Seems like they could be. Not sure if they're feeling the pressure of the recession or buckling from their once great RMA system. But the following has put me off from using them for a while.
Just hope my graphics card doesn't die now.
Here are a few quotes from the past few weeks where people are basically being screwed out of a replacement by EVGA.
Next person from the same thread.
New thread from a couple of days ago.
Pretty much everybody on OcUK has moved to BFG. Think i'll be doing the same if my next card is Nvidia. There will no doubt be more EVGA horror stories in the next few days if the last few weeks are anything to go by.
Just hope my graphics card doesn't die now.
Here are a few quotes from the past few weeks where people are basically being screwed out of a replacement by EVGA.
Hi all
My 8800gtx died few weeks ago, RMA?d it to Germany and yesterday after 2 long weeks I got the delivery.
When I open the box I realized that my very same 8800GTX was in it.
Then I read the following written on the invoice:
"The GPU died due to blocked cooling fans bla bla bla....too much fluffs inside....
A blocked cooler is not covered by warranty"
Thats it, 2 long weeks and my very expencive card (bought from here of course) is dead and I will not get a replacement,nothing.
And the only reason why I choose EVGA was for the 10 years warranty we get here in Europe, 10years of warranty that covers almost everithing (overclocking/ change of cooler ect) exept dust, fricking dust, is this possible?
I mean, i have a fulltower case, few fans, vaacum clean it regurarly, check temps for GPU, RAM, CPU ect all the times, and never has something failed me for dust, altrough, who doesnt have dust in their cases?. If I only knew, I could have opened the cooler, clean it before sending it to Germany....
Anyways, I posted this in the EVGA forum, waiting to see if anyone can help me. But, does any of you guys ever has had a symilar issue before or is this normal?
Thanks for reading
My 8800gtx died few weeks ago, RMA?d it to Germany and yesterday after 2 long weeks I got the delivery.
When I open the box I realized that my very same 8800GTX was in it.
Then I read the following written on the invoice:
"The GPU died due to blocked cooling fans bla bla bla....too much fluffs inside....
A blocked cooler is not covered by warranty"
Thats it, 2 long weeks and my very expencive card (bought from here of course) is dead and I will not get a replacement,nothing.
And the only reason why I choose EVGA was for the 10 years warranty we get here in Europe, 10years of warranty that covers almost everithing (overclocking/ change of cooler ect) exept dust, fricking dust, is this possible?
I mean, i have a fulltower case, few fans, vaacum clean it regurarly, check temps for GPU, RAM, CPU ect all the times, and never has something failed me for dust, altrough, who doesnt have dust in their cases?. If I only knew, I could have opened the cooler, clean it before sending it to Germany....
Anyways, I posted this in the EVGA forum, waiting to see if anyone can help me. But, does any of you guys ever has had a symilar issue before or is this normal?
Thanks for reading
When i got the card back, I took the dust away (tired it once again, but its just dead), but honestly, it wasnt as horrible as it sounds, this is why i sent it that way, also I monitor all my temps, and they were never too high.
I am pretty sure they didnt touch the card at all, they saw the dust and sent it back just in the same conditions as when I sent it to them.
I am pretty sure they didnt touch the card at all, they saw the dust and sent it back just in the same conditions as when I sent it to them.
Well guys, here it is, some updates worth reading, i think:
I made a post on the evga forum and 2 customer service have replied to me, but they made me understand that they have no infulence whatsoever with the european branch (but I hope I am wrong).
I hope you guys can have the time to read below, as I am gonna copy and paste my email conversation with evga Europe, a person whos name is Peter Tersluisen who?s one of the bosses in Germany.
Now, I sent my faulty card to them without taking the dust off the fan, I know, my mistake, then I got the card back 2 weeks later in the same state: same amount dust, still not working.
I got rid of the dust, put the card back in, start the PC, and the card is still alive (as it was when I sent it), fan spins, temps seems as good as usual...but when i try a 3d app, it crashes, PC freezez ect ect, the card works ok if you just surf the net.....
Ok here it is, my conversation with the boss in Germany:
"So you are saying the fan motor burned? And you removed dust with compressor? Then WHY did I get the card with the same amount of dust I sent to you if you removed the dust???????
And last i checked, the fan still worked, I did try the card when i got it back and the fan still works!!!!!!!!!!!! You obviously didnt notice that the card works fine unless you are trying to do some heavy stuff, otherwise for normal internet usage, the card is far from dead, specially the fan motor!
God this is ****ing me off very much. Look, if you think I understand nothing about PC?s and electronic components, then think again
From: Peter Tersluisen
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 5:55 PM
To: 'F. Sgar
Subject: AW: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: xx88314303988
Of course we did, else we would not have reallized that the fan was stuck. Even removing dudt with the compressor would not help, as the fan-motot burnt out.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Von: F. Sgar
Gesendet: Freitag, 17. April 2009 16:41
An: Peter Tersluisen
Cc: v_Jeremey Place; Kyle Sabine
Betreff: Re: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: xx88314303988
It?s easy to point to section 3.3
The only thing I have neglected was not taking the dust off the fan before I sent the card, I really really think you did not even try the card out,
you saw the dust and sent it back assuming it died because of the dust blocking the cooling system! Are you are expecting people to open the cooler and clean it inside out just to avoid things like your section 3.3??
I can however tell you that the dust didn?t kill the card, I would have noticed it as the temperatures of the card never reached high degrees, even under load, and I know this because I use an LCD keyboard and I monitor all my temps.
So, here it is, you made your point (took you quite sometime though), I made mine, I lose (the customer) you win, just great!!!!
Have a great weekend!
From: EVGA Support Europe
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 3:45 PM
To: F. Sgar
Subject: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: xx88314303988
In general we stick to our promise with regard to our warranty terms.
In your case however, it is pure neglect that caused the problenm and resulted in cosequential damage:
Please see yoursef in our warranty terms, section 3.3::
3. Damage to the Product caused by negligence, accidents, modifications, defective installation or misuse and use of inappropriate spare parts;
Today, like in the past, PCs are not really designed to be kept in dusty places. The high temperatures and the constant vacuum inside the PC case make it the PC behave like a vaccum cleaner, sucking up all the dust in the environment, due to the fan the is in the power supply, and auxilliary fans that might be in place. Usually, these are directed to blow the heat out to the environmen, so the cool air would flow from one of the vent holes in the PC case, along with the dust.
When I looked at your card, to be honest, I must admit that I've never seen such a dusty card before, and I have been in this business for some 25 years now. Actually the dust inside the fan assembly was so bad, that it stopped the movement of the fan - which in the end caused the card to overheat.
Please understand that there is nothing I can do for yoyu in this case.
Mit freundlichen Gr??en / Best regards
This guy his talking about overheating, strange I never noticed any temps goin up like crazy.....,
anyway, if a full tower case and few fans in wooden floor room is a a dusty environment, then please suggest me better
Thanks for reading again
I made a post on the evga forum and 2 customer service have replied to me, but they made me understand that they have no infulence whatsoever with the european branch (but I hope I am wrong).
I hope you guys can have the time to read below, as I am gonna copy and paste my email conversation with evga Europe, a person whos name is Peter Tersluisen who?s one of the bosses in Germany.
Now, I sent my faulty card to them without taking the dust off the fan, I know, my mistake, then I got the card back 2 weeks later in the same state: same amount dust, still not working.
I got rid of the dust, put the card back in, start the PC, and the card is still alive (as it was when I sent it), fan spins, temps seems as good as usual...but when i try a 3d app, it crashes, PC freezez ect ect, the card works ok if you just surf the net.....
Ok here it is, my conversation with the boss in Germany:
"So you are saying the fan motor burned? And you removed dust with compressor? Then WHY did I get the card with the same amount of dust I sent to you if you removed the dust???????
And last i checked, the fan still worked, I did try the card when i got it back and the fan still works!!!!!!!!!!!! You obviously didnt notice that the card works fine unless you are trying to do some heavy stuff, otherwise for normal internet usage, the card is far from dead, specially the fan motor!
God this is ****ing me off very much. Look, if you think I understand nothing about PC?s and electronic components, then think again
From: Peter Tersluisen
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 5:55 PM
To: 'F. Sgar
Subject: AW: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: xx88314303988
Of course we did, else we would not have reallized that the fan was stuck. Even removing dudt with the compressor would not help, as the fan-motot burnt out.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Von: F. Sgar
Gesendet: Freitag, 17. April 2009 16:41
An: Peter Tersluisen
Cc: v_Jeremey Place; Kyle Sabine
Betreff: Re: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: xx88314303988
It?s easy to point to section 3.3
The only thing I have neglected was not taking the dust off the fan before I sent the card, I really really think you did not even try the card out,
you saw the dust and sent it back assuming it died because of the dust blocking the cooling system! Are you are expecting people to open the cooler and clean it inside out just to avoid things like your section 3.3??
I can however tell you that the dust didn?t kill the card, I would have noticed it as the temperatures of the card never reached high degrees, even under load, and I know this because I use an LCD keyboard and I monitor all my temps.
So, here it is, you made your point (took you quite sometime though), I made mine, I lose (the customer) you win, just great!!!!
Have a great weekend!
From: EVGA Support Europe
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 3:45 PM
To: F. Sgar
Subject: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: xx88314303988
In general we stick to our promise with regard to our warranty terms.
In your case however, it is pure neglect that caused the problenm and resulted in cosequential damage:
Please see yoursef in our warranty terms, section 3.3::
3. Damage to the Product caused by negligence, accidents, modifications, defective installation or misuse and use of inappropriate spare parts;
Today, like in the past, PCs are not really designed to be kept in dusty places. The high temperatures and the constant vacuum inside the PC case make it the PC behave like a vaccum cleaner, sucking up all the dust in the environment, due to the fan the is in the power supply, and auxilliary fans that might be in place. Usually, these are directed to blow the heat out to the environmen, so the cool air would flow from one of the vent holes in the PC case, along with the dust.
When I looked at your card, to be honest, I must admit that I've never seen such a dusty card before, and I have been in this business for some 25 years now. Actually the dust inside the fan assembly was so bad, that it stopped the movement of the fan - which in the end caused the card to overheat.
Please understand that there is nothing I can do for yoyu in this case.
Mit freundlichen Gr??en / Best regards
This guy his talking about overheating, strange I never noticed any temps goin up like crazy.....,
anyway, if a full tower case and few fans in wooden floor room is a a dusty environment, then please suggest me better
Thanks for reading again
I?ve been in touch with them throughout the week, for those of you interested here are the latest developments :
From: EVGA Support Europe
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 5:26 PM
To: 'F. Sgar'
Subject: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: 60883143039xx
Kyle,
this issue had been discussed in detail. Joe Darwin received an email from me today regarding this issue.
Fact is, that the board got damaged out of neglect - the neglect to keep the working environment of his PC clean. DUST is one of the biggest enemies to electronics.
And honestly, I've never seen such a ffilthy board before.
It is NOT about cleaning his product, it is about operating his equipment in an atequate environment - which this product was most certainly not
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Von: F. Sgar [mailto:sgar@txx.com]
Gesendet: Montag, 20. April 2009 18:21
An: Peter Tersluisen
Betreff: Re: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: 60883143039xx
Well,
I am sorry, but I still dont understand this whole issue of the dust. You mentioned you cleaned it an realized the fan motor was burned on your last email.
Well, the card I received back from you was:
-Same conditions as when I sent it, same amount of dust on the fan (although you used compressor to clean it)
-The fan still spins fine, just like it had done for the last 2 years. Temperatures of 60C idle are in my opinion very acceptable for a 8800GTX.
I dont doubt your 25+ years in this business, but I think we can both assume that had the fan motor really burned, when I plugged the card back in my PC, I would have smelled it right?
-The card works in 2d only, I can surf the net with it, look at my desktop, nothing more, but the temps are still the same, and the fan spins still, so, I dont think heat has anything to do with it.
I feel however very offended by your judgment about the amount of dust in my PC?s environment, it sounds really bad, I wish I could make you change your mind by showing you a picture of my case, that by the way, has good great airflow, its a full tower case with plenty of room, sitting on a wooden floor, and a large window on the side of the case with lights, all looking nice and tidy.
If thats not enough for your standards then I would be very interested in knowing what more is expected by ordinary Joe!
Best regards
-------------------------------------------------------------------
From: EVGA Support Europe
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 10:24 AM
To: 'F. Sgar'
Subject: AW: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: 60883143039xx
In an attempt to get the fan bach to move, yes.
The amount of dust in the card was the ultimate cause of the board dying on you.
You need to make sure that you are operating a computer in a suatable environment, and check every once a while that the inside of your case is clean.
The way PC cases are designed, and due to the fans that blow warm airt out of the case, the case as such behaves very similar to a vacuum cleaner. Dust has the tendecy to stick to warm objects and those that may have a static electric charge - usually high voltage components such as those found in your PSU.
There are dust guards available which you can place in front of the vent holes on your PC - they help solve the problem.
Again, we are not asking to take apart a graphics card for cleaning, but we are asking not to neglect it and ensure a reasonably clean operating environment. Dust, aside from water is about the worst enemy of electronics.
Please read our Warranty terms, section 3.3, which says something about NEGLECT. I#ve highlighted that for you:
Peter Tersluisen
Technical Director European Operations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Von: F. Sgar [mailto:sgar@txx.com]
Gesendet: Dienstag, 21. April 2009 18:39
An: Peter Tersluisen
Cc: Kyle Sabine
Betreff: Re: AW: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: 60883143039xx
Dear Sir
I appreciate you pointing me your section 3.3 of the Warranty once again, and also, to remind me what dust can do to electronic components and how to prevent this from happening.
However, you seem to be proving my point when you say that a customer it?s not expected to take apart a graphic card for cleaning, but then blaming it on the operating environment.
In other words you are blaming me for not keeping my PC clean, and that is for me an unacceptable excuse, and a very RUDE one, making it sound like I have cockroaches in my PC!!!
I still have strong believes that the card was never tested, was simply refused once the dust on the fan was spotted by one of you.
I had a close look at it today, I did not see any signs of the cooler being taking off, although you have mentioned to me that the dust was taken off it with a compressor, that is how you realized the fan motor was burned, but I have already told you that the fan was working when I sent you the card (and its still working now) and the dust was still there when i received the card back. Not to mention the temperatures of the card that have always be good (and still are), in contrary to your overheating statement.
I have been without the use of my main PC for more than 3 weeks, but I was forced at the end to buy another card, an XFX gtx260 to be more exact.
This whole issue has costed me quite some money, but you lost at least one customer (but don?t forget many have read this story on forums).
Best regards
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: EVGA Support Europe
Sent: Wednesday, April 22
Dear Sir,
Sorry if you feel offended by my pointing out the facts.
At the time we had the board in our hands and tested the board, the fan showed no movment. I have no plausible explaination why it would all of the sudden move now.
As stated in my earlier mails: We have never in 3 years of EVGA here in Europe seen cards with dust in that magnitude.
Just one question: If you have a car, I asume you do, don't you take it to service every once a while? What do you think would happen if your car's engine broke - would you get a warranty if you never made an oil change in 2 years? I don't think so!
Did you know that dust not only does damage to mechanical parts, but can contuct electric current? Did you know that you can invoke a dust explosion by a single spark?
************************************************** *
So, that?s it, his word against mine.... I went and got myself a xfx gtx260 at the end. I dont know if its even worth keeping email him anymore, his answer is still the same.... dunno I might try to get hold of a digital camcorder and take a clip of the card with the fan working lol.
Thanks again for reading guys. I am well open to suggestions if you have any!!
From: EVGA Support Europe
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 5:26 PM
To: 'F. Sgar'
Subject: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: 60883143039xx
Kyle,
this issue had been discussed in detail. Joe Darwin received an email from me today regarding this issue.
Fact is, that the board got damaged out of neglect - the neglect to keep the working environment of his PC clean. DUST is one of the biggest enemies to electronics.
And honestly, I've never seen such a ffilthy board before.
It is NOT about cleaning his product, it is about operating his equipment in an atequate environment - which this product was most certainly not
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Von: F. Sgar [mailto:sgar@txx.com]
Gesendet: Montag, 20. April 2009 18:21
An: Peter Tersluisen
Betreff: Re: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: 60883143039xx
Well,
I am sorry, but I still dont understand this whole issue of the dust. You mentioned you cleaned it an realized the fan motor was burned on your last email.
Well, the card I received back from you was:
-Same conditions as when I sent it, same amount of dust on the fan (although you used compressor to clean it)
-The fan still spins fine, just like it had done for the last 2 years. Temperatures of 60C idle are in my opinion very acceptable for a 8800GTX.
I dont doubt your 25+ years in this business, but I think we can both assume that had the fan motor really burned, when I plugged the card back in my PC, I would have smelled it right?
-The card works in 2d only, I can surf the net with it, look at my desktop, nothing more, but the temps are still the same, and the fan spins still, so, I dont think heat has anything to do with it.
I feel however very offended by your judgment about the amount of dust in my PC?s environment, it sounds really bad, I wish I could make you change your mind by showing you a picture of my case, that by the way, has good great airflow, its a full tower case with plenty of room, sitting on a wooden floor, and a large window on the side of the case with lights, all looking nice and tidy.
If thats not enough for your standards then I would be very interested in knowing what more is expected by ordinary Joe!
Best regards
-------------------------------------------------------------------
From: EVGA Support Europe
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 10:24 AM
To: 'F. Sgar'
Subject: AW: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: 60883143039xx
In an attempt to get the fan bach to move, yes.
The amount of dust in the card was the ultimate cause of the board dying on you.
You need to make sure that you are operating a computer in a suatable environment, and check every once a while that the inside of your case is clean.
The way PC cases are designed, and due to the fans that blow warm airt out of the case, the case as such behaves very similar to a vacuum cleaner. Dust has the tendecy to stick to warm objects and those that may have a static electric charge - usually high voltage components such as those found in your PSU.
There are dust guards available which you can place in front of the vent holes on your PC - they help solve the problem.
Again, we are not asking to take apart a graphics card for cleaning, but we are asking not to neglect it and ensure a reasonably clean operating environment. Dust, aside from water is about the worst enemy of electronics.
Please read our Warranty terms, section 3.3, which says something about NEGLECT. I#ve highlighted that for you:
Peter Tersluisen
Technical Director European Operations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Von: F. Sgar [mailto:sgar@txx.com]
Gesendet: Dienstag, 21. April 2009 18:39
An: Peter Tersluisen
Cc: Kyle Sabine
Betreff: Re: AW: AW: Refused RMA due to dust ( Europe) S/N: 60883143039xx
Dear Sir
I appreciate you pointing me your section 3.3 of the Warranty once again, and also, to remind me what dust can do to electronic components and how to prevent this from happening.
However, you seem to be proving my point when you say that a customer it?s not expected to take apart a graphic card for cleaning, but then blaming it on the operating environment.
In other words you are blaming me for not keeping my PC clean, and that is for me an unacceptable excuse, and a very RUDE one, making it sound like I have cockroaches in my PC!!!
I still have strong believes that the card was never tested, was simply refused once the dust on the fan was spotted by one of you.
I had a close look at it today, I did not see any signs of the cooler being taking off, although you have mentioned to me that the dust was taken off it with a compressor, that is how you realized the fan motor was burned, but I have already told you that the fan was working when I sent you the card (and its still working now) and the dust was still there when i received the card back. Not to mention the temperatures of the card that have always be good (and still are), in contrary to your overheating statement.
I have been without the use of my main PC for more than 3 weeks, but I was forced at the end to buy another card, an XFX gtx260 to be more exact.
This whole issue has costed me quite some money, but you lost at least one customer (but don?t forget many have read this story on forums).
Best regards
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: EVGA Support Europe
Sent: Wednesday, April 22
Dear Sir,
Sorry if you feel offended by my pointing out the facts.
At the time we had the board in our hands and tested the board, the fan showed no movment. I have no plausible explaination why it would all of the sudden move now.
As stated in my earlier mails: We have never in 3 years of EVGA here in Europe seen cards with dust in that magnitude.
Just one question: If you have a car, I asume you do, don't you take it to service every once a while? What do you think would happen if your car's engine broke - would you get a warranty if you never made an oil change in 2 years? I don't think so!
Did you know that dust not only does damage to mechanical parts, but can contuct electric current? Did you know that you can invoke a dust explosion by a single spark?
************************************************** *
So, that?s it, his word against mine.... I went and got myself a xfx gtx260 at the end. I dont know if its even worth keeping email him anymore, his answer is still the same.... dunno I might try to get hold of a digital camcorder and take a clip of the card with the fan working lol.
Thanks again for reading guys. I am well open to suggestions if you have any!!
Next person from the same thread.
Damn, I'm feeling a bit worried now. I sent off my 650i motherboard about 3 weeks ago. Not heard a word from them yet.
Well, it's been 23 days now, and have no idea what's going on. Maybe it takes longer over the easter holiday period.
Ok, I received my package today. Opened it up and what do I see?? The exact same motherboard I sent off to them, with a note saying some of the CPU pins were damaged, and therefore my warranty is invalid due to physical damage. But I know for a fact there was no physical damage, as it was working normally as my main PC (I didn't touch it), and next day it suddenly stopped working. All I know is that I will never buy EVGA again.
New thread from a couple of days ago.
Hi all,
I asked on here a while back for advice with my 8800GTX which has never been able to run at stock levels since I bought it in a preconfigured build from overlcockers. Basically the core and shaders overclock nicely to around 640/1520 but the memory needs underclocking to 890 to prevent artifacting.
Since I got the pc back in the end of 2007, I have never been too bothered about the problem. Until I bought a HR-03 along with a 120mm fan to be able to overclock it and keep it quiet. The cooler didn't help with the memory problem, and a few weeks ago I decided to RMA it.
After a few emails with a guy at EVGA, he approved that the card should be sent in for repair. And told me to reattach the original cooler, take off the original thermal pads, and apply thermal paste.
On Wednesday last week I dismantled the card from the HR-03, carefully cleaned the card with alcohol, and applied a very thin layer of AS5 on the GPU and memory chips. I removed the thermal pads from the cooler also cleaned it with alcohol. After reassembling the card, I could see from the side that the memory chips were not in contact with the cooler. I mentioned this to EVGA in an email and suggested that they reapply thermal pads to the card before testing it. (thermal pads are obviously a lot thicker than a thin layer of paste, thus making proper contact between cooler and card).
I didn't receive a reply so decided to include this information in a covering letter which I put in the box when I sent the card.
I sent the card this monday, and recieved and email from EVGA this morning:
"Dear Rob
I am sorry, but we have to refuse the RMA processing as the card was built
back without applying thermal paste.
Mit freundlichen Gr??en / Best regards..."
Now, firstly, I want to point out that I DID apply thermal paste to every chip which requires it. I spent around 2 hours carefully cleaning the card and applying the paste which was very tricky to apply especially with all the capacitors etc which get in the way when spreading the paste.
Secondly, the thermal paste was basically pointless anyway as I had been advised to remove the thermal pads and reapply the paste myself. This paste would only have contacted the cooler if I used around 2 syringes of AS5. In including the covering letter which stated this fact, I feel I have covered myself.
I called up promptly after reading the email, and was told that they had opened the card up and there was no thermal paste, a photo was taken and they had effectively closed the case.
I feel at a bit of a loss now, they are insisting that there was no thermal paste, which is not true. And also they don't seem to understand my point that the thermal paste is irrelevant. I never ran the card in that condition, I had always used the HR-03. I simply wanted them to check the memory was at fault and either repair or issue a replacement card.
Thanks for reading this stupidly long explanation, but I wanted to get as much detail in as possible!
I asked on here a while back for advice with my 8800GTX which has never been able to run at stock levels since I bought it in a preconfigured build from overlcockers. Basically the core and shaders overclock nicely to around 640/1520 but the memory needs underclocking to 890 to prevent artifacting.
Since I got the pc back in the end of 2007, I have never been too bothered about the problem. Until I bought a HR-03 along with a 120mm fan to be able to overclock it and keep it quiet. The cooler didn't help with the memory problem, and a few weeks ago I decided to RMA it.
After a few emails with a guy at EVGA, he approved that the card should be sent in for repair. And told me to reattach the original cooler, take off the original thermal pads, and apply thermal paste.
On Wednesday last week I dismantled the card from the HR-03, carefully cleaned the card with alcohol, and applied a very thin layer of AS5 on the GPU and memory chips. I removed the thermal pads from the cooler also cleaned it with alcohol. After reassembling the card, I could see from the side that the memory chips were not in contact with the cooler. I mentioned this to EVGA in an email and suggested that they reapply thermal pads to the card before testing it. (thermal pads are obviously a lot thicker than a thin layer of paste, thus making proper contact between cooler and card).
I didn't receive a reply so decided to include this information in a covering letter which I put in the box when I sent the card.
I sent the card this monday, and recieved and email from EVGA this morning:
"Dear Rob
I am sorry, but we have to refuse the RMA processing as the card was built
back without applying thermal paste.
Mit freundlichen Gr??en / Best regards..."
Now, firstly, I want to point out that I DID apply thermal paste to every chip which requires it. I spent around 2 hours carefully cleaning the card and applying the paste which was very tricky to apply especially with all the capacitors etc which get in the way when spreading the paste.
Secondly, the thermal paste was basically pointless anyway as I had been advised to remove the thermal pads and reapply the paste myself. This paste would only have contacted the cooler if I used around 2 syringes of AS5. In including the covering letter which stated this fact, I feel I have covered myself.
I called up promptly after reading the email, and was told that they had opened the card up and there was no thermal paste, a photo was taken and they had effectively closed the case.
I feel at a bit of a loss now, they are insisting that there was no thermal paste, which is not true. And also they don't seem to understand my point that the thermal paste is irrelevant. I never ran the card in that condition, I had always used the HR-03. I simply wanted them to check the memory was at fault and either repair or issue a replacement card.
Thanks for reading this stupidly long explanation, but I wanted to get as much detail in as possible!
I sent an email and a link to the thread to the 'direct supervisor' yesterday morning and am still awaiting a response. I will let you know what he says.
I also was told by the guy dealing with my case originally 'The probably outcome would be that we can process the graphics card if we
apply the thermal paste by ourself. The price for this would be EUR 60 plus
VAT 19% (EUR 71.40 in total) because this has to be done by a qualified
technician.'
Think that works out at ?63 for the application of thermal paste...
I also was told by the guy dealing with my case originally 'The probably outcome would be that we can process the graphics card if we
apply the thermal paste by ourself. The price for this would be EUR 60 plus
VAT 19% (EUR 71.40 in total) because this has to be done by a qualified
technician.'
Think that works out at ?63 for the application of thermal paste...
Pretty much everybody on OcUK has moved to BFG. Think i'll be doing the same if my next card is Nvidia. There will no doubt be more EVGA horror stories in the next few days if the last few weeks are anything to go by.
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