Update: I received my replacement psu from Hiper on Monday, July 30th, and my replacement cpu from AMD on Thursday, August 9th. My computer is back up and running exactly as it was before it decided to go boom.
I honestly had a better experience with AMD's rma process than I did with Hiper's, at least up until the very end. A few days had passed since my first email to Hiper requesting an rma. Annoyed by their apparent lack of a phone number for their US customers and irritated by this delay, I sent them a second email worded with what I'd consider to be some slightly stern language stating that unnecessarily long delays and poor communication on their part would facilitate my need to seek future psu's elsewhere. An hour later, I had an rma number. On the other hand, I called AMD (through a local-only phone number) two days after I initially emailed Hiper and had an rma less than 20 minutes later.
I sent both returns off to AMD and Hiper on Thursday, July 19th, via UPS ground from Norman, Oklahoma. Both of these companies had return facilities in California that were very near one another, and so both received their respective packages on Thursday, July 26th. Later that day, AMD had inspected my processor and approved its rma.
However, Hiper had poor communication throughout the entire process and did not notify me of my psu's status. I attempted to call them on Monday, July 30th, via a local number provided in the email sent in response to my "stern" email. I was connected with a person that spoke heavily accented English, but who was nonetheless understandable and friendly. This person attempted to find the status of my psu but could only ascertain that it was still in the "testing process".
On Monday, August 6th, my replacement psu arrived. Later that day, I called AMD to inquire about my cpu. I figured two weeks was more than enough time to send a cpu back to Oklahoma. As it turns out, AMD had approved my rma but never scheduled shipping for a replacement cpu. According to the rep I talked to (Chris), this was due to AMD moving its warehouse. He told me he'd check for any replacement cpu's in their office and return my call in a few minutes. After a few hours and right before local closing time, I gave him a call back to find out what was going on. He had found a replacement cpu, but it was oem. Regardless, he entered the cpu in as retail for the three-year warranty and sent a stock hsf along with it. When I pressed him on some written confirmation of it being counted as retail, he initially balked. We nonetheless compromised on an email stating that the cpu would be considered retail. Finally, on Thursday, August 9th, the cpu arrived via DHL.
So in the end, despite Hiper's poor communication (in addition to the above call, I had emailed them a few times for status updates but received no response), they had a quicker turnaround than AMD. This was due in large part to AMD's failure to notify me in regards to the movement of their warehouse. (If I hadn't called, I'd probably still be out of a cpu for some time to come.) Overall, I am happy my system is back up and running. However, despite having sleek and modular psu's, I think I'll seriously consider other power supplies over those made by Hiper for future systems. And I have already decided to go with Intel for my next system. (=
Summary:
July 16 - Computer broke. Sent an initial email to Hiper requesting psu rma
July 17-18 - Confirmed both psu and cpu were definitely dead
July 18 - Emailed Hiper second time, received psu rma; Called AMD, received cpu rma
July 19 - Shipped both psu and cpu to their respective companies via UPS ground
July 26 - packages delivered; AMD inspects cpu and confirms rma
July 30 - Called Hiper, told psu is still being inspected
Aug 6 - Replacement Hiper psu arrives; Called AMD twice, oem-as-retail cpu sent out
Aug 9 - Replacement AMD cpu arrives
Aug 11 - I post this because I was lazy for two days. (=
(The real kicker of all this? My XBOX 360 ALSO died when I stuck in a PRISTINE copy of Overlord on July 30th. I hadn't played my 360 in nearly 2 months and it was in excellent condition, at least until that point. As soon as I power the 360 on with the disc properly seated inside, the dvd drive basically chokes and pukes all over the disc. Afterwards, I'd get "Unreadable Disc" errors on every game/dvd I owned. Moreover, my ps2 refuses to read discs now as well! I think my place is just cursed. )=
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