enthusiast class graphics card that oozes features and offers really solid performance. Thanks to its factory overclock it is the fastest GeForce GTX 580 available your money can buy you.

There are some minor issues I like to mention first though, so first the sour then the sweet ok ?

So the cooling, it's great looking but performance is just above the reference cooler. I expected more out of it. During overclock sessions it will perform a little better then the reference cooler though. However, here's where things take a downside, the noise level of the cooler does not sit well with me. Sure the product is factory overclocked but even so, it remains a rather audible card when that GPU is sweating in a stringent gaming workout. Now I am incredibly anal when it comes to noise though, so this might not bother you personally at all.

What I find a little harder to swallow is that when a company designs a cooler from scratch on a high performance product that is still exhausts hot air inside the PC, in term heating up other components and itself all over again, have a look at the photo below:

Do you see the top left grill just above the SLI connectors ?, my best bet is that it originally was designed to be an intake or something, but it oozes out quite a big chunk of heat. Connectors wise I'd also would have loved to see a HDMI port and not a DVI to HDMI converter. The weird looking output to the far left is a connector for EVBot (an overclock pod you can purchase), so EVGA simply ran out of space as they need the room above it for primary air exhaust.

Now please understand that this card is made and advertised as overclocking card including increased Voltage control on GPU and memory, tweakers hot-stuffz. However to date EVGA has not been able to release a software suite that supports voltage tweaking. Not even a Beta has been released.

EVGA let us know that voltage tweaking is their top priority and will be embedded through their ELeet utility. But for the time being that leaves overclockers empty handed (and their hands are itchy I bet), and due to the customized design of the card, Voltage tweaking is not supported by any other utility either.

Alternatively you can purchase an EVBot (external eVGA overclock pod) which does allow GPU voltage tweaking, but that's another 50 USD right there. And as mentioned before, if you want to flash an EVbot to make the hardware compatible with say today's tested GTX 580 Classified product, you need an actual eVGA motherboard before you can even change the firmware. Its that endless kind of stuff that will drive end-users crazy.

See this graphics card was designed for gamers who like to overclock, and overclocking wise the product does really well, but beyond that you'll be limited -- that's until EVGA has actual software ready of course.

The sweet then, features wise EVGA did well as they where able to include something new and refreshing, it's a very sexy looking card, no doubt there.

The card comes factory overclocked for you, where a regular GTX 580 has a 772 MHz base frequency and 1000 MHz (4000 effective data-rate) on the memory, EVGA brings that number up-to 855 MHz on the base clock and 4212 MHz on the memory (effective data-rate), we find that a very nice factory overclock for a card of this stature. Any modern game to date at even the highest resolutions will not be a real issue. It swallows pretty much anything.

Once you start to manually overclock you can get close to 900~925 MHz. And be aware of the fact that once the software is ready, or when you get an EVBot we can tell you this though, it would be a shame not to voltage tweak at the very least the GPU. Typically we'd set 1.15V~1.20V and take the GPU into sixth gear.

So yeah, once EVGA will have their software ready it will be time to fiddle around with the cooler RPM and Voltages, then that 950~ 1000 MHz might be a threshold you could reach, though after 900 MHz and some more GPU voltage we expect things will get increasing  difficult noise level wise. But hey, perhaps you do not care about these things.

So the final words then, the cards default performance is great, superb really, actually leading (albeit just slightly) over other competing factory-overclocked models. We like the gadgetry features, aesthetics and the overall PCB/VRM design. The card is built for a lot, but right now your overclock will be as good as the competitors dual-slot solutions.

Make no mistake though, this is a grand product to own and I honestly hope you realize how much effort EVGA put in this product.

The card won't be cheap, this 3GB model will set you back 600 USD / roughly 560 EUR. The reality is also that a reference GTX 580 is just under 450 USD, the 1.5GB version though. Whether or not the extra money is worth it to you, hey that's up -to you and nobody else. Also, if you can still find them, a dual-GPU GeForce GTX 590 won't be that far off in price yet would blow this card away in performance.

Other then a few remarks let me emphasize strongly, it is a terrific looking and performing product and a great build all by itself. We do advise eVGA to get voltage tweaking going real fast though, as this is a little silly. Well worth the mention is of course something that other manufacturers do not offer, a Limited Lifetime warranty with registration within 30 days of purchase. Worthy a recommended award, sure.

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