Step 1: Tuesday, Jan 5, 2021, 12:20 AM EST.

I bring this thread back to life!

Step 1:  Jan 3 2021 9:18am EST.

I wasn't even aware that EVGA did this program until I emailed support and asked if there was a way to exchange my, then, about 2 week old 2060S and the rep that responded told me about the program. I also have only owned 2 EVGA graphics cards, that I can recall, and if I had know about the program before buying the 2060S I would have attempted a step-up with the old 760 I have from my old build and saved the money I spent on the 1660S that replaced that one and then the 2060S that replaced that one, lol.

well, hopefully with Samsung's help we won't have to wait the whole year for one

I think you did it fine. You can only upgrade cards within 90 days of purchase so you basically just put a down payment and relative peace of mind that you have a card and don't have to sell it for extra money to buy a new card that is unpredictable to get. You might wait longer but you have a decent card and will get an even better one soon.

KevinDontDance
And I'm sure there are a LOT of people who are on this queue that didn't add their name to the list. I just looked at the 3080 list and DAMN, that's a lot of people! Hopefully ours won't be as full as theirs, obviously since the 3060 began last month, there would be less, but still. Yikes! It ain't doing us any good to check every single day but I can't not. I must know! It's fun to have something to look forward to, even if it's a mysterious "Who knows when?" sorta thing. But also, yes, hopefully it isn't a year long wait. How is Samsung helping, by the way? 

Sorry to make you do work Kevin, but I can't post the link for the article. Google "nvidia gets help from samsung" and find the article from Tech Radar, it might be on top and if not just add tech radar to the search field. There is no mention of the 3060s nor the possible Super variants but if Samsung helps with making the 3070s-3090s I have a good inclination that Nvidia can make the other cards.
 
I did recently learn of how at least some of the cards are determined from the *50/60s to *80s. If the GPU itself has some defects but can still be used as a lower variant, i.e. they made an entire wafer of 3090s but some had a crack or whatever, they can either laser-kill-off the cores that don't work or program the bios to not use those dead cores and then use that GPU as a 3070 or 3060 depending on how many cores are still usable.
 
After doing some research on my 2060S I found out that it was most likely produced with a batch of 2070s, not supers, but had some bad cores. There were enough for the GPU to pass as a 2060 so they saved time and money by, somehow, getting the GPU to only recognize the like 2000 cores that a 2060 has tied with the 8GB of RAM and then sold it.

KevinDontDance
I'm just approaching this whole thing as an eventuality. I know it's not coming to me any time soon, I have a GPU that will do just fine until I get it. I didn't even know about this program until someone at EVGA told me about it. I see lots of people buying stuff and then stepping up, like they bought the original item just to get it stepped up to something else. That's a lot more torturous to go through, and I know it sucks to be a minute off of everyone else who got one already, but...this isn't something they have to do. It's an appreciation towards us, their consumers, even if it takes months. I dunno. I understand frustrations but it's all in how you approach the situation.

I just find it amazing how its down to the minute on who gets the step 2 email.  I am curious on how many people are actually on this queue besides who responded to the thread.  I am going to hazard a guess that it is probably not too many and they only rope off a select few cards each shipment for this. There are a ton of hoops to jump through just to get here. 
 
For one, its not publicly advertised.  I only found it because of a person recommended me do it on a forum as i had just purchased my 2060, and 2 weeks later the 3060ti dropped.  I had no idea that was going to do that. It's irritating buying a card and then the next moment the new one comes out. They don't announce release dates in advance so you have no legit way of knowing besides speculation, forum mumblings and maybe true leaks. 
 
Even if you get a evga card, how many people actually register their products?  I assume many just get them and go on with their day.  If you do register your card then the step-up only shows on the products page, it doesn't show in the confirmation, so you need to A. Know about this or B. See a button called step up and be curious enough to check the details. 
Only the hardcore of the hardcore are going to know about this.  And frankly that's probably a good thing.
 
I am doing fine with the 2060 sc ultra gaming, so the wait is way better than not having a card and waiting in line . Card runs super quiet and cool. It never goes over 65c even on load.  It makes my Ryzen 5 3600 look like a space heater with its 71c on full.  It plays all my games at ultra settings at 1080p (which is what my 27in monitor is @144hz) and it is consistently over 60 outside of a few titles. Notably cyberpunk 2077, where with dlss on balanced and full on all ray tracing enabled at ultra i am getting between 40 to 65 fps depending on area.  
 
The 3060ti should double that from what I seen on benchmarks, so it will be a nice bump over all.  I just got to be thankful i purchased the 2060 when i did. They were sold out 1 day later everywhere, and now it seems all cards outside of 1050ti or lower are sold out too.  Its also nice to have a backup card for when we do get the email and send in the card (have a 1650 super that will tide me over during the shipping wait).
 
Anyway I hope this shortage of cards doesn't mean we are waiting till summer or beyond for this, and that the stock goes up so everyone can experience greatness that these cards provide.
 
 
 
 

Honestly given this hasn't moved since the first week I'm not super motivated to keep it updated. If you want to copy the list and update it ill edit my original post tho

thanks for your help! just updated the post

Feels like these are going to sit unfulfilled until mid-April...

yeah disappointing how slow this moved. Being that i was 4 minutes after the opening bell I thought for sure I'd have mine by now... 

We are alive!!
 
Step 1: Dec 2, 9:07 AM
Step 2: Jan 26, 1:00 PM

Step 1: Dec 2, 9:04 AM PST
Step 2: Jan 26, 1:00 PM PST (4pm EST)!
 
Update
Step 3: Jan 27, 3:22 PM PST
Step 4: Jan 27, 3:45 PM PST
Step 5: Jan 28, 9:03 AM PST.

Got my Step 2 email as well!!! Jan 26, 1:00 PM PST

Anybody get a Step 3? Those had been coming within hours of Step 2 on other cards, but it looks like they gave out Step 2 emails to nearly 5 hours worth of sign ups vs only 2-3 minutes on launch day.