Arg

[Sho'Nuff]

Well, after sitting on EVGA's 680i-780i upgrade que for a little over a month, I finally got an e-mail indicating that they have a board ready for me. After noticing that my 680i must be returned without any aftermarket cooling items on it, I proceeded to attempt removing the adhesive pad that was used to anchor the backplate for my thermaltake big typhoon. Well you see, after being on the back of my motherboard for well over a year, that sucker did not want to come off. I tried every non-physical way i could think of to remove it, including heating it up with a hairdryer to loosen the adhesive. No luck. I finally had to resort to using a very fine knife to break the seal between the adhesive and the circuit board. Voila! Sucess! Er, sort of. After removing the pad, I insepcted the board, only to discover that I created some very fine scratch marks on the back of the board with the knife. Concerned, I hooked the board up outside of a case, it posted, and vista booted up just fine. Thinking I'd be fine, I went to look at the email from EVGA, to find that a scratch PCB was considered to invalidate the warranty service.

Now I am trying to decide whether I should just forget the upgrade (b/c EVGA is likely to reject my MOBO), or to just suck it up, send the thing in, and hope they don't reject it. Sigh, what a crappy day.

Cliffs:
1) OP tried to restore EVGA 680i mobo to stock condition by removing heatsink adhesive pad from back of mobo;
2) F'ing heatsink adhesive pad woudl not come off, Op had to use knife to remove;
3) Op successfully removed adhesive pad with a knife, but created minor scratches on PCB;
4) EVGA email indicates that scratched PCB may be considered to invalidate EVGA warranty service;
5) Op not sure whether to send board in or just upgrade on his own later.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If it boots fine, then I'd send it in. What's the worst that can happen? They send it back and you still have a working board.

 

[covert24]

yea dude you will be fine. and of course scratching the pcb will void the warranty. pretty much anything besides putting a cpu in and turning it on voids it. im sure they wont even check that closely on the bottom of the mobo unless there is still residue on it then that would bring attention to it.

 

[TTjd]

Evga is a good company and they should return it. FYI if you need a replacement pad for the back plate mount for the cooler.....just PM me.

 

[Narse]

I never pull the paper strip off on the side that touches the motherboard, That way it doesn't stick and I can remove it with no issues. I would think that EVGA will do the upgrade for you as long as it works.