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I bought the Visiontek 3870. It is unopened on my computer desk. I called up today Visiontek's technical support and asked them about warranties in the light of aftermarket and enthusiast cooling.
I was told at first that any modification that damages the product voids the warranty. I told them that this makes sense. I was then asked to be put on hold in order that the technician be able to check his answer that he gave me. After a minute, he came back on and told me that any modification of the card voids the warranty. Any removal of a heatsink voids the warranty.
I told him if he understands that the warranty as written clearly states that "damages by modification" void warranty and that modification without causing damage does not void the warranty, nor is mentioned at all within the warranty information. He said in a pressured tone that removing the heatsink will void the warranty. I told him that this means the visiontek's "wonderful" warranty is a lie and that their warranty information is clearly a lie.
So, what do you all think? I for one work in the electronic selling business as a part time job for a few years now. I know that modification of a product does not void warranty so long as the modification cannot be proven to have caused the defect or damage.
To the intelligent eye, it looks like the warranty in the link below is clear in its ommision of the enthusiast attempts to watercool or silently cool their high end video cards. It is saying that any damages done in using programs like Riva tuner, or putting on aftermarket coolers like the S1 Accelero, will void the warranty. It does say, in any way, that modification voids warranties. It does not say that tampering voids the warranty. It does not say that using aftermarket cooling products void warranty. It could but it does not. If it did, it would alienate 1/3 or more of their enthusiast marketshare.
There are some simple and overly straightforward people who feel that the terms like "sole discretion" "not limited to the following" "sole judgement" actually act like a blanket statement to give complete immunity to a company for honouring a warranty claim that is questionable in their view. This is not the case and is not ever upheld in a court. Blanket statements do not count in favor of manufacturers in order to protect the end user's rights.
Anyways, my main point in writing this is to reveal how shitty the beloved Visiontek customer service is. Bottom line: buy an nvidia 8800GT card from a company that supports you in your hobby of modding. There are hardly any mods out there for under 30 dollars that do not best the crappy cooling answers ATI AIB partners put out. Yet, you would be voiding the warranty in removing them it seems.
(really, if you wanted to, you could fight them and win, but who bothers to or wants to start off on that foot???)
I am considering returning it. I am going to write an email to them about the severe discrepency between their written warranty and their technical support management.
I was told at first that any modification that damages the product voids the warranty. I told them that this makes sense. I was then asked to be put on hold in order that the technician be able to check his answer that he gave me. After a minute, he came back on and told me that any modification of the card voids the warranty. Any removal of a heatsink voids the warranty.
I told him if he understands that the warranty as written clearly states that "damages by modification" void warranty and that modification without causing damage does not void the warranty, nor is mentioned at all within the warranty information. He said in a pressured tone that removing the heatsink will void the warranty. I told him that this means the visiontek's "wonderful" warranty is a lie and that their warranty information is clearly a lie.
So, what do you all think? I for one work in the electronic selling business as a part time job for a few years now. I know that modification of a product does not void warranty so long as the modification cannot be proven to have caused the defect or damage.
To the intelligent eye, it looks like the warranty in the link below is clear in its ommision of the enthusiast attempts to watercool or silently cool their high end video cards. It is saying that any damages done in using programs like Riva tuner, or putting on aftermarket coolers like the S1 Accelero, will void the warranty. It does say, in any way, that modification voids warranties. It does not say that tampering voids the warranty. It does not say that using aftermarket cooling products void warranty. It could but it does not. If it did, it would alienate 1/3 or more of their enthusiast marketshare.
There are some simple and overly straightforward people who feel that the terms like "sole discretion" "not limited to the following" "sole judgement" actually act like a blanket statement to give complete immunity to a company for honouring a warranty claim that is questionable in their view. This is not the case and is not ever upheld in a court. Blanket statements do not count in favor of manufacturers in order to protect the end user's rights.
Anyways, my main point in writing this is to reveal how shitty the beloved Visiontek customer service is. Bottom line: buy an nvidia 8800GT card from a company that supports you in your hobby of modding. There are hardly any mods out there for under 30 dollars that do not best the crappy cooling answers ATI AIB partners put out. Yet, you would be voiding the warranty in removing them it seems.
(really, if you wanted to, you could fight them and win, but who bothers to or wants to start off on that foot???)
I am considering returning it. I am going to write an email to them about the severe discrepency between their written warranty and their technical support management.
