Why you should avoid Arctic Cooling

[GreenGoose]

How do you know? There's no date. And the OP talked about this being a recent incident. Proof please unless you're just guessing.

I know for a fact because I'm a victim of this shit too from AC and I have been following this issue from day one ( http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1515486 ) when the cooler was released. I am well aware of when the OP installed the cooler and when the modified instructions went up on AC's website only after many 5970s were wrecked.

And to the guy that stated that you should never follow the instructions that come with a product: Are you fucking serious? Should a consumer not expect a product to be tested by the manufacture before it is released? Why is that the consumer's job? That is the dumbest fucking thing I have heard in quite awhile.

 

[cipher_nemo]

I know for a fact because I'm a victim of this shit too from AC and I have been following this issue from day one ( http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1515486 ) when the cooler was released. I am well aware of when the OP installed the cooler and when the modified instructions went up on AC's website only after many 5970s were wrecked.

Ah, I see.

 

[siliconnerd]

Artic Cooler first posted that information in the thread here: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035756062&postcount=248 The OP fried his card here: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035692691&postcount=96 Two and a half weeks before Arctic Cooling changed their install directions. If this was an isolated incident, it would be one thing but the OP is one of many to have fried his DVI ports with the card. The cooler has a severe design flaw and Arctic Cooling has failed to admit it or do anything about it.

 

[rampantandroid]

Artic Cooler first posted that information in the thread here: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035756062&postcount=248 The OP fried his card here: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035692691&postcount=96 Two and a half weeks before Arctic Cooling changed their install directions. If this was an isolated incident, it would be one thing but the OP is one of many to have fried his DVI ports with the card. The cooler has a severe design flaw and Arctic Cooling has failed to admit it or do anything about it.

I'm going to start my reply to all if this by first quoting this post, because he seems one of the few people - aside from those who had also suffered their card being damaged or destroyed - who actually bothered to read the thread covering all details about this nonsense before trying to tear me and all others involved down. To Siliconnerd and all others who read before replying, I thank you.

Now, on to the 2 pages of replies I just sifted through:

While the situation sucks, I think it's unfair to expect the company to pay for the card. By installing these aftermarket products you always take some level of risk.

It's in these situations though that you find the companies that go above and beyond the call of duty for good customer service.

They stamp their heatsink as being certified for the 5970. I won't use some dumb analogy here, but when something is stamped as working with another product, you EXPECT that to be true. Furthered by Sapphire using this heatsink on one of their cards. Too bad we learnt later on that Sapphire had to change the mounting hardware for the damned cooler to work. Might have been nice if AC had shared that tidbit of information with us. THEIR product destroyed MY card, so they OWE me at the VERY LEAST for the damned cooler - something they wouldn't even reply to me about until my credit card company tried to take their money. They were HAPPY to keep my money for a product that did not work.

Wait, so you RMA'ed the 5970 that you damaged by incorrectly installing an aftermarket cooler on? I can't think of a single vendor that covers that under their warranty. I can understand the frustration at AC for their bad directions, but why is the card's manufactor paying for a mistake that is the responsibility of either you or AC.

I explained it to the rep, he gave me an RMA. On prinicpal, I agree with you here. I'd prefer it if AC had paid for a new card. But short of employing a lawyer and spending more than 700 USD I wouldn't get that.

1) When you install the cooler, can you tell that you are tightening the screws too hard?

...

Was the "don't tighten the screws too much" warning on the AC webstore site when you bought your cooler?

Nope. My instructions say tighten 100%. I tightened until it felt snug. I RTFMed. And as explained before, that warning wasn't there. There's a saying about assumptions, you know. Go look it up.

Yea I don't even know what 'tighen down 100%' means. 100% of what? Does that mean tighten until you can't turn it anymore? Turn it until you break it? You can always grab a breaker bar and get some more torque on it to get '100%'.

Good question. 100% is one thing, I can figure out when it's snug, I cannot figure 50% out though, without first knowing 100%.

I do feel for you, though, as the 100% could be misinterpreted as you did. It's very poor instructions, but at the same time I don't feel it's their fault. Why? There's a nice warning on their site before you download the instructions...

You didn't bother to ask WHY that warning is there. Because WE complained to them, and they tried to use us as their fucking QA people. We paid for them finding this out.

In general, anyone installing coolers, be it a CPU, GPU, or some other chip, should know the fundamental basics of tension (as in don't over-tighten anything). Same is true for just about anything other mechanical mount.

I work on cars and computers all the time. I have never stripped a bolt while working on my car, nor until now have I overtightened a heatsink - mainly because all other heatsinks I own are built to prevent overtightening. I have been building PCs and modding them since I was in grade school...and that was more than 10 years ago, and I have NEVER overtightened a heatsink down, or overtightened the mounting screws on a mainboard. Nor have I fucked up a circuit I etched and built simply because I overtightened a screw. The number of screws I have misthreaded can be counted on all four appendages of someone who lost 3 limbs.

Sorry, but I still feel you're at fault here. Expensive lesson to learn but I can almost guarantee you won't make that mistake again. Yeah, I know, you're pissed and it's not what you want to hear. I do agree that the instructions are poor. It's certainly lawsuit worthy, but in our lawsuit-happy world, it's not worth it, nor would I recommend even entertaining the idea.

Lawsuit worthy means they're likely wrong, which means you're contradicting yourself. Either THEY'RE RIGHT and I'M WRONG and I'd lose the lawsuit. Or I'M RIGHT and I'd win. I followed instructions, which were wrong. If they had to change it from "100%" to "50%" then their instructions were, in fact, wrong, putting them at fault.

How do you know? There's no date. And the OP talked about this being a recent incident. Proof please unless you're just guessing.

Good question. Answer is, it wasn't there until we complained, and as siliconnerd pointed out, until weeks later.


Here's the problem: AC says this cooler is meant for the ATI 5970, not more than 300W. To quote thier site:

As an extension of the acclaimed Accelero XTREME series, this 3-fan cooler is specially designed for the ATI Radeon HD 5970.

"Specifically designed for" - hmmm. That's like saying that the contact solution I use, that says on it: "For silicone hydrogel and soft contact lenses. Sterile" is neither for silicone hydrogel/soft lenses, or that it is sterile. When someone says "designed for" it better damn well work with that item, if you follow the directions. If I were to follow the directions with my contact solution and it were to blind me, I'd damn well sue the company for the damage done, be that never working again or having surgery done...and win....and thier product would no longer be found on store shelves.

Their instructions CLEARLY state you should tighten each corner 50%, then 100%. To me, 100% means until snug, and that clearly means the same to others. Might I also point out thier instructions are incorrect, not telling you about other screws to remove.

I'm not here to argue that they pay for my card. I'm here to argue they refund my damn money. And that their customer support not force people to do credit card chargebacks to get their money back. This thead was never about my card; I'm annoyed about that, but it's not why I asked Discover to give me my money back, I asked because I applied for an RMA and they wouldn't even reply to my emails. They did not offer customer support. They asked me for support.

I'm also sick of some people on this forum ALWAYS siding with the company. I saw this in the XFX support thread as well. You shouldn't side with ANYONE before you know the story. Reading that thread and my post would be a GREAT start there. Some of the people I quoted to reply here didn't bother to learn about the incident before they chose someone to tear down. They just made an uninformed assumption. Do they also listen to ads for political candidates and believe it when they say "Senator so-and-so once took a lolipop from a baby, and once said he would like to take lollipops from your babies as well!"? Seriously. Learn the facts, then state your opinion...I don't care what you think if all you're going to do is make uninformed guesses at what happened, and then spout off your opinion based on those wild assumptions and guesses. You want to tear me down, do so knowing the facts, but if all you're going to do is whine and complain without actually reading, get out of the thread.

 

[rampantandroid]

Furthermore, thanks to JKW:

i checked and didn't see "almost 20" users on overclock.net who had successfully installed this cooler. i just saw a bunch of posts from you, and an "install guide" from somebody who is apparently smart enough to install the AC cooler but too dumb to take a clear picture and resize it. and in that install guide thread, one user mentioned getting two DOA Sapphire Toxic 5970 cards.

ref: http://www.overclock.net/ati-cooling/754726-arctic-cooling-accelero-xtreme-5970-installation-2.html

 

[Bo_Fox]

Hmm, the ball is rolling here against Arctic Cooling.. I'd be equally pissed with AC if I were in the same shoes.

 

[fochkoph]

Yeah no kidding, annihilating your $600 card with a $80 or so product I'd be so pissed. You guys are definitely turning me away from the 5870 version.

 

[Bo_Fox]

Right..

AC, just f'ing refund him the $100 for your own sake!

 

[Pliskin]

OP you have every right to be fucking pissed! Good for you mate.

 

[magoo]

Learn the facts, then state your opinion...I don't care what you think if all you're going to do is make uninformed guesses at what happened, and then spout off your opinion based on those wild assumptions and guesses. You want to tear me down, do so knowing the facts, but if all you're going to do is whine and complain without actually reading, get out of the thread.

I did read your thread here.
Nowhere that I can recall did you say the web instructions were a result of you and others having problems. After reading both OTHER threads I understand the time line now.
That would have been a good place to start.

It's too bad the product has damaged your card to such an extent.

ArcticCooling has some liability here, no doubt and they should step up.....I think they should at least recall the product.

 

[nimbyfaygo]

I had sent the card off to for an RMA already

So you think that it's alright for you to attempt an RMA on a card without manufacturing defects?
How do you justify making the cards manufacture pay for your mistake? Which in turn has an effect on the price we all have to pay for cards in the future.

I think you are as bad as AC, they created a product that rendered another product unusable. So you just hope that XFX or whoever doesn't notice the damaged card while its being inspected for RMA. Cheating is cheating, regardless of who is doing it.

I took the time to email the contents of the 2 relevant threads to all the AMD partners I can think of.
Hopefully my warning will be noticed and your RMA and future related RMA's will be refused.

 

[Jeffredo]

So you think that it's alright for you to attempt an RMA on a card without manufacturing defects?
How do you justify making the cards manufacture pay for your mistake? Which in turn has an effect on the price we all have to pay for cards in the future.

I think you are as bad as AC, they created a product that rendered another product unusable. So you just hope that XFX or whoever doesn't notice the damaged card while its being inspected for RMA. Cheating is cheating, regardless of who is doing it.

I took the time to email the contents of the 2 relevant threads to all the AMD partners I can think of.
Hopefully my warning will be noticed and your RMA and future related RMA's will be refused.

I understand the OP being upset with the customer service of AC (which I've owned five different products from without issue), but I do agree with you about RMAs generated from consumer "misadventures" in modding, overclocking and other general abuse. Kind of chicken-shit to expect replacements for your own decisions regarding use.

 

[rampantandroid]

I understand the OP being upset with the customer service of AC (which I've owned five different products from without issue), but I do agree with you about RMAs generated from consumer "misadventures" in modding, overclocking and other general abuse. Kind of chicken-shit to expect replacements for your own decisions regarding use.

As I said before, I made the agent aware of what had happened. They were (obviously) OK with it. It was pretty obvious I'd had the HSF off and back on. They didn't have to do that...

However I do feel that AC SHOULD have been responsible for the cost of the placement, as it was their product that caused this (see my previous post on page 3.) - this isn't why I started this though. I just want my money back from the bastards!

I did read your thread here.
Nowhere that I can recall did you say the web instructions were a result of you and others having problems. After reading both OTHER threads I understand the time line now.
That would have been a good place to start.

It's too bad the product has damaged your card to such an extent.

ArcticCooling has some liability here, no doubt and they should step up.....I think they should at least recall the product.

I didn't link to the previous thread detailing our issues for my own health, I referenced it, because otherwise my OP would have been pages.
I would LOVE to see them recall this...I mean, come on. Standoffs are the simplest solution...but noooo. To hell with AC.

 

[GotNoRice]

Has anyone ever had a cooler from AC that lasted more than a year or two?

Every AC heatsink I've used has had it's fan die within the first few years, and I always end up having to go back to the stock heatsinks (thankfully I packrat that kind of shit).

 

[Smoove910]

Hmmm, to the 2 poster above me... Please read the whole post. OP stated he discussed the scenario with the v-card manufacturer and they issued an RMA AFTER he explained what happened.

If it were dishonest, XFX simply would've refused to offer an RMA. Get off the OP's back about 'misadventures' and being 'as bad as AC' for RMA'ing.

 

[Mayenard]

Nope. My instructions say tighten 100%. I tightened until it felt snug. I RTFMed. And as explained before, that warning wasn't there. There's a saying about assumptions, you know. Go look it up.

Look it up?! They won't even read a thread, what makes you think they'll look it up?

I'll explain this.

Making assumptions makes an ASS out of U and me.

You're welcome.

 

[magoo]

So you think that it's alright for you to attempt an RMA on a card without manufacturing defects?
How do you justify making the cards manufacture pay for your mistake? Which in turn has an effect on the price we all have to pay for cards in the future.

I think you are as bad as AC, they created a product that rendered another product unusable. So you just hope that XFX or whoever doesn't notice the damaged card while its being inspected for RMA. Cheating is cheating, regardless of who is doing it.

I took the time to email the contents of the 2 relevant threads to all the AMD partners I can think of.
Hopefully my warning will be noticed and your RMA and future related RMA's will be refused.

Although I have some undestanding for what you are doing/did; I also have some compassion for the OP and the others that have been affected by this faulty design/lack of instruction.
ArcticCooling fucked up.
The individuals did what the instructions or lack thereof told them to do. Yes, the golden rule of modification is not to do something unless you're not afraid to ruin it and eat the cost.
BUT.....ArcticCooling is very reputable, makes good stuff that generally is correct and the instructions are easy to follow.

I'm really not sure who's right here, but these guys got screwed and especially since the company MODIFIED their instructions, deserve to be compensated.

 

[vengence]

Hmmm, to the 2 poster above me... Please read the whole post. OP stated he discussed the scenario with the v-card manufacturer and they issued an RMA AFTER he explained what happened.

If it were dishonest, XFX simply would've refused to offer an RMA. Get off the OP's back about 'misadventures' and being 'as bad as AC' for RMA'ing.

To be honest, I don't buy that XFX said "oh you bought an aftermarket cooling solution, tried to install it, it broke your card and now you want us to pay for it? Sure!"

Especially when their warranty calls this out specifically:

Problems that result from: (1) external causes such as accident, abuse, or problems with electrical power, (2) usage that is not in accordance with product instructions, (3) failure to follow the product instructions or failure to perform preventive maintenance; (4) products that are not in their original condition or that are not complete with all original components, or (5) problems caused by using accessories, parts, or components not supplied by XFX.

 

[nimbyfaygo]

Although I have some undestanding for what you are doing/did; I also have some compassion for the OP and the others that have been affected by this faulty design/lack of instruction.
ArcticCooling fucked up.
The individuals did what the instructions or lack thereof told them to do. Yes, the golden rule of modification is not to do something unless you're not afraid to ruin it and eat the cost.
BUT.....ArcticCooling is very reputable, makes good stuff that generally is correct and the instructions are easy to follow.

I'm really not sure who's right here, but these guys got screwed and especially since the company MODIFIED their instructions, deserve to be compensated.

Absolutely I agree, anyone who receives a bad part deserves compensation for it, especially since such an expensive part was messed up.

AC needs to be the one doing the compensation for it. Not the Card makers. Class action suit would be nice.

 

[Ocellaris]

Absolutely I agree, anyone who receives a bad part deserves compensation for it, especially since such an expensive part was messed up.

AC needs to be the one doing the compensation for it. Not the Card makers. Class action suit would be nice.

Yeah fuck em, they probably made that product specifically to destroy cards!

What the hell do you want for compensation? Would you like them to mail out $700 to everyone with the problem and go out of business?

 

[The Pharaoh]

To be honest, I don't buy that XFX said "oh you bought an aftermarket cooling solution, tried to install it, it broke your card and now you want us to pay for it? Sure!"

Especially when their warranty calls this out specifically:

I've had companies agree to things which are prohibited in the written warantee many times. The written documents are their to cover their ass in case they do not want to replace your part, but if they decide they want to make an exception to keep a customer happy there is really no problem with that. Let's not point fingers with baseless accusations here over other people's hardware, sheesh.

 

[JJ91284]

Has anyone ever had a cooler from AC that lasted more than a year or two?

Every AC heatsink I've used has had it's fan die within the first few years, and I always end up having to go back to the stock heatsinks (thankfully I packrat that kind of shit).

I've had great luck with my old NV Silencer cooler on my 7800gt video card. That cooler was awesome and was virtually silent.

I have however had either 1 or 2 of my cpu fans go bad on my Arctic freezer Pro (two different computer installed on) which has a 92mm fan on it. I ended up just pulling the fan and shroud off and cable tied a 120mm artic cooling PWM fan to it and it works better than the 92mm so I never ended up replacing it.

 

[eddieck]

Would you like them to mail out $700 to everyone with the problem and go out of business?

Yes. If THEIR product, following THEIR listed instructions (keeping in mind the warning was NOT there at the time the OP, and most people, damaged their cards), then yes, I expect AC to either pay for a replacement card or pay for the repair cost of the current card, if that's even an option.

I really couldn't care less if they go out of business or not. That's not my problem. If they sold me a faulty product that damaged my $700 card following their instructions, they better damn well compensate me for that and make things right.

I can tell you this much. I won't be buying an AC product.

 

[nimbyfaygo]

Yeah fuck em, they probably made that product specifically to destroy cards!

What the hell do you want for compensation? Would you like them to mail out $700 to everyone with the problem and go out of business?

YES<<< They need to replace/repair the product they messed up.
On a rough guess, I'd bet they haven't sold many of those coolers to private individuals. At most they would be out maybe 50,000 75,000 dollars.(just speculation) Either way, they need to do something about it, The whole point of my OP was that the consumer or card manufacturer shouldn't be paying for AC's mistake.

 

[magoo]

Yeah fuck em, they probably made that product specifically to destroy cards!

What the hell do you want for compensation? Would you like them to mail out $700 to everyone with the problem and go out of business?

I don't think $700 would be necessary.
AC should find those individuals who can verify that the cooler fucked up their card......ie buyers BEFORE they posted the "modified" instructions, discuss with them what has happened to their GPU (did they RMA or whatever) and then make it right with the customer.

If it takes reimbursing XFX,Sapphire or whomever made the card and accepted an RMA so be it.

But this shit isn't going away, and the more I read the more I don't like ACs attitude and handling of the issue.
Their product, used in accordance with their instructions FUBAR'd a bunch of expensive hardware.

Here's a picture of the Sapphire card AC refers to " that have had no issues".........look and see that Sapphire doesn't use the "X" bracket on the back of the card at all.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Image...dy CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

 

[sneeker]

Its a known fault, over here in the uk, custompc magazine reviewed the cooler and gave it 0%, as surprise surprise, there 5970 died with it fitted. AC reallly should of removed the product from distribution, as its known to be faulty, as they didnt, I believe the liabilty stands with them as the product is not fit for purpose.

Have a look around custompc.co.uk/bit-tech.net, the review should be on there somewhere.

 

[coldstorm]

Given the story ac should at least refund cooler cost. this just been a pr nightmare for them if they keep denying the people claims who destroyed their cards before they change the instructions.