EVGA details changes in its European operations

There has been large changes in EVGA's European team, and behind the scenes there have been a lot of political wranglings and we can confirm that Managing Director, Hans-Wolfram Tismer, has left the company, although EVGA wouldn't comment on the terms on his leaving.

In a very brief chat we had with Tismer the day before our meeting EVGA, he also didn't mention his leaving, only that 'things were not good' when asked, and his particularly sour expression said the rest. Tismer previously worked for Gainward and successfully introduced the Golden Sample program of graphics cards, before the company was bought by Chinese manufacturer Palit, and he left to go to EVGA.

He is replaced by Gregor Perng, who takes the position Special Assistant to EVGA CEO Andrew Han. Mr Perng is an Ex-Director of Cooler Master Europe and Deputy MD at Leadtek before that. This process has actually been in the background for the last year, since Mr. Perng joined EVGA Europe, and with two men at the top it was only a matter of time before something had to give.

There has also been significant changes further down the European team, with several people we know well recently moving into the company, who also told us of a raft of 'long overdue updates' coming this year:

• EVGA is attempting to replicate its famous 90 day Step-Up program in Europe too, and the European guys will be visiting the US office to see how they manage the logistics. The Step-Up program allows certain customers to upgrade certain EVGA motherboards and graphics cards to faster models - see the site for more details.
  
  
• EVGA has recently started European forums, firstly in English and later in other languages. EVGA stated that it's actively looking to recruit its community members who have a passion and knowledge of EVGA products for paid work answering tech-support queries. If you're going to commit and post on a forum everyday, why not get paid for it? We're unsure when or how the selection process will start, so keep an eye on the EVGA Europe website for more details.
  
  
• EVGA stated that it will also be offering virtual dollars (or Euros, we suppose) for its forum members that can be redeemed for EVGA hardware. It will be monitored by the forum moderators that will award people 'blue ribbons' for good support and community contributions.
  
  
• EVGA is also about to launch a series of gaming tournaments in Europe, starting in July - we'll get back to you with more details when we know them, or you keep an eye on the EVGA Europe website for more details.
  
  
• After meeting with EVGA it only appears committed to its motherboard division, although an industry source tells us that a couple of people have recently left this department.
  
  
• In related news, EVGA has just invested in a case built by Cooler Master specifically for its Classified SR-2 motherboard, that is loosely based around the ATCS 840, but will carry EVGA branding. It also adds an external overclocking dongle called the EVBot to its existing motherboard products. This plugs into the rear I/O of compatible motherboards and allows on-the-fly voltage and frequency changes, as well as temperature readouts.
  
  We questioned EVGA about whether it could get a return of investment in its SR-2, as a $600 dual-CPU Xeon motherboard isn't a fit for many people. EVGA explained that the demand for its SR-2 was mostly from workstation and professional users rather than overclockers, and that its development cost was worth it. It has also borrowed Antec to make it a 1,200W PSU for the board.
  
  
• EVGA submitted a press release after our meeting about the situation, which you can read here.

In other news, EVGA will upgrade any customer of GeForce GTX 470 or GTX 480 and send them a replacement high-airflow bracket and vented backplate for them to convert their existing cards. EVGA claims that the modification can result in a 7°C temperature drop (5°C via bracket, 2°C via backplate), meaning a quieter stock cooler or more overclocking headroom. Realistically this isn't a massive difference, but EVGA stated that it is '99 per cent certain it will do this for free', so we can't complain.

Addendum 4th June 2010: EVGA contacted us to correct that while the bracket and backplate will be free, p&p will have to be paid for.

All good news? Or do you spot overly-optimistic holes? Let us know your thoughts, in the forums.