Gigabyte voids my GTX 980 Ti warranty because I removed the screws (and put them back on)

DTN107

DTN107

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jun 30, 2008
Messages
4,846
So this comes a bit of a surprise to me.

I sent in a GTX 980 Ti (reference) to Gigabyte RMA for artificating and after 7 long weeks.... Gigabyte voids the warranty.

I just got the card back and their reasoning is that I removed the screws. I did remove the screws when I changed the thermal paste to Nocuta NT-H1 because it was running hotter than my other reference GTX 980 Ti cards.

There weren't any "warranty voided if removed" stickers on it (which doesn't apply to the USA market anyway).

I read a while back that a manufacturer can't void your warranty if you repaired the product yourself.

Link

So what do you guys think? Did I burn myself when I replaced the TIM or is Gigabyte being an arse?

***Edit: I applied the Noctua paste over a year ago. It wasn't anytime recent***
 

Attachments

  • IMG_9223.JPG
    IMG_9223.JPG
    975.9 KB · Views: 73
Last edited:
Did you tell them you removed the screws or did you damage something obvious so they could tell easily?
 
LigTasm said:
Did you tell them you removed the screws or did you damage something obvious so they could tell easily?
Click to expand...

I didn't mention it nor did I damage it. It ran fine with the new paste for a year. No overclocking as well. The card was used in a simple setup in a Corsair 300R case as a single GPU.
 
But the law applies to all consumer devices that cost more than $15, including electronics. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission issued a new guidance that explains the law's bans on the types of warranties that are common in consumer electronics.

"Generally, the MMWA prohibits warrantors from conditioning warranties on the consumer's use of a replacement product or repair service identified by brand or name," the FTC wrote. This means that there can be no such thing as an "unauthorized" repair or an "unauthorized" replacement part.

The statute itself states "for example, a provision in the warranty such as, 'use only an authorized ABC dealer' or 'use only ABC replacement parts,' is prohibited where the service or parts are not provided free of charge pursuant to the warranty."
Click to expand...

seems pretty cut and dry there.

get a hold of the FTC.
 
DTN107 said:
So this comes a bit of a surprise to me.

I sent in a GTX 980 Ti (reference) to Gigabyte RMA for artificating and after 7 long weeks.... Gigabyte voids the warranty.

I just got the card back and their reasoning is that I removed the screws. I did remove the screws when I changed the thermal paste to Nocuta NT-H1 because it was running hotter than my other reference GTX 980 Ti cards.

There weren't any "warranty voided if removed" stickers on it (which doesn't apply to the USA market anyway).

I read a while back that a manufacturer can't void your warranty if you repaired the product yourself.

Link

So what do you guys think? Did I burn myself when I replaced the TIM or is Gigabyte being an arse?
Click to expand...

Point them to the law and tell them if you're at fault for the damage you'll certainly take responsibility, but otherwise you'd rather not wind up in court over a non issue on le Twitter / Facebook and CC @ or whatever FTC @FBI etc :ROFLMAO:

Should be resolved quickly.
 
DTN107 said:
I didn't mention it nor did I damage it. It ran fine with the new paste for a year. No overclocking as well. The card was used in a simple setup in a Corsair 300R case as a single GPU.
Click to expand...

Sounds like they're trying to stiff you because they have no stock, time to fight the good fight. They can't void your warranty unless they can prove beyond any doubt that you physically caused the damage to it.
 
RPKYGK said:
Isn't that last part a problem though? If they said they would have performed the repair for free they can force you to use a specified repair facility.
Click to expand...

only if he got a hold of gigabyte and told them about his issue.

the thermal paste not the complete failure

if he didn't then gigabyte can't go back on it.
 
LigTasm said:
Sounds like they're trying to stiff you because they have no stock, time to fight the good fight. They can't void your warranty unless they can prove beyond any doubt that you physically caused the damage to it.
Click to expand...

Not exactly accurate. Even a murder case only needs to be proven beyond a "reasonable" doubt and the statute for a civil case/consumer rights is far far less stringent than that.
 
It a evga next time! They don't care if you remove the cooler! Do what you want as long as you can return the card in original factory condition if you need to rma.
 
Here is the thing... They could tell the screws were removed, which means OP damaged the screws or left other evidence of an attempted repair. Gigabyte doesn’t warranty customer modified cards like EVGA does.
 
Next time don't replace the thermal paste. The couple degrees cooler you see don't make a lick of difference.

If it was artifacting you should have sent it in before you did anything and got your RMA.
 
Master_shake_ said:
the law says he can do what ever he wants with his product.

see the quote in post 4
Click to expand...

Sure, but OP didn’t return the card in its original state. He modded the card because he didn’t like it, not because it was defective. If OP saw this as a defect, he could have contacted GB. And since his modification was picked up as visible damage, why should Gigabyte replace it?

Gigabyte has no way of knowing if the OP simply removed the paste, destroyed the card, then put some new paste on it after realizing what he/she did.
 
Last edited:
Archaea said:
Next time don't replace the thermal paste. The couple degrees cooler you see don't make a lick of difference.

If it was artifacting you should have sent it in before you did anything and got your RMA.
Click to expand...

I dropped 20c replacing the paste on my 1080 Ti... still have warranty though because it's an EVGA. The factory paste job was crap and my temps were capping out at 85c the whole time with fan running at 100%. Now it's super cool.
 
Archaea said:
Next time don't replace the thermal paste. The couple degrees cooler you see don't make a lick of difference.

If it was artifacting you should have sent it in before you did anything and got your RMA.
Click to expand...

It wasn't artifacting back when I replaced the thermal paste a year ago.

I thought this was hardforum? We shouldn't be encouraging stock paste!

Thermal throttle hurts the GPU boost.
 
On a related note.

My friend just got his GTX 1070 mini back from Gigabyte RMA that took nearly 2 months as well. They said they replaced it but he got back the same card and it still artifacts on three different PCs. His card is bone stock.

Anyone still a Gigabyte fan?
 
DTN107 said:
On a related note.

My friend just got his GTX 1070 mini back from Gigabyte RMA that took nearly 2 months as well. They said they replaced it but he got back the same card and it still artifacts on three different PCs. His card is bone stock.

Anyone still a Gigabyte fan?
Click to expand...


Looks like they hired some guys from ASUS to do their RMAs.
 
DTN107 said:
On a related note.

My friend just got his GTX 1070 mini back from Gigabyte RMA that took nearly 2 months as well. They said they replaced it but he got back the same card and it still artifacts on three different PCs. His card is bone stock.

Anyone still a Gigabyte fan?
Click to expand...
Two months! I have been without a GPU (980Ti) for two weeks and am getting bored from not being able to play something.
 
Guess I was lucky when I had a failed fan on a 7950 from gigabyte... they even proposed to send me replacement fans (all 3) and that it was ok for me to install them myself... (Written in email that warranty wouldn't be affected)
As others pointed out, I think they're either out of stock (Normally they would replace by better card) or the policy changed since they probably get tons of RMA due to failed FANs from mining...
 
You're kinda fucked here I think. Gigabyte RMA has been good for me in past years on GPUs and good recently on mobos. I'm basically buying EVGA for volta because of the exact issue you are encountering. I've been thinking of using a razor to get the sticker off or trying to unscrew that one with a pair of pliers. I understand why they do that but I'm not an idiot and have redone the TIM/cleaned lots of GPUs by now. We're always at the mercy of morons though :(
 
Ocellaris said:
Sure, but OP didn’t return the card in its original state. He modded the card because he didn’t like it, not because it was defective. If OP saw this as a defect, he could have contacted GB. And since his modification was picked up as visible damage, why should Gigabyte replace it?

Gigabyte has no way of knowing if the OP simply removed the paste, destroyed the card, then put some new paste on it after realizing what he/she did.
Click to expand...

Holy fuck. Modified? That's like the warranty being voided on your car because you used Firestone tires instead of the Goodyears it came with.

It's the burden of Gigabyte to prove modifications directly lead to the demise of the card if they are going to void it.
 
SilverSliver said:
Holy fuck. Modified? That's like the warranty being voided on your car because you used Firestone tires instead of the Goodyears it came with.

It's the burden of Gigabyte to prove modifications directly lead to the demise of the card if they are going to void it.
Click to expand...

More like OP mounted the tires himself and after his mounting had problems with the car and the way it handles on the road.

If Gigabyte was able to see that you modified the card, you did something wrong.
 
AltTabbins said:
More like OP mounted the tires himself and after his mounting had problems with the car and the way it handles on the road.

If Gigabyte was able to see that you modified the card, you did something wrong.
Click to expand...

What was his reason for sending it back? Continuing the car analogy, if he changed the tires himself and the engine exploded, you cannot just say the warranty is void because the tires were changed.
 
SilverSliver said:
What was his reason for sending it back? Continuing the car analogy, if he changed the tires himself and the engine exploded, you cannot just say the warranty is void because the tires were changed.
Click to expand...

If you want to kee going with car analogies... The OPs engine exploded, and when the dealer opened the hood they found out the customer stripped the bolts holding the engine together.
 
Ocellaris said:
If you want to kee going with car analogies... The OPs engine exploded, and when the dealer opened the hood they found out the customer stripped the bolts holding the engine together.
Click to expand...

I did not realize the chips were held down by the screws used by the HSF on coolers now. They denied the warranty because the screws had been unscrewed. How about if the OP had just unscrewed the screws, then screwed them back on - that's it? Warranty denied? That's fine?
 
SilverSliver said:
What was his reason for sending it back? Continuing the car analogy, if he changed the tires himself and the engine exploded, you cannot just say the warranty is void because the tires were changed.
Click to expand...

Well his issue was artefact. Given this, overheating is a probable cause and re-doing the TIM means you could be the cause of overheating.
However, this is stretched at best... and without (edit, missed some letters lol) a root cause analysis I don't see how they could claim you did the damage unless you damaged the core/memory by doing what you did.

Voiding a warranty because of a sticker is rare at best. Get in touch with them.
 
SilverSliver said:
How about if the OP had just unscrewed the screws, then screwed them back on - that's it? Warranty denied? That's fine?
Click to expand...

Depends, did he strip the screws or otherwise damage them in a notable way? If yes, then warranty denied per Gigabyte's terms.
 
ssnyder28 said:
I bought a card used Powercolor 390 II Devil from a guy on the forums here. The card ended up not working and he RMA'd it for me. He sent it to Powercolor in April and he got two replacement 580s in December. Powercolor had the card for nearly nine months.
Click to expand...

9 months!? Holy flamingos

That isn't even in the realm of being understandable. They could place an order for silicone, have it shipped over the high seas and repackaged faster than that!
 
SilverSliver said:
What was his reason for sending it back? Continuing the car analogy, if he changed the tires himself and the engine exploded, you cannot just say the warranty is void because the tires were changed.
Click to expand...

It says in the OP’s 2nd sentence that he sent it back for artifacting.

If you want to use your analogy, it’s like the OP buying a new car and noticing a wiggle in the way it handles. Instead of just taking it back to the dealership for them to look at it, he mounted his own new tires. Later down the line it starts wiggling all over the place and turns out the wheel has issues and the dealership won’t touch it because it might been caused by the OPs mount job.
 
Last edited:
Ocellaris said:
Show me evidence where this has worked for numerous people trying to get modified GPUs fixed.
Click to expand...

You keep using that word. I do not think you know what it means. You keep saying modified, but apparently just unscrewing the screws, or even touching them with a screwdriver, is modifying to you and Gigabyte. Modified is a volt mod or a bios flash. To cause damage to a card, in such a way to cause artifacting, cannot be done by pulling off a HSF. Doing damage during a HSF install is the kind of damage that causes non-bootable situations, not just artifacts and temperature issues that were present prior to the event.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top