RMA now or later?

[taltamir]

I have recently bought a windsor X2 6400+ Black Edition 3.2ghz. I did not realize at the time black edition only meant unlocked for the brisbanes, and for the windsor it meant only that it comes without a fan...

At first I tried to run it with the heatsink/fan that came with my X2 3800+. That was a failure, so I bought a zalman 9500 AM2 cpu cooler. With it I managed to get 44c idle and 55c load at stock and it seemed stable. (I ran a 20 minute test)...

However I would blue screen on a few applications. UFOAlien Invasion crashed, I thought it was just the game, then dosbox crashes, I was hoping it was the new version but I already realized it wasn't it... I played Universe at War: earth assult and it crashed, and I just went ahead and downclocked it to 3.0ghz (multiplier 15, which also lowers my ram speed btw).

This is completely unacceptable for a brand new chip (which btw, I bought at tiger direct and the only place I saw the "no returns for this item" police is on my receipt.").
So I was thinking about RMAing it to AMD for a replacement. The thing is, if I keep on running it downclocked now and RMA it later will it be a problem? I was thinking of waiting until they have a 65nm 6400+ chip. (and hope they sent me that) So that it runs cooler and is more likely to work properly. Or I could RMA it right away and get a replacement now.
What are your thoughts on the matter?

 

[waffleironhead]

I see no reason to wait. If it is failing now rma it now.

 

[JustaGeek]

Time to jump the ship, taltamir...

 

[taltamir]

Yea... interestingly enough tiger direct now lists 3 copies of the X2 6400+ and my "previous orders" page changed from "no returns" to "click here to ask for RMA"...
I went ahead and did that and I will send it to them (told them it was defective too). Hopefully they will take it back and I wouldn't have to worry about keeping it and wasting 180$.
I guess I will just go ahead and get a nehalem / revised phenom in a few months depending on cost and performance. For now I will just have to tough it out with my 3800+.

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
Time to jump the ship, taltamir...

I meant... Intel.

 

[taltamir]

Yea, I figured. I already realized that for a new system intel is a much better buy... I am just dealing with justifying replacing the motherboard as well...

But AMD is doing all that justifying for me by sucking so much. I left them in the picture as a possibility for an upgrade when nehelem comes out on priciple... I don't beleive there is any chance they will make a comeback, but if they do somehow pull a miracle then I will stay with them. I just doubt it will happen.

Anyways I just finished putting in the 3800+ in there.. good thing I didn't ebay it. And now its with the zalman cooler rather then the original cooler, it is much quieter. I'll go ahead and package the old processor and get it ready for shipment... If tiger direct ends up refusing it then I will ship it to AMD for replacement instead.