A Story of BFG's Customer Service

M

Majin

2[H]4U
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Feb 4, 2005
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2 years ago I bought a pair BFG 8800GTX 768mb OC graphics Cards to put into my new rig (seen in Sig) to run in SLI. These cards were selected at the time becasue the 9000 series was just about to come out and the prices had dropped a bit. There was also a Sale on NCIX.com at the time and the deal was too good to pass up. Even with the price drop and the sale, I shelled out $1200 cnd for this important part of my rig.

So a few months ago I was playing a game and my comp crashed and after stressing about what the problem was I discovered that one of my 8800GTX cards wasn't working. I called BFG and set up a RMA, thanks to the Lifetime Warrenty I knew it was that simple to get a new card. Sent out the card and in about 1.5 weeks I had a replacement at my house. Put it in and went back to enjoying SLI goodness.

About 1 month ago I was playing a game and my computer crashed. This time I checked the cards right away and sadly found that my other 8800 GTX was not working. How very annoying that these cards seem to have a set life to them. I was put off and didn't RMA the card right away. last week I RMAed the card and yesterday I got it back...

I opened the box and to my surprise I found a 9800GTX OC in place of my 8800GTX OC. How awesome I got an upgrade for free! Wait a sec..... AHHH I can't run them in SLI now. So I called BFG and told them my situation, the RMA guy was quick to point out that his computer did mention I ran in SLI but that information didn't make it to BFG Canada.

To fix my situation they are going to RMA my other 8800GTX and send me a Matching 9800GTX so that I can run SLI again! :eek: BFG has now replaced my older 8800GTX cards with 9800GTX cards for FREE! This is something I was not expecting at all. I was just happy to get my 8800GTX back, and now I will have a $300 upgrade. This is why I love BFG, Lifetime warrenty and they take care of you, no fuss, no muss!

BFG you have my business for years to come! :)
 
hmmm, when my old 7800gtx's dont power on anymore i might have to see what happens... but that is great, i like bfg more then evga but ive been going the way of evga because it's just so popular and everyone recommends it first :)
 
I've had a similar experience w/BFG's warranty service and it's not the first story like it I've heard either, much props to them.
 
Wow awesome to hear. Next time I decide to go with the green team I might have to go with BFG!
 
nice work BFG!

how much of an upgrade are the 9800's over the OP's 8800's?
 
Depends on if they sent him a 1Gig or 512mb card.
The 512 will run out of steam at his native resolution with alot of AA.
 
Good to hear... Im about to start the process of RMA'ing a Dell purchased bum GTX 285 OCX. Can't keep the thing stable at even GTX 280 speeds.
 
A lot of people I notice get newer cards back. I wasn't as lucky as I got back the same model 8800GT as I sent in. Not complaining in the least bit, though, as I was only out of a card for 4 days.

Huge props to BFG, none the less. They definitely have me as a customer for the foreseeable future.
 
Yea, BFG is awesome. I had a 6800gt that died in my parents system and they sent me a 7900gs.
 
I was running SLI'd 8800 GTXs and also thought Nvidia mis-named the GTX on the 9800.
 
Said the benches at release. They even had 9 series only drivers to boost it's performance over the 8 series cards.
Installing a mod'd inf file got that preformance Nvidia was trying to pad the books with. ;)
 
They take care of you until you have the HDMI EDID issue, at which point you are on your own. When I had figured out the issue but hadn't found a fix yet, I called BFG to ask for their help and they basically told me to buy a new monitor. Yeah, because my L246WP is clearly the problem when my ATI card (and old GeForce 8800GTS for that matter!) worked just fine. :rolleyes:
 
lollerskater69 said:
Not to ruin your day, but the 8800GTX is better than the 9800GTX....

Eather way your satisfied.
Click to expand...

lol, you may want to check the specs on that again.

The 9800GTX is a good percentage faster than the 8800GTX's, not to mention it has PureVideoHD amongst other features the 8800GTX's were sorely lacking in.

But yeah, BFGTech is great!
 
reasons to go Nvidia:
superior hardware? no.
SLI > Crossfire? no.
Better Drivers? no.

Customer service; EVGA, BFG and XFX. XFX crossing the floor to become a full on ATI board partner was a very nice move for the red team, but XFX always seems to float a little above the MSRP, not helped by the low HD4770 yields.

I have a similar story, to a smaller degree, with EVGA. Sent in an 8800GTS 96SP, got an 8800GTS 112SP back.

I'm sure the board partners have studied this effect at least in small part, and let me assure them it really does build a huge amount of brand loyalty.
 
lollerskater69 said:
Not to ruin your day, but the 8800GTX is better than the 9800GTX....

Eather way your satisfied.
Click to expand...

Kowan said:
I was running SLI'd 8800 GTXs and also thought Nvidia mis-named the GTX on the 9800.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I really loved my 8800GTX and would have never considered trading it for a 9800GTX. I loved the 768MB of RAM and 384 bit memory interface. It really seemed to keep the 8800GTX ahead of everything else until Nvidia finally out did it with the GT200.

Hope he at least got a 1GB 9800GTX. :)
 
Ranari said:
If only they sold AMD cards :(
Click to expand...

XFX.

Darth Millennial said:
Says who? The 9800GTX is a higher clocked 8800GTS G92 that in most cases matched the performance of the 8800GTX and in some cases beat it.
Click to expand...

The G92's texture mapping architecture is superior, the G80's memory throughput was bigger, but thanks to the smaller process GDDR3 the 9800GTX was largly able to keep up with the older 8800GTX in memory performance through shear clock speed.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2008/04/01/nvidia_geforce_9800_gtx_512mb/11
 
yea BFG has my support for years to come.. some of the best support I have seen to date...

imo the top 2 tech companies for support would be

1. Logitech.. the tech basically told me to go behind the house with a sledge hammer and snap the G15 in two that had developed a buggy usb cable. and they would over night me a new one.. when he actually did, they got my trust. ( UPS came by the NEXT day with a new one :D )

2. BFG. My card still works so I can't say I have dealt with the support, but numerous friends have mentioned the top notch support, and their pledged loyalty to BFG. They have gotten a lot of advertisement here in East Texas just by word of mouth.
 
ezrem said:
They take care of you until you have the HDMI EDID issue, at which point you are on your own. When I had figured out the issue but hadn't found a fix yet, I called BFG to ask for their help and they basically told me to buy a new monitor. Yeah, because my L246WP is clearly the problem when my ATI card (and old GeForce 8800GTS for that matter!) worked just fine. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I just sent you a PM requesting some more information. Please get back to me when you get a chance so I can get this resolved for you. I do apologize for the way you were treated by my support team, I'll make sure to address that with them.
 
Jeff.Kozlowski said:
I just sent you a PM requesting some more information. Please get back to me when you get a chance so I can get this resolved for you. I do apologize for the way you were treated by my support team, I'll make sure to address that with them.
Click to expand...

This is excellent service as this isn't really BFG's issue but Nvidia's drivers (I have the same setup and issues).
 
That may be the case, but I think I might know someone at NV that might be able to help ;)

If you guys can provide me with as many details as possible, I can look into this for you. I make no promises, only that I'll do my best to resolve the issue.
 
Jeff.Kozlowski said:
That may be the case, but I think I might know someone at NV that might be able to help ;)

If you guys can provide me with as many details as possible, I can look into this for you. I make no promises, only that I'll do my best to resolve the issue.
Click to expand...

In a nutshell the NVIDIA drivers are picking up our LCD's (I have an LG L246WP), that use HDMI>DVI, as a HDTV and not detecting the correct resolutions.

Here is an example: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1231737
 
Jeff,

I just replied to you. I hope you like detail, there is a lot in there!

techie81,

I have the same display. I had a small nightmare trying to modify the inf's. My first few attempts, I just searched for OverrideEDIDFlags0 (trying different driver versions when the first attempt didn't work, etc) and added the arguments to that line. When that didn't work, and I downloaded the Phoenix utility to pull the EDID info for my display and found that an L246WPQ-BN is the same as all the other L246WP's, I was really stumped.

I reread the posts here and rescanned the inf file and realized I was adding to a line that was clearing registry settings. Man, did I feel silly.

I added the line in the right section of the INF and now it works like a charm.

Still, the fact that ATI has had this issue fixed for quite some time and Nvidia still hasn't done anything about it boggles my mind.
 
way to go bfg!!!! thats what i call taking care of customers. alot of other companies can learn from this example. ill sure consider bfg when im in the market for my next video card. props to bfg!:D
 
ezrem said:
Jeff,

I just replied to you. I hope you like detail, there is a lot in there!

techie81,

I have the same display. I had a small nightmare trying to modify the inf's. My first few attempts, I just searched for OverrideEDIDFlags0 (trying different driver versions when the first attempt didn't work, etc) and added the arguments to that line. When that didn't work, and I downloaded the Phoenix utility to pull the EDID info for my display and found that an L246WPQ-BN is the same as all the other L246WP's, I was really stumped.

I reread the posts here and rescanned the inf file and realized I was adding to a line that was clearing registry settings. Man, did I feel silly.

I added the line in the right section of the INF and now it works like a charm.

Still, the fact that ATI has had this issue fixed for quite some time and Nvidia still hasn't done anything about it boggles my mind.
Click to expand...

I think I just went cross-eyed from reading all of that, though I did ask for details and you certainly provided it!

I'll definitely look into this for you guys within the next few days, and provide feedback on what I find. Hopefully all goes well and I have a solution for you.

I appreciate the feedback. This is very useful information and thank you for bringing it to my attention :D
 
Go look around. The 8800GTX beats out the 9800GTX in just about every game.
The 768M ram really helps when your are playing @ 1920x1200. I know I have had both and a 8800GTX setup is better 7-10 frames at the res I mentioned.

If we are talking about a 9800GTX 1gb pardon me.
 
Impulse said:
I've had a similar experience w/BFG's warranty service and it's not the first story like it I've heard either, much props to them.
Click to expand...


yeah same here.. i rma'd a BFG 6200 OC.. told the guy that did the rma for me that i was upgrading the system to an am2+ board.. so they shipped me an 8600GT to replace the 6200 OC.. talk about upgrade right there.. even though the 8600GT isnt even close in comparison to my 8800GT.. its was a huge difference compared to the 6200 OC..
 
We are constantly working on making sure that our customers get an upgrade that is "as good, or better". This is something that comes up quite often, and I assure you that I'm working on it.

The 8800 GTX was a beast, but the newer cards should be on par if not better than what was available in the past. The process is constantly improving and the communities feedback is definitely appreciated.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
yeah same here.. i rma'd a BFG 6200 OC.. told the guy that did the rma for me that i was upgrading the system to an am2+ board.. so they shipped me an 8600GT to replace the 6200 OC.. talk about upgrade right there.. even though the 8600GT isnt even close in comparison to my 8800GT.. its was a huge difference compared to the 6200 OC..
Click to expand...

We try in every way possible to take care of our customers. Having trust in a companies service is an absolute must nowadays. BFG will provide that :D
 
I love you guys. I just wish that you guys did AMD cards. I want to go "red" but I need a company that is reliable.
 
Well, I am a bit split on this free upgrade now.
The cards I am getting are the 512mb cards.. not the 1gb cards...
I didn't realise this untill I looked on the back of the PCB and noticed a lack of Ram clusters, then I looked a bit closer at the sticker and it is in fact the 512mb card. While I am pleased that I was upgraded, I am not pleased that I have now lost 512mbs of VRam between my 2 cards. When I bought my 8800GTX 768mb OC's I did it becasue I wanted the extra video ram to be able to enjoy my games with lots of bells and wistles and I knew I had enough VRAM to take care of that.

I will wait till I have the 2nd card installed and put it to the test while playing some games before I pass judgement over all. But either way I now feel less impressed by this situation. :rolleyes:
 
If you got the 512MB version of the 9800 GTX, then the wrong card was sent out. You didn't mention it in your original post, so I just assumed that it was the 1GB version since that is the proper upgrade. If you want to send me your contact details via PM, I can look into this for you, and if need be get you the correct replacements.

Thanks.
 
I'll be building a new pc this summer(Got back into PC gaming,will keep 360 though), and would buy BFG is they made AMD cards. My previous BFG cards were pretty great, and blue. Too bad they only cater to nVidia though.

Basically they should pick up AMD cards, or I'll never buy another BFG again which is not good.
 
TomGreen321 said:
I'll be building a new pc this summer(Got back into PC gaming,will keep 360 though), and would buy BFG is they made AMD cards. My previous BFG cards were pretty great, and blue. Too bad they only cater to nVidia though.

Basically they should pick up AMD cards, or I'll never buy another BFG again which is not good.
Click to expand...

So you're saying you'll never run a Nvidia card in the future? Or attempting to threaten BFG into RED or else? :D
 
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