MSI RMA is offering me $130 for my 3 year old GTX 670

[SSigma]

I purchased this card in May of 2012 for $399.99 (before tax). This is the exact card:

http://us.msi.com/product/vga/N670GTXPM2D2GD5OC.html

I have been using it this whole time when, a few weeks ago, I started having problems with it. When playing certain games (Dota 2, Evolve, CSGO), I would randomly get major slow down (1 frame update every 10 seconds or so) and random freezes where I would have to force restart. I monitored the card with HWMonitor and GPU-Z and noticed it was reaching extremely hot temperatures (the highest I saw was 108 degrees Celsius). The fan spins and I dusted it as well as I could, but it did not seem to help.

I had couple weeks left on my warranty (MSI 3 year), so I figured I would just RMA it rather than attempting to replace the thermal paste or something myself. I sent out the card to MSI a couple weeks ago and today they contacted me saying they "are currently out of stock of suitable or comparable replacements for your unit(s)" and offered me a "refund of $130.00". I have only dealt with an RMA once before and it was with BFG Tech where they just sent me a new card.

I am wondering if anyone has had this happen to them and if they have any advice on this situation. I have looked around at various web sites and local retailers and $130 does not seem anywhere near enough to purchase a card that is roughly equal to my GTX 670. I was completely satisfied with my 670 and had no intent to upgrade, I simply wanted them to either fix my card or send out a card that was working.

Thanks for your time and help! Let me know if you need any more information.

EDIT: They are now offering me $150 for the card.

 

[Rvenger]

MSI seems to be pro-rating cards and giving checks instead of actually replacing cards. I would demand a replacement of the same performance or better.

MSI does allow removal of the heatsink without voiding warranty.

 

[xbanzai89]

I'd tell them to send you a 760 or 960. I would not settle until I got something of equal or better performance.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Demand an equal-or-better replacement card -- or more money.

 

[SSigma]

Thanks for the help everyone! I replied to the e-mail stating that $130 is not enough for me to find an equal replacement and asked if there are any other options.

Thanks again and I'll post an update as to what happens when I get a reply.

 

[Rvenger]

:thumbsup:

 

[Krazy4Real]

Wow.. That's pretty crappy. Hopefully they make things right.

 

[Vesku]

Definitely try to get a 760 or at least closer to $200 out of them.

 

[Rvenger]

I think a 760 is slightly worse than a 670?

 

[Leyawiin]

They owe you a GTX 960.

 

[HillaryClinton]

Ask for a 960 or 770, honesty anything else is just wrong.

 

[RaulF]

Ask for a 960 or 770, honesty anything else is just wrong.

Sorry i could not help myself.

How much did you paid for it OP? Is it the same value? If it is i say take it, if not ask for an equivalent replacement.

 

[komatta]

Sorry i could not help myself.

How much did you paid for it OP? Is it the same value? If it is i say take it, if not ask for an equivalent replacement.

He says what he paid in the very first line.

 

[RaulF]

He says what he paid in the very first line.

Yikes.

Thanks.


If that's the case, i would read what the warranty fine print is. But i would push for a equal or greater replacement.

 

[Shehriazad]

I'd totally push for a 960 as replacement...assuming you got the 2GB version of the 670.

Would actually be a performance bump.

770 is nice and all..but as already seen...Nvidia likes to make Maxwell look a little better in games at times by not giving Kepler all its strength unless the community unleashes a storm *cough* (yea yea...it toootally was an accident..like all the other things XD)

 

[Azix]

you can get a faster card with just a bit more maybe. A 280x/285 used if you're lucky. If you can't get more out of them

 

[nvgpu]

MSI should give you a GTX 960 as a replacement, don't take anything less than that considering you paid that much for the GTX 670.

 

[sm625]

That thing has a > 3 year warranty?

 

[Headfoot]

960/770/760/670/680

 

[Ketchup]

That thing has a > 3 year warranty?

Yes. Man he was close! Hopefully his reply will go up the ladder and have a better outcome.
http://us.msi.com/page/warranty/#w-vga

 

[Meekers]

For a card that old I would much rather have the money, even if it is not enough to get an equally performing card. A quick look at used cards on ebay suggests it is in the realm of a fair price, maybe a tad of the low side. Personally, I would try to get a couple more bucks out of them and then pick up a new card. Unless your goal would be to get a 960 and immediately flip it on ebay for a higher price, but honestly, that is more work than I would be willing to do.

 

[HillaryClinton]

For a card that old I would much rather have the money, even if it is not enough to get an equally performing card. A quick look at used cards on ebay suggests it is in the realm of a fair price, maybe a tad of the low side. Personally I would try to get a couple more bucks out of them and then pick up a new card. Unless your goal would be to get a 960 and immediately flip it for a higher price, but honestly that is more work than I would be willing to do.

I recently bought a 670(DOA but whatever) for 128USD BUT honestly you have to factor in the time and effort it takes to find a card of equal power, time is money after all, the company should just give him an equivalent :whiste:.

 

[RussianSensation]

For a card that old I would much rather have the money, even if it is not enough to get an equally performing card. A quick look at used cards on ebay suggests it is in the realm of a fair price, maybe a tad of the low side. Personally I would try to get a couple more bucks out of them and then pick up a new card. Unless your goal would be to get a 960 and immediately flip it for a higher price, but honestly that is more work than I would be willing to do.

Exactly. I think a lot of people making recommendations in this thread didn't really think this through. 670/760/960 2GB are all VRAM bottlenecked and aren't exactly stellar for games anymore to begin with. All 3 of them are outperformed by a single $150 R9 280 3GB, not even the 280X. The 280 has a lifetime warranty. Chances are if they send him a 760/960 card, it might not even be new.

But the more obvious thing to do here was to take the $130 and use this as a perfect cheap upgrade to step up to an R9 290 that would last the OP another 2 years.

After-market R9 290 can be bought for $230 USD, or the Sapphire Tri-X 290 is $250. With $130 off that, would have cost $100-120 to increase performance more than 60%, and double the VRAM in the process. Essentially for $100-120 more, the OP could have had a ~ 970 level of performance and not have to worry about VRAM bottlenecks of a 670/760/960. Now he is going to either have to use another slow card he gets back or go out and sell it himself which is just more work/hassle than taking $130 with cash and upgrading to say an R9 290.

I guess on this forum it still hasn't sunk in just how bad the GTX960 2GB videocard really is. 760 is even worse.

Reference R9 290 offer 96% of the performance of GTX960 SLI. That means an after-market $230 one would win.

I would e-mail MSI if I could and just take the $ and do a $100-120 stop-gap upgrade to an after-market R9 290 until 14nm/16nm HBM2 GPUs drop.

 

[yacoub]

Great post, RS. Solid advice.

 

[Vesku]

I'd still try to get closer to $200 as that or a bit more is what you would need to buy into a similar performance bracket. Almost all of those warranties have the "if no replacement available" clause allowing them to just pay out instead.