Boycotting XFX - Bad Capacitors, bad service

[promposive]

Just to let everyone know XFX uses bad capacitors, and their lifetime warranty is actually 1 year. Bad parts, bad service #fail.

The capacitors are "Sacon FZ" capacitors that typically fail within a year; unfortunately mine failed after the 1 year XFX warranty. Contacting their support for a warranty claim led to a "There are no service options for this card." response. (it is supposed to have a lifetime warranty according to neweggs page and a "double" lifetime warranty according to XFX's page).

More info:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8413
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10189
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2028780
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1497752

 

[happy medium]

Hmmmmm what model card?

 

[promposive]

Hmmmmm what model card?

8600GT

Yes, it is an older card, but this is not acceptable quality or service for what was originally an expensive card with a "double lifetime" warranty.

After reading various articles it seems XFX generally uses lower quality parts, I will definitely be avoiding any future XFX purchases.

 

[happy medium]

8600GT

Yes, it is an older card, but this is not acceptable quality or service for what was originally an expensive card with a "double lifetime" warranty.

After reading various articles it seems XFX generally uses lower quality parts, I will definitely be avoiding any future XFX purchases.

hmmm they dont make Nvidia cards anymore. Did they even have a replacement?

 

[promposive]

There are quite a bit of XFX nvidia products still being sold on newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...nvidia&x=0&y=0

No idea if they have the same card as a replacement or not, what exactly would they a manufacturer with a "double lifetime" warranty do if they no longer sold the product, I would assume substitute a card with at least as good performance (so whatever the cheapest modern card is lol) but nope, not even that.

Apparently XFX is known for their bad RMA process, and cheap parts. (and bad rebate process according to many reviews on newegg)

 

[Jdawg84]

Its a 8600gt. Its outdated and garbage. Just throw it away

 

[BD231]

Those 8xxxgt's were notoriously flaky cards no matter what brand you had. Not good to hear they didn't replace it though, seems sketch to advertise a lifetime warranty with fine print that whittles it down to a year actual.

XFX was a dream for me when the fan died on my 4850. They sent me a whole new card over a fan issue . The card they sent was a 1bg model, I only had the 512.

 

[flexcore]

Its a 8600gt. Its outdated and garbage. Just throw it away

Not really the point. If they say lifetime then it should be lifetime.

@COBRA99 what was there exact response?

 

[promposive]

Its a 8600gt. Its outdated and garbage. Just throw it away

Does the fact that it is "outdated" give XFX the right to disregard their lifetime warranty?

I have plenty of cards (that actually are outdated) geforce2, 3dfx, etc... that still work fine after many more years than the 2 years I've had this card.

 

[thedosbox]

Does the fact that it is "outdated" give XFX the right to disregard their lifetime warranty?

My guess is that their definition of "lifetime" is for however long the card is manufactured.

Also, did you register the card on their website within 30 days of purchase? IIRC, that was necessary to get anything longer than 1 year.

 

[notty22]

Happened to me to.
Have original receipt from TigerD, I did register after the 30 days, so I they have the right to deny. I think its lame, but I will speak with my wallet

The card may be no good for gaming, but it is (was) a perfect HTPC card . With great support for all the gpu acceleration codecs and players.

 

[promposive]

Basically their excuse is you have to register it within 30 days of purchasing, or you get just a 1 year warranty (which is not stated ANYWHERE on the box or anything, I still have the original box and papers that came with it). Even on the newegg site (where I purchased it) it says lifetime warranty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150258

Message History
[ 11/19/2010 11:53:36 PM] When I turned on the computer the video was scambled colors and lines everywhere. I took out the video card and the bottom 3 capacitors are blown open on the tops. This seems to be a common problem with this video card after doing a google search. I would like to get this replaced under warranty. Thank You, David

[WILLIAM_W 11/20/2010 12:00:12 AM] Hello David, I’m sorry to hear this has happened. However when pulling up the serial number for this graphics card it appears that its 1 year warranty has expired and it didn’t get registered within the 30 day window after the purchase date which would have extended the warranty to lifetime. Unfortunately we cannot setup an RMA for this product at this time. For more details please visit http://xfxforce.com/en-us/Help/Support/WarrantyInformation.aspx please let us know if you have any other questions. Best regards, William.

[ 11/20/2010 12:08:35 AM] Is there no way to get this warrantied under the lifetime warranty as advertised? I can provide my original purchase receipt. On the product site it even says lifetime warranty: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150258

[MARK_C 11/20/2010 12:51:02 AM] Hello David, Every video card manufacturer that has a lifetime warranty requires the same registration within thirty days of purchase. It was not registered within thirty days of purchase. Registration for a longer warranty is a very common clause in computer component warranties. There are no service options for this card. Thank you. Mark

[ 11/20/2010 12:55:43 AM] Ok, I will make sure to post reviews and let as many people as possible know that XFX uses inferior capacitors/parts and that XFX has a fake lifetime warranty that is actually 1 year.

 

[Skurge]

hmmm they dont make Nvidia cards anymore. Did they even have a replacement?

So what? If you bought an XFX nvidia card you're screwed?

XFX also have a history of using Crappy components. Most famous being the XFX 4890 and XFX 5850 Black edition that they didn't test at the overclocked settings they sold the card at.

 

[thedosbox]

Basically their excuse is you have to register it within 30 days of purchasing, or you get just a 1 year warranty (which is not stated ANYWHERE on the box or anything, I still have the original box and papers that came with it).

Huh. My XFX 8800GTS came with a card encouraging me to register within 30 days. I eventually sold it on, and remember pointing out the requirement to the new owner.

[edit] found it on their website too: http://xfxforce.com/en-us/Features/DoubleLifetimeWarranty.aspx

 

[Arkadrel]

I feel baad for XFX (split between amd and nvidia, deal thingy) so I dont really wanna say anything bad about them... but... some of their cooling solutions on cards, like the 68xx series where they used the orb coolers.... that seemed like it was done to save abit on cooling solution. (I might have gotten them mixed, but I think it was the 6850 by xfx that had a orb cooler under all that black shroud cover)

 

[thescreensavers]

I had a XFX 6800gt back when they were 400 bucks. This is when XFX started the lifetime warranty stuff. I had registered and everything. I send my Card out to them 4 years after I bought it and they sent me back a 7600gt with a quick turn around, I was extreamly glad as this card was a bit better (not much) but it ran sooo much cooler.

I would buy another XFX card in a heart beat.

 

[promposive]

I had a XFX 6800gt back when they were 400 bucks. This is when XFX started the lifetime warranty stuff. I had registered and everything. I send my Card out to them 4 years after I bought it and they sent me back a 7600gt with a quick turn around, I was extreamly glad as this card was a bit better (not much) but it ran sooo much cooler.

I would buy another XFX card in a heart beat.

I wonder how long till the capacitors go bad on your 7600gt:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4902

 

[SlowSpyder]

http://xfxforce.com/en-us/Features/DoubleLifetimeWarranty.aspx

It is posted here, though it certainly should have been mentioned in the paper work that came with the card. Luckily it is a pretty low end part now, so getting a replacement part of equal capabilities shouldn't be too hard or expensive.

 

[taltamir]

Just to let everyone know XFX uses bad capacitors, and their lifetime warranty is actually 1 year. Bad parts, bad service #fail.

no, its lifetime, you just have to register your hardware with them within 30 days of purchase otherwise it is 1 year.
This is the same for EVERY company that has a lifetime warranty and they all repeatedly say it and make it very very clear

More info:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8413
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10189
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2028780
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1497752

Those are the most expensive, highest grade capacitors in the world... solid state capacitors, probably made in japan, and they seem to be pretty large.
Even high quality hardware can fail.

This is what junk capacitors look like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitor

@OP: what kind of power supply does that computer have?

 

[promposive]

http://xfxforce.com/en-us/Features/DoubleLifetimeWarranty.aspx

It is posted here, though it certainly should have been mentioned in the paper work that came with the card. Luckily it is a pretty low end part now, so getting a replacement part of equal capabilities shouldn't be too hard or expensive.

Agreed.

Luckily I had a spare radeon hd 3600 laying around I put in its place. It just sucks it happened at all, I thought all the bad cap problems were early 2000 problems... It caused my computer to die and having to verify my 4TB RAID5 volume takes forever when an improper shutdown happens.
I'm not that upset that they aren't replacing the card that sells for about $25 now'adays, its the fact the card died because of poor quality parts and their lifetime warranty isn't even going to replace it.

 

[promposive]

Those are the most expensive, highest grade capacitors in the world... solid state capacitors, probably made in japan, and they seem to be pretty large.
Even high quality hardware can fail.

This is what junk capacitors look like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitor

@OP: what kind of power supply does that computer have?

According to this post there are no such thing as "solid state" capacitors, just "solid electrolytic" which can also fail: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2028780
(Also read for clarification on solid state/vs solid electrolyte)

Power supply is a Ultra LSP650 650-Watt

 

[thescreensavers]

I wonder how long till the capacitors go bad on your 7600gt:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4902

Its in the family computer rig now, but damn ha.

 

[Jdawg84]

Does the fact that it is "outdated" give XFX the right to disregard their lifetime warranty?

I have plenty of cards (that actually are outdated) geforce2, 3dfx, etc... that still work fine after many more years than the 2 years I've had this card.

Do you really want a GTS 240 in its place? Seriously? I feel bad that you're so poor to even throw a fit about an 8600gt not being replaced. It's not like it can play any games.

 

[promposive]

Do you really want a GTS 240 in its place? Seriously? I feel bad that you're so poor to even throw a fit about an 8600gt not being replaced. It's not like it can play any games.

I would take a PCI Express Geforce 2 in it's place. The computer it is in is primarily used as a file server (4x1.5tb drives).

 

[taltamir]

According to this post they aren't actually "solid" capacitors: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2028780
(Also read for clarification on solid state/vs solid electrolyte)

Power supply is a Ultra LSP650 650-Watt

no it doesn't show that. it shows a clueless OP saying "look, failed capacitors, this means that they are liquid caps!"
and the anandtechers with knowledge explaining

Calling solid caps solid state is wrong. If you go to a supplier and tell them you want some solid state caps they will have no clue what you want. Drop the state part they are solid electrolyte caps. They can fail just like any other cap if voltage is exceeded or polarity reversed. They don't really explode like the liquid caps because the material burns instead of coverting to steam. The real advantage is they do not dry out over time.

Some SMD caps look like solid caps but are just the normal liquid electrolyte type. The way to tell the difference is the liquid type require the top to have a cross mark embedded so the release of pressure can occur should it fail.

Solid capactiors are more durable... not made out of maigc / Cuendillar / curriculum / unobtanium or whatever.