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Spare-Flair
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2003
- Messages
- 7,471
Short Version:
1. XFX 8800 GT for a Shuttle SFF system faulty and and sent in at own cost.
2. ~1.5 months later - recieved a used XFX 8800 GTX which was faulty (110°C idle! 1/2 the performance of a new card), wouldn't work with system, returned at own cost.
3. ~1.5 months later - received a XFX 9800 GTX was is fine, even though I requested a single slot, lower power consumption card.
4. Somewhere in between, I bought an XFX 5870 because I couldn't wait and overall, the customer service was pretty good
Long Version:
Back in December, my 8800 GT XXX Edition started crashing on me unless I reduced the clocks significantly. I sent it in to XFX and shipping from Canada was about $15. After two weeks, XFX notified me that they had recieved and tested the card and found no errors.
I replied that I did definetely have problems and explained my situation. I don't know if they believed me or they simply decided to mark it as faulty and send me a new card because a few days later, I was notified of the Fedex tracking number for a replacement.
When it arrived the first time, the Fedex guy came at like 7:00 AM to my door and I was sleeping and I had missed him. I didn't print a "waive signature" form so I would recommend you do that if you feel secure about a card being left on your doorstep. The next day I woke up early to my shock that the replacement card was an 8800GTX. This was a problem, because my system was a Shuttle and it just wouldn't fit, not to mention, the 8800GT had much lower power requirements and an SFF PSU just wouldn't do. I settled on selling the card to a friend for a system I was building for his girlfriend.
I had a nasty surprise when I installed it however, because I found the card was outputting temps of over 110°C ...on IDLE, with the case open! This was definetely not working properly, not to mention benchmarking showed it had half the performance of a normal 8800 GTX. The card was obviously used, the shroud was scuffed in many places. I contacted XFX and the rep told me to replace the thermal compound so I put AS5 on the core but still, no dice. Finally they sent me an RMA number and I had to send the card back again for another $15 - so about $30 total spent on shipping (when the original 8800GT's going price was like only $60 off craigslist/ebay at the time) but I was in too deep already and decided to see what they would do because I was considering an XFX 5870 at the time versus other models.
This time I signed the signature waiver form and on the RMA form, it explicitly states that you should indicate features that you require for the RMA replacement (such as how many DVI ports, etc.) I specifically requested a single slot card (I was intending to give my friend an old 450watt PSU that supported the 8800/9800GT models or the new rebranded G92s) so I started buiding his system around that.
This afternoon I found a box on my step, and it was a 9800GTX! I don't know it was new or used, the shroud still had the clear plastic on it that you have to remove before use. It wasn't really what I requested but I guess I shouldn't complain. That is pretty decent service and it's not really their fault that the 9800GT has a loud fan profile.
I had to scrap my build though and buy a new PSU and a new case to fit the card though which was unfortunate and more money spent in that area.
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied, they did their best to help me even though what I recieved wasn't what I wanted, it was technically faster (with the caveat of being bigger, louder, hotter, more power hungry). I was disappointed the first RMA replacement card was a used and faulty out of the box card though and maybe was not thoroughly tested by them costing me more to ship it back for the 2nd time.
I did buy the 5870 now and feel a bit more relaxed that if it fails in the future, I can always send it in to them with relatively few hassles. The only big deal was time because it took about 1 week of support tickets for the RMA request to be granted. 1 week for a card to be mailed to them. 1 week of testing and more support tickets. And a final week of shipping back to me. Double that and include more time for dealing with having the first replacement being faulty and holidays and weekends it was almost 3 months with no videocard for me.
1. XFX 8800 GT for a Shuttle SFF system faulty and and sent in at own cost.
2. ~1.5 months later - recieved a used XFX 8800 GTX which was faulty (110°C idle! 1/2 the performance of a new card), wouldn't work with system, returned at own cost.
3. ~1.5 months later - received a XFX 9800 GTX was is fine, even though I requested a single slot, lower power consumption card.
4. Somewhere in between, I bought an XFX 5870 because I couldn't wait and overall, the customer service was pretty good
Long Version:
Back in December, my 8800 GT XXX Edition started crashing on me unless I reduced the clocks significantly. I sent it in to XFX and shipping from Canada was about $15. After two weeks, XFX notified me that they had recieved and tested the card and found no errors.
I replied that I did definetely have problems and explained my situation. I don't know if they believed me or they simply decided to mark it as faulty and send me a new card because a few days later, I was notified of the Fedex tracking number for a replacement.
When it arrived the first time, the Fedex guy came at like 7:00 AM to my door and I was sleeping and I had missed him. I didn't print a "waive signature" form so I would recommend you do that if you feel secure about a card being left on your doorstep. The next day I woke up early to my shock that the replacement card was an 8800GTX. This was a problem, because my system was a Shuttle and it just wouldn't fit, not to mention, the 8800GT had much lower power requirements and an SFF PSU just wouldn't do. I settled on selling the card to a friend for a system I was building for his girlfriend.
I had a nasty surprise when I installed it however, because I found the card was outputting temps of over 110°C ...on IDLE, with the case open! This was definetely not working properly, not to mention benchmarking showed it had half the performance of a normal 8800 GTX. The card was obviously used, the shroud was scuffed in many places. I contacted XFX and the rep told me to replace the thermal compound so I put AS5 on the core but still, no dice. Finally they sent me an RMA number and I had to send the card back again for another $15 - so about $30 total spent on shipping (when the original 8800GT's going price was like only $60 off craigslist/ebay at the time) but I was in too deep already and decided to see what they would do because I was considering an XFX 5870 at the time versus other models.
This time I signed the signature waiver form and on the RMA form, it explicitly states that you should indicate features that you require for the RMA replacement (such as how many DVI ports, etc.) I specifically requested a single slot card (I was intending to give my friend an old 450watt PSU that supported the 8800/9800GT models or the new rebranded G92s) so I started buiding his system around that.
This afternoon I found a box on my step, and it was a 9800GTX! I don't know it was new or used, the shroud still had the clear plastic on it that you have to remove before use. It wasn't really what I requested but I guess I shouldn't complain. That is pretty decent service and it's not really their fault that the 9800GT has a loud fan profile.
I had to scrap my build though and buy a new PSU and a new case to fit the card though which was unfortunate and more money spent in that area.Overall, I'm pretty satisfied, they did their best to help me even though what I recieved wasn't what I wanted, it was technically faster (with the caveat of being bigger, louder, hotter, more power hungry). I was disappointed the first RMA replacement card was a used and faulty out of the box card though and maybe was not thoroughly tested by them costing me more to ship it back for the 2nd time.
I did buy the 5870 now and feel a bit more relaxed that if it fails in the future, I can always send it in to them with relatively few hassles. The only big deal was time because it took about 1 week of support tickets for the RMA request to be granted. 1 week for a card to be mailed to them. 1 week of testing and more support tickets. And a final week of shipping back to me. Double that and include more time for dealing with having the first replacement being faulty and holidays and weekends it was almost 3 months with no videocard for me.
