Just a little upset

[wildstrike1516]

I just purchased a x1800xt a year ago with my tax return. I have loved the card and everything about it, untill recently it just completely stopped working. I can't boot my PC at all. It fails the video card test everytime, and doesn't display any type of image. My first reaction was the Mobowent bad. I have an Asus An*- SLI deluxe. I called asus and RMA'ed the board, and they sent a new one shortly. Once i got it i changed everything out, and fired up the machine. Once again nothing, and the little annoying voice coming through my speakers saying system failed video card test. So i caledd up ati, only to get a busy signal forever on the line. Then ati's site is like do to high ammounts of call volumes, call on our off peak times. So i did. Still busy. So i fiannally got through only for them to tell me to go to ati's rma site and fill out a thing to get a RMA from. i filled it out and just received an e-mail today saying " We are sorry, but hte limited warrenty on this product is now over." I wanted to throw my ati card through the window. Here i just spent 400 bucks on this thing a year ago, and now i need to spend 100 bucks just to get a decent down grade for my PC to work. I have always been an ati fanboy, but this is making me second guess everything now.


Any ideas on a Good card about the same range as an 1800xt

 

[Tegeril]

Summary:

Your hardware failed after its warranty period and you're unhappy that ATI didn't give you a new one.

 

[wildstrike1516]

um well you can take it that way. But honest;y, after going through this, why would i want to spend a lot of money on a nice card if its not going to last for more than a year

 

[Elfear]

Sorry to hear that your card died after one year but don't get bent out of shape at ATI. Every manufacturer has there defective products. Nvidia has them, Intel has them, etc.

Have you overclocked the card at all?

 

[wildstrike1516]

No i haven't. I understand that every one has bad items, it srather annoying that asus replaced my board, which was over 2 years old, with no problem, yet i ati won't bother fixing this card which i got last march. The thing is now that i am looking at cards, idk if i could spend the money on a card and risk it fail after a year, only to have to buy a new one again. (by spending money i mean the high end cards, not budget cards. I do realize budget cards honestly last for a about a year in terms of preformance.)

 

[lavaheadache]

i feel your pain but this is why put a lot weight in the warranty when considering big money items for purchase

 

[LittleNemoNES]

ATI has issues with warranty... many Nvidia partners offer lifetime warranties -- so does PowerColor on the ATI side, If I recall.

 

[anandtechrocks]

That really sucks, I feel for you windstrike. When you buy stuff like this and treat it right, you expect it to last longer than 1 year.

Some companies offer lifetime warranties like EVGA, XFX, and BFG. You might want to check one of them out.

Originally posted by: Tegeril
Summary:

Your hardware failed after its warranty period and you're unhappy that ATI didn't give you a new one.

That's being pretty harsh. This sucks for the OP especially since ATI shortened their warranty from 3 years to 1 year ago stating that video card failure after 6 months was too rare to justify the longer warranty.

 

[Aries64]

Originally posted by: gersson
ATI has issues with warranty... many Nvidia partners offer lifetime warranties -- so does PowerColor on the ATI side, If I recall.

Yeah gersson, AFAIK the only other ATI parner that offers a Limited Lifetime Warranty on their cards besides Power Color is Visiontek, and Visiontek's Limited Lifetime Warranty is for the top-end cards. Thats how I wound up buying my X1900XTX. US-based company who offered a Lifetime Warranty and had them available before the card's "official" launch.

It really does suck that ATI shortened their warranty to 1 year. Its' especially annoying on $400.00+ videocards (WTF?). Knock-on-wood, I've never had a videocard go bad in more than 15 years of building systems for myself and a few friends, but you never know. Thats why everyone should do their research before a major purchase.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: wildstrike1516
No i haven't. I understand that every one has bad items, it srather annoying that asus replaced my board, which was over 2 years old, with no problem, yet i ati won't bother fixing this card which i got last march. The thing is now that i am looking at cards, idk if i could spend the money on a card and risk it fail after a year, only to have to buy a new one again. (by spending money i mean the high end cards, not budget cards. I do realize budget cards honestly last for a about a year in terms of preformance.)

if you purchased it last march, why is the 1 year warranty expired?

 

[Stumps]

what brand is your ATI....most high end X19XX and X18XX series cards from Gigabyte have 3 year worth of warranty....same goes for their Nvidia offerings...which is why I generally use Gigabyte products...very good warranty, not that I've ever needed to use it

 

[memories2002]

Get an EVGA 7600GT and step up later.

 

[sandorski]

Video cards tend to die rather quickly. Be sure to buy from manufacturers with good warranties.

 

[xtknight]

I've never had a video card die on me so I can't speak from experience. But if they aren't offering a warranty over 1 year then don't even buy it. I'll make sure to pay attention to that myself next time. I understand your frustration. I would be pretty angry too if my card died in a year. I expect CPUs to last at least five years, and I expect the same from video cards (assuming no overclock).

 

[Zenoth]

My 3 years-old 9800 Pro is still working, and I over-clocked it many times.

My current X1800 XL is still working, and I bought it in December 2005, it's just a little over one year-old now, and it works flawlessly. You had a lemon, or you just neglected it (let dust on it for months, over-clocked it badly such as with wrong voltages), that's the only thing I can think of why it failed so early.

 

[Avalon]

Asus replaced your board because they have a 2 or 3 year warranty on a good chunk of products. ATI's is rather short...that's why I typically buy Connect3D when I go ATI, for the longer warranty. Powercolor and Visiontek offer lifetime warranties, I believe.

 

[LordGestle]

Both MSI And Asus also sell video cards that have 3 year warranties. I understand your upset but learn from the mistake and buy something with a longer warranty.
I would also push the issue if you did purchase the card new last march. Tell them you have a receipt from the purchase and it hasn't been 12 months. See what they can do.
I would recommend the X1950 Pro if you go ATI or wait a little bit for the new nvidia offerings, ie 8600 Ultra.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

this is why i buy from companies like BFG...lifetime warranty. i wish they'd sell ATi products tho

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: Aries64

Originally posted by: gersson
ATI has issues with warranty... many Nvidia partners offer lifetime warranties -- so does PowerColor on the ATI side, If I recall.

Yeah gersson, AFAIK the only other ATI parner that offers a Limited Lifetime Warranty on their cards besides Power Color is Visiontek, and Visiontek's Limited Lifetime Warranty is for the top-end cards. Thats how I wound up buying my X1900XTX. US-based company who offered a Lifetime Warranty and had them available before the card's "official" launch.

It really does suck that ATI shortened their warranty to 1 year. Its' especially annoying on $400.00+ videocards (WTF?). Knock-on-wood, I've never had a videocard go bad in more than 15 years of building systems for myself and a few friends, but you never know. Thats why everyone should do their research before a major purchase.

1 year is bad, but MS saw fit to get away with a 90 day warranty on the 360 when it came out, and it was far from fault free.

3 year warranty really is about right imo. this area of computer tech changes so rapidly that you probably wont have the card in 3 years time.

though i still have an old skool 9500pro here.... still goin strong.

 

[mazeroth]

wildstrike, how could your card be out of warranty if it was purchased 11 months ago?

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: mazeroth
wildstrike, how could your card be out of warranty if it was purchased 11 months ago?

i asked that above.. he hasn't come back to reply.

kinda makes you wonder about his story...

 

[ronnn]

May have cost $400.00, but can be replaced with something better for much less now.

 

[Sniper82]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer

Originally posted by: Aries64

Originally posted by: gersson
ATI has issues with warranty... many Nvidia partners offer lifetime warranties -- so does PowerColor on the ATI side, If I recall.

Yeah gersson, AFAIK the only other ATI parner that offers a Limited Lifetime Warranty on their cards besides Power Color is Visiontek, and Visiontek's Limited Lifetime Warranty is for the top-end cards. Thats how I wound up buying my X1900XTX. US-based company who offered a Lifetime Warranty and had them available before the card's "official" launch.

It really does suck that ATI shortened their warranty to 1 year. Its' especially annoying on $400.00+ videocards (WTF?). Knock-on-wood, I've never had a videocard go bad in more than 15 years of building systems for myself and a few friends, but you never know. Thats why everyone should do their research before a major purchase.

1 year is bad, but MS saw fit to get away with a 90 day warranty on the 360 when it came out, and it was far from fault free.

3 year warranty really is about right imo. this area of computer tech changes so rapidly that you probably wont have the card in 3 years time.

though i still have an old skool 9500pro here.... still goin strong.

Not sure about Nintendo but Sony and MS has only offer 90 days on their past systems.

 

[Avalon]

Nintendo offers a year on its Wii, and an additional 3 months if you register it online.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: mazeroth
wildstrike, how could your card be out of warranty if it was purchased 11 months ago?

i asked that above.. he hasn't come back to reply.

kinda makes you wonder about his story...

Ok wildstrike, whats the deal? 1 year warranty on a card purchased 11 months ago. Explain.