- Joined
- May 18, 1997
- Messages
- 55,634
I wanted to repost this response that is buried deep into this thread. I banned an individual for making totally false statements about huge amounts of defective BFG 8800GT cards. I researched the issue, got answers, and it became clear that he was lying. From my information, it seems that he got a bad card, and then went on a forum rampage, posting the same statements in multiple forums. While I would not assume that he is a shill for another company, he seems to be a person that got very upset that his purchase was not going good. It seems that his issue is a driver issue on his personal system. I banned him for outright lies and will continue to do so to others that think this is the path to go down.
The bottom line is that I personally investigated his claims, and they were 100% false. The rest of these guys can do what they want for their communities. Here at home, we are going to quash the bullshit and make sure the truth is known. Trust me, if I had found out that any company had a rate of return that is way outside the norm, we are going to tell our readers to protect them. I have been in constant communication with BFG on this, and sales and returns on this item have been normal. Actually sales have been tremendously high and RMAs have been normal. For the numbers I was quoted RMAs seemed a bit low. BFG shared with me their total sales volume, number of support calls on the GT product, and the numbers of RMAs. Those numbers are not for public consumption.
Bottom line is that there does not seem to be a "problem" with any company's 8800 GT cards. Are there some bad cards? Most likely so. I have never seen a launch of any video card that was without them. Remember that all of these cards are coming from the same manufacturer and being re-branded by the AIB company. If one company has a problem, most likely all of them will be having problems.
BFG did add that they had been testing a huge number of cards for their upcoming "OC" skus and had not seen any issues to make them think there are any hardware issues with the 8800 GT.
The other sites are getting huffy out of greed and professional jealousy. They want to exaggerate [H]'s supposed negativity in order to puff themselves up. It's a pretty cutthroat battle for credibility, mindshare, and the revenue that comes with them out there among tech sites on the net. [H] and Kyle win the old-fashioned way, by telling the truth, digging for the info that matters, and refusing to compromise. All the hand-wringing "restraint" and "open-mindedness" adds up to is self-promotion and editorial cowardice. Oh, and of course lingering pro-AMD/ATi editorial bias.
The bottom line is that I personally investigated his claims, and they were 100% false. The rest of these guys can do what they want for their communities. Here at home, we are going to quash the bullshit and make sure the truth is known. Trust me, if I had found out that any company had a rate of return that is way outside the norm, we are going to tell our readers to protect them. I have been in constant communication with BFG on this, and sales and returns on this item have been normal. Actually sales have been tremendously high and RMAs have been normal. For the numbers I was quoted RMAs seemed a bit low. BFG shared with me their total sales volume, number of support calls on the GT product, and the numbers of RMAs. Those numbers are not for public consumption.
Bottom line is that there does not seem to be a "problem" with any company's 8800 GT cards. Are there some bad cards? Most likely so. I have never seen a launch of any video card that was without them. Remember that all of these cards are coming from the same manufacturer and being re-branded by the AIB company. If one company has a problem, most likely all of them will be having problems.
BFG did add that they had been testing a huge number of cards for their upcoming "OC" skus and had not seen any issues to make them think there are any hardware issues with the 8800 GT.