What do you hardcore gamers do for downtime if your GPU needs warranty?

E

eddie500

Gawd
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
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987
My 1.5 year old 970 GTX is giving me random lock up issues since I bought it. I pinpointed it to my GPU, I can get away with gaming for hours before locking up if I run fans at 100% and keep temps below 50C.

Now I need to send this ASUS card back for warranty and will have a few weeks downtime. lock ups screwing up my online gaming.

The problem is right now I got nothing to do but game and just starting playing overwatch which I'm kind of addicted.

So what do you guys do when you need to RMA your card?

Should I consider buying a 1070 GTX, and selling the 970 GTX when it comes back from warranty? I can buy a 1070 for $350-400 and hopefully sell my 970 for $150-175.

Just looking for some thoughts or advice on the issue. Hopefully some of you can understand that 3-4 weeks RMA with ASUS won't be fun without a video card.
 
Use the igpu and play whatever it can handle. Old games, indie games (like 2D platformers).
Maybe find a new TV show to watch. Read a book, take up a new hobby.

Pick up something like a 280X from Ebay for $40 or $50 if you're really desperate. You should always keep a spare GPU around, anyway.

As for getting the 1070, meh. If you really want to upgrade then go for it.
 
I just used my other card since I had SLI when my card got sent off for RMA. Just kicked back the settings a bit and gamed on.
 
just pick up and old game. some of my favorits games are still from dos or win95 age

Master of Orion
Civ2

currently Im playing sacrifice. which is also on old old game. i have two weeks to complete it. then im going on vacation nad wil lprobalby restar a civ2 game on that cause its so easy to just let go... well technically
 
Keep an older card on hand. The rig in my sig currently has a 290X in it, but I still have my old GTX 680 in the parts closet.
 
ummmm.......
MdDUrDM.gif
 
I don't bother with RMA's unless the thing is less than a year old. If it's older than a year old, then that means it likely has a newer version available and its an excuse to upgrade. Downtime's a bitch, and I will have none of it. 10 minute drive to Microcenter and I'm back in business.

That being said, I'm not usually running a $500 GPU either. I'm not that loaded with cash.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
I don't bother with RMA's unless the thing is less than a year old. If it's older than a year old, then that means it likely has a newer version available and its an excuse to upgrade. Downtime's a bitch, and I will have none of it. 10 minute drive to Microcenter and I'm back in business.

That being said, I'm not usually running a $500 GPU either. I'm not that loaded with cash.
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send me your dead 1 year old cards and I'll RMA them, lol
 
Zepher said:
send me your dead 1 year old cards and I'll RMA them, lol
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It's only happened to me twice. First time was an FX5600 and the second was an HD3850. Are you sure you still want them? :D

I didn't say I was loaded, I just have zero patience. I can usually spare $200-$300 most months (this last year being an exception). I consider that to be throwaway territory on consumer electronics. If it lasts a year or two, I'm fine with just replacing it with something newer. If I spent more than that, my attitude would likely change and I would RMA more often.
 
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Well, it's usually 2 things:

  • Use my backup GPU (right now, an ASUS Turbo GTX 1060 6GB), or
  • Use my gaming laptop (in sig)
That's helped a number of times when I was selling off computer parts, or when I was troubleshooting a problem in my main rig.
 
I can't take downtime. If my GPU is broken and it has to be warrantied I buy a new one immediately. And when the RMA is finished I just exchange the replacement for something else I need. But the last time I had to RMA a gpu that was my own was in 2003.
 
Use my laptop. The main reason I have one, other than watching videos in bed when I'm lazy, is as a backup to my desktop if it has a fault. Though if it happened at the moment I'd use it as an excuse to buy a new video card.
 
PS2 fat or Total Anihillation etc old school games if I get the itch and away from main rig or it's down or encoding/etc.
Or IRL FPS aka hunting and or walking lol. And cleaning <_>
 
Wouldn't know. I've never had to RMA a video card. I guess my backup would be the GTX Titan X I replaced earlier this year.
 
I kept all my graphic cards I bought. During the past couple of times I had to RMA my current card, I put in an older one and played older games.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
I don't bother with RMA's unless the thing is less than a year old. If it's older than a year old, then that means it likely has a newer version available and its an excuse to upgrade. Downtime's a bitch, and I will have none of it. 10 minute drive to Microcenter and I'm back in business.

That being said, I'm not usually running a $500 GPU either. I'm not that loaded with cash.
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anyhting under 100 bucks i never RMA but 100-200 bucks depends the RMA process...anything over 200 for sure in an RMA. I wish i could not RMA anything. They make the process such a waste of time
 
SomeGuy133 said:
anyhting under 100 bucks i never RMA but 100-200 bucks depends the RMA process...anything over 200 for sure in an RMA. I wish i could not RMA anything. They make the process such a waste of time
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sometimes you don't have to send anything back for a warranty claim. Logitech usually doesn't require you send in the faulty parts, only had to do it twice, both original G15's had to be sent in, and one Performance MX had to be sent back, other than those items, they usually just tell you to dispose of the item yourself.

APC sent me 2 replacement UPS's without sending in the old ones, first one was given to me and I was just inquiring about testing it before buying batteries and they sent me a new one for free, and a few years later they sent another to replace that one.
 
Never had to RMA a card, but given I've been running at least dual cards for the past several generations I'd just use the other card. Failing that, I usually keep a spare.
 
Hmm.. I've got 4 desktop machines, 2 laptops, and 2 PS4s. My only problem is finding time to play all these games.
 
I have backup cards and three other PCs I can use so never any downtime. Just put in a GTX1070 but if that goes down I can simply go back to my GTX780, GTX580, or AMD 5870 even. I have a GTX470 in one of my other PCs too. I used to sell my old hardware but now I keep it as backups or to build another PC with.

It is wise to have a backup of PSU and HDD too.
 
never RMA's a card because it was bad, the only time was when it wasn't compatible because of bios, but have 2 other desktops and 3 laptops and have old cards too. So never really came across a problem when my gaming system was down.
 
Catch up on Netflix/movies/etc, sleep, exercise, research your next upgrade, fap, buy a console and/or play something on one you already have... possibilities are endless

Oh, but the most likely scenario is buy a faster card and stick the RMA in the spare PC.
 
I run a 1080, have a 960 as a backup. Not the best, but not the worst, either.
 
eddie500 said:
My 1.5 year old 970 GTX is giving me random lock up issues since I bought it. I pinpointed it to my GPU, I can get away with gaming for hours before locking up if I run fans at 100% and keep temps below 50C.

Now I need to send this ASUS card back for warranty and will have a few weeks downtime. lock ups screwing up my online gaming.

The problem is right now I got nothing to do but game and just starting playing overwatch which I'm kind of addicted.

So what do you guys do when you need to RMA your card?

Should I consider buying a 1070 GTX, and selling the 970 GTX when it comes back from warranty? I can buy a 1070 for $350-400 and hopefully sell my 970 for $150-175.

Just looking for some thoughts or advice on the issue. Hopefully some of you can understand that 3-4 weeks RMA with ASUS won't be fun without a video card.
Click to expand...


Hey since it's an ASUS card.. make sure it doesn't post a video signal before sending it in for RMA. Otherwise good luck.

I had a defective video card that showed artifacts at post returned to me twice in the same state claiming to be fixed before they gave me a replacement card. The replacement card did not post on boot so they sent me a new card that worked.
 
Use the Intel integrated. I had a i5-3<something>k before my current desktop. (currently have a 6600k) Had to send a GPU off for RMA, just ran the onboard graphics for a while on the desktop. Couldn't play anything super high end but I still had my desktop which was the important thing.
 
I kept my old GTX 680 just in case something happens... nothing ever happened. Money well spent. Who is laughing now used GPU market, huh?
 
eddie500 said:
My 1.5 year old 970 GTX is giving me random lock up issues since I bought it. I pinpointed it to my GPU, I can get away with gaming for hours before locking up if I run fans at 100% and keep temps below 50C.

Now I need to send this ASUS card back for warranty and will have a few weeks downtime. lock ups screwing up my online gaming.

The problem is right now I got nothing to do but game and just starting playing overwatch which I'm kind of addicted.

So what do you guys do when you need to RMA your card?

Should I consider buying a 1070 GTX, and selling the 970 GTX when it comes back from warranty? I can buy a 1070 for $350-400 and hopefully sell my 970 for $150-175.

Just looking for some thoughts or advice on the issue. Hopefully some of you can understand that 3-4 weeks RMA with ASUS won't be fun without a video card.
Click to expand...

Have a wash, eat, do some housework.
Shag the missus if she's still around :p
 
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