[Updated] Gigabyte voided my warranty, did nothing during my RMA. I *almost* got screwed from a Best Buy Open Box

Might need to try Best Buy online support or go back to the store. I think Best Buy open box would only be valid at that store but you can try another store if the first is worthless. Worst case sell it on ebay as defective/parts not working. I've sold some very obviously broken hardware there before and people surprisingly bought it. They can't open a return for damaged items sold in that condition.
 
I have faith that it's a simple short from gentle squeeze and will return to working order once pressure is relieved.
 
You need to sign up for BB Plus or Total so you have a 60 day return period.
 
Mega6 said:
Send it to china and get a plastic core back.
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Quite possible, but could be worth the gamble after trying and failing to get warranty service on a damaged card and missing the retail return window.
 
zandor said:
Quite possible, but could be worth the gamble after trying and failing to get warranty service on a damaged card and missing the retail return window.
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Well anything is better than nothing. Other than nothing of course. Postage and repair your only cost. Why not - as long as u have a couple hundred bucks to burn. I'm sure its in that ballpark.
 
Friendly FYI, but most credit cards offer extended warranties on electronics. If you did pay for it with a credit card, check on their site for the terms on their electronics extended warranty. If you didn't, it's a lesson learned and there's still other avenues that have already been mentioned to replace this.

For anyone, if you have the capacity to pay for the item outright, a credit card is always the better purchase option due to cash back / points offsetting the costs versus cash and extended protections.
 
Iching said:
Nah, I would just buy a new one and return an open box. Gigabyte can beat it then. Those companies can suck it. GL!
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So fuck the next sap... I received an opened x870 MB from newegg, sold to me as new, with a damaged socket. I caught all this bs right away by noticing a peeled seal and documenting it.
OP best buy sold you a "working card" hold them to it...
 
Auraka said:
So fuck the next sap... I received an opened x870 MB from newegg, sold to me as new, with a damaged socket. I caught all this bs right away by noticing a peeled seal and documenting it.
OP best buy sold you a "working card" hold them to it...
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Thing is the op was retarded and didn't send it back to BB the same day. Makes me think he is not telling the truth because I know for a fact I would have been back to BB the same day with it
 
Beaflag VonRathburg said:
Friendly FYI, but most credit cards offer extended warranties on electronics. If you did pay for it with a credit card, check on their site for the terms on their electronics extended warranty. If you didn't, it's a lesson learned and there's still other avenues that have already been mentioned to replace this.
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The issue here, this isn't a problem which falls under "Warranty" service.

Gigabyte actually attempted to honor the warranty, even though it was a 2nd-hand purchase.
 
BinarySynapse said:
He explained why. Prices went up. So instead of losing money, he tried the warranty route.
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I don't buy that op is not telling the whole truth we all know it.

Its a 5070 not like they went up $1000 overnight or something enough that you wouldn't drive back to best buy the next morning and go hey this doesn't work I want my money back.

Op got a deal on the card and thought when it didn't work hey let's send it back for warranty work trying to gamble that they would fix it and he would get a new card for the open box price
 
tunatime said:
I don't buy that op is not telling the whole truth we all know it.

Its a 5070 not like they went up $1000 overnight or something enough that you wouldn't drive back to best buy the next morning and go hey this doesn't work I want my money back.

Op got a deal on the card and thought when it didn't work hey let's send it back for warranty work trying to gamble that they would fix it and he would get a new card for the open box price
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Uh Bro, that's exactly the meaning he intended to express in the OP.
 
Auraka said:
Someone owes him a working card or a refund...
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Best Buy did, and I bet they would have refunded it if he hadn't tried to RMA it to Gigabyte instead. Standard Best Buy return policy is 15 days. Plenty of time to test it. But no, OP sent a damaged card to Gigabyte and they denied it. Should have just returned it to the retailer. Or at least posted here first so we could tell him to return it. I did my own bit of rage posting about an almost DOA 5090 in spring of 2025. Thing worked for 20 minutes, then died. Also a Gigabyte. But I know better than to take a significant action while angry, so I just grabbed some beers, rage posted on [H], got some proper advice (Just RMA it to Newegg), did some more tests over the next couple days, then shipped it back to Newegg and got a refund.
 
mnewxcv said:
I might have missed it, but what was the fault that led to the rma, no post?
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Yeah, no post, no lights, no fan spinning. The way it was bent, I don't think it ever had good contact with the PCIe slot. Once I get the thermal pads on, I can put it back on and try again. If it's still a no-go, I'll have to start testing with my voltmeter and take apart another identical card and see if there are any differences, and go from there. I can't find any specific schematics, but I found some online for Gigabyte RTX 4080 Super OC, so that'll help.
 
El_Capitan said:
I bought an "Excellent Condition" from a Best Buy Open Box for a Gigabyte RTX 5070 Ti. It was defective, so I opened a return request. However, prices went up nearly overnight, so instead of returning it, I sent an RMA to Gigabyte. Gigabyte says it's not repairable, and my return window closed for Best Buy 2 days ago. Ugh.

Well, I did not see this coming.

View attachment 821916View attachment 821917

Update 09/01/2026:
I got the graphics card back from Gigabyte's RMA. It doesn't even look like they opened it up or attempted to diagnose it.

My guess is that the previous owner wasn't entirely at fault. The graphics card was bending because of too thick of thermal putty, or whatever Gigabyte is putting in there. None of the screws were overtightened. Maybe Gigabyte put too much thermal putty, expecting it to eventually melt and slip through the different components? Who knows.

I opened it up, and my goodness, what a mess.
View attachment 823287View attachment 823288

Cleaned it up to inspect it. I put a PCIe adapter, and fits nicely. Nothing looks out of place.
View attachment 823290View attachment 823289

Straightened it out. Still a slight bend, but that's okay.
View attachment 823291View attachment 823292View attachment 823294

Cleaned it up some more.
View attachment 823293View attachment 823295

Time to put some TIM and new thermal pads on, and it should be better than new. Fingers crossed.

Now for the agonizing wait for my thermal pads to arrive. I'm plum out except for a lot of sheets of 0.5mm.
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If you paid by Credit Card that has purchase protection and or extended warranty, file a claim with them. You should get your money back.
 
Finally found my multimeter and the fuse was blown shorted. I ordered some extra fuses, and they should be here next week. Hopefully that's all it was, and it makes sense, since a bad PCIe connection from the bend could cause the fuse to blow. I'll likely test some more when I have time. It's a 125V 10A Fast Blow SMT 1808-0451 SMD Fuse. They're really cheap if you order from China, like $0.37 per fuse, but I also wanted something delivered quicker, so I also bought something in the U.S. for $1.05 per fuse.
Fuse_Circled.png

Also, the HDMI/DP bracket is what's also causing a slight bend and tension. I'll likely end up putting a spacer on the bracket where it kind of free floats to prevent that.
 
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El_Capitan said:
Finally found my multimeter and the fuse was shorted. I ordered some extra fuses, and they should be here next week. Hopefully that's all it was, and it makes sense, since a bad PCIe connection from the bend could cause the fuse to blow. I'll likely test some more when I have time. It's a 125V 10A Fast Blow SMT SMD 1808 Fuse. They're really cheap if you order from China, like $0.37 per fuse, but I also wanted something delivered quicker, so I also bought something in the U.S. for $1.05 per fuse.
View attachment 824515

Also, the HDMI/DP bracket is what's also causing a slight bend and tension. I'll likely end up putting a spacer on the bracket where it kind of free floats to prevent that.
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Fuse shorted? Fuses are supposed to be shorted (show continuity). Did you mean fuse was blown (open circuit)?
 
mnewxcv said:
Fuse shorted? Fuses are supposed to be shorted (show continuity). Did you mean fuse was blown (open circuit)?
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That's what I meant. Was just in a hurry since I need to replace my condenser motor for my HVAC... and it's raining now. I can't win, lol.
 
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ND40oz said:
You need to sign up for BB Plus or Total so you have a 60 day return period.
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Came to say this. That 60 day return is awesome and depending which plan you get, you also get extended warranty and/or discounted addon warranty. This saved us on the kiddos laptop that BB sent out but couldn't repair after about 1.5yrs. We got a gift card for our purchase price and paid the difference for the latest version. Definitely recommend checking out options for big purchases. Saved ~100$ after getting the base membership when I built a pc a few years ago (look for "member deal" price).

Good luck!
 
El_Capitan said:
Finally found my multimeter and the fuse was blown shorted. I ordered some extra fuses, and they should be here next week. Hopefully that's all it was, and it makes sense, since a bad PCIe connection from the bend could cause the fuse to blow. I'll likely test some more when I have time. It's a 125V 10A Fast Blow SMT 1808-0451 SMD Fuse. They're really cheap if you order from China, like $0.37 per fuse, but I also wanted something delivered quicker, so I also bought something in the U.S. for $1.05 per fuse.
View attachment 824515

Also, the HDMI/DP bracket is what's also causing a slight bend and tension. I'll likely end up putting a spacer on the bracket where it kind of free floats to prevent that.
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Il be surprised if you don't have PCB damage. A blown fuse means something shorted and odds are it's something inside the PCB if everything else checks out. But kudos to you for trying. After you popped the fuse out did you check the ohms on it see if the short was clear?
 
tunatime said:
Il be surprised if you don't have PCB damage. A blown fuse means something shorted and odds are it's something inside the PCB if everything else checks out. But kudos to you for trying. After you popped the fuse out did you check the ohms on it see if the short was clear?
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Yes.

To clarify (sorry, was busy). Sometimes a blown fuse is all there's to it, depending on the layout of the PCB and components. Most of the time, a fuse is there to protect the components from the power source in case there's overcurrent. Sometimes there's multiple fuses, but this particular Gigabyte card seems to have only one. The diagram below is for a Gigabyte RTX 4080, but I'm sure they layout is going to have some similarities. The fuse seems to be connected to the 1V8_MISC line, which goes to a lot of different things. Will definitely need to do some more testing.

2026-09-09_11-53-38.png
 
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