from my understanding the $15 RMA fee is not normal practice for Sapphire.....
Usually you are lucky if they will RMA at all
Usually you are lucky if they will RMA at all
You could have easily checked visiontek's rma policy and seen that you have to pay shipping both ways, unlike most other places. Thus visiontek basically charges you $10-15 to replace a video card, much like sapphire.
Not to mention, adding $15 to the price is retarded. Its not like every card will fail; its actually really likely that your card won't break. That, and all the release reference cards were made by the same manufacturer, and all the chips were fabbed by the same company.
first off why is the card "dying"? are you losing the overclocking ability because cooling is less effective? try cleaning the cooler & reseating it.
It has been artifacting for a couple of months now at stock speeds. I used ATI TrayTool to set a fan profile to speed up with increasing temps. When it first started artfiacting, I removed the card, blew the dust out and cleaned it best I could, but did not remove the cooler. I figured if this card was dying, I did not want to void the warranty by removing the cooler, knowing that it was still within the warranty period. The temps, according to ATITT never get over 68C, which is obviously pretty good for this card, yet it still artifacts.
For the last several weeks it artifacts so badly after only a few minutes that I really can't play any game. I was trying to wait on purchasing a 4850 until they came out with an improved cooling version, but I had to go ahead and buy now just to have a working VC to play games.
I explained what the card was doing to Sapphire Tech and nearly immediately received the RMA form. I was pretty surprised by how easy that was, but the $15 processing fee just floored me.
taltamir
Lifer
- Mar 21, 2004
- 13,576
- 6
- 76
ok, i exaggerated a bit with the "don't buy something without lifetime warranty"... It was more of a rule of thumb, what I really do is look into every potential company, and i tend to go to those who distinguish themselves with higher quality support and service. Which often amounts to lifetime warranty.
Interesting that vistiontek makes you pay shipping both ways, that is also unusual, this is the same as the 15$ sapphire charges, only hidden better.
Is there any ATI company that offers at least 2 years warranty and pays for shipping both ways? or at least has good service and ships quickly and painlessly and doesn't charge you shipping (but you have to pay to ship to them?)
Interesting that vistiontek makes you pay shipping both ways, that is also unusual, this is the same as the 15$ sapphire charges, only hidden better.
Is there any ATI company that offers at least 2 years warranty and pays for shipping both ways? or at least has good service and ships quickly and painlessly and doesn't charge you shipping (but you have to pay to ship to them?)
I believe ASUS offers excellent service backing up their 3-yr warranty. I've never RMA'd anything from them, but I've read positive things about their service. However, I believe you do need to register within 30 days of purchase or the warranty defaults down to 1 yr.
apoppin
Lifer
i doubt you quite understand what i even said
Here is VT's RMA policy and it is not at all clear that the end use pays the shipping to them. It only says shipping charges are non-refundable.
http://www.visiontek.com/store...ormation.php?info_id=2
i buy Sapphire products all the time and as long as they are $15 cheaper than their competitor - other things being equal, i buy the Sapphire. i also have a Sapphire 4870 in my PC now and i am selling my Sapphire 2900p [o/cs to XT] and my VT 2900xt [cheap]; so i buy all brand names. Nothing retarded about my methods.
You might be retarded however, with your statement that the Video cards are "the same". They are NOT the same quality. VT's 2900 is better made than the Sapphire's. VT's extended warranty is justified by the extra quality over the cheap Sapphire.
Originally posted by: apoppin
i doubt you quite understand what i even said
Here is VT's RMA policy and it is not at all clear that the end use pays the shipping to them. It only says shipping charges are non-refundable.
http://www.visiontek.com/store...ormation.php?info_id=2
i buy Sapphire products all the time and as long as they are $15 cheaper than their competitor - other things being equal, i buy the Sapphire. i also have a Sapphire 4870 in my PC now and i am selling my Sapphire 2900p [o/cs to XT] and my VT 2900xt [cheap]; so i buy all brand names. Nothing retarded about my methods.
You might be retarded however, with your statement that the Video cards are "the same". They are NOT the same quality. VT's 2900 is better made than the Sapphire's. VT's extended warranty is justified by the extra quality over the cheap Sapphire.
Why are you looking at visiontek's store's return policy? That has nothing to do with their RMA process or warranty.
From http://www.visiontek.com/teksu.../limited_warranty.html
To receive warranty service, contact VisionTek?s Technical Support department. Before returning any product for service, you must have first communicated with one of our service representatives. The service representative will issue a Return Material Authorization (RMA) request and additional instructions for receiving the RMA number. No VisionTek product will be accepted for warranty service without valid proof of purchase and an RMA number. Your sales receipt or invoice from a retail store is your proof of purchase. The warrantee shall pay the cost of returning the defective product to and from VisionTek?s service center.
Take a look at the bolded part. Then take a look at it again, just to be sure you understand.
Also, your methods are retarded because docking $15 off a sapphire card basically amounts to you expecting to return every single sapphire card you buy, which makes no sense. Video cards fail, but its not like its a guaranteed to fail 100%. Take some remedial probability classes please.
Also, Sapphire is ATI's primary manufacturer of video cards. Other brands, such as visiontek slap a sticker on sapphires cards and sell them as their own. Its called rebadging. I guess if a sticker means quality to you, you have other problems to worry about.
Also, I've used Asus's RMA service before for a geforce 7900 pci-e a couple years ago, and while it did take a few weeks, I got brand new cards back. The process wasn't anymore complicated than standard rma service, and I only had to pay shipping to them, not to and back like visiontek.
-Steve
-Steve
apoppin
Lifer
Originally posted by: ss284
Originally posted by: apoppin
i doubt you quite understand what i even said
Here is VT's RMA policy and it is not at all clear that the end use pays the shipping to them. It only says shipping charges are non-refundable.
http://www.visiontek.com/store...ormation.php?info_id=2
i buy Sapphire products all the time and as long as they are $15 cheaper than their competitor - other things being equal, i buy the Sapphire. i also have a Sapphire 4870 in my PC now and i am selling my Sapphire 2900p [o/cs to XT] and my VT 2900xt [cheap]; so i buy all brand names. Nothing retarded about my methods.
You might be retarded however, with your statement that the Video cards are "the same". They are NOT the same quality. VT's 2900 is better made than the Sapphire's. VT's extended warranty is justified by the extra quality over the cheap Sapphire.
Why are you looking at visiontek's store's return policy? That has nothing to do with their RMA process or warranty.
From http://www.visiontek.com/teksu.../limited_warranty.html
To receive warranty service, contact VisionTek?s Technical Support department. Before returning any product for service, you must have first communicated with one of our service representatives. The service representative will issue a Return Material Authorization (RMA) request and additional instructions for receiving the RMA number. No VisionTek product will be accepted for warranty service without valid proof of purchase and an RMA number. Your sales receipt or invoice from a retail store is your proof of purchase. The warrantee shall pay the cost of returning the defective product to and from VisionTek?s service center.
Take a look at the bolded part. Then take a look at it again, just to be sure you understand.
Also, your methods are retarded because docking $15 off a sapphire card basically amounts to you expecting to return every single sapphire card you buy, which makes no sense. Video cards fail, but its not like its a guaranteed to fail 100%. Take some remedial probability classes please.
Also, Sapphire is ATI's primary manufacturer of video cards. Other brands, such as visiontek slap a sticker on sapphires cards and sell them as their own. Its called rebadging. I guess if a sticker means quality to you, you have other problems to worry about.
thanks for finally posting a link. However, there is no "application fee" and if you are only paying the commercial rate they pay back to you, it is not $15.
i never had to RMA a VT card, have you? OtOH, i have had to RMA a Sapphire and i was able to avoid the *extra* $15 by RMAing thru the etailer..
You are pretty clueless when you say VT just slaps a sticker on Sapphire's product and sells it as their own. They have quite a choice of what they will use - reference design or not. And the cooler that VT uses is different than the Sapphires; as is the PCB. The GPU is the same, however.
Worry about your own myriad of problems; i am taking care of myself fine. Since you do not get what i am saying about "mentally adding" the POSSIBLE extra $15 .. then forget it ... i can't draw you a picture here .. Take some remedial reading lessons and at least attempt to concentrate on what you read.
:roll:
Wow, there is so much hostility around these forums these days. Anyway, regarding ASUS's motherboard warranty / replacement program, I have had good expereinces going through the process. I will say, however, their process used to be much easier for those that live here in the Bay Area. We used to be able to visit the Fremont location & will call the replacement, often times the same day. That has all changed & everything has to be sent out now. They send out the replacement in roughly 2 - 3 weeks, so make sure you have a backup system.
OP, not to throw this train off course, but that processing fee is a joke. It really does suck that you're having to deal with this crap. In a way, I'm glad I'm reading this thread because it's just one more reason to avoid Sapphire products. I had no intentions of buying them before, but now I definitely won't be supporting their products. Hidden costs & BS charges don't fly with me.
OP, not to throw this train off course, but that processing fee is a joke. It really does suck that you're having to deal with this crap. In a way, I'm glad I'm reading this thread because it's just one more reason to avoid Sapphire products. I had no intentions of buying them before, but now I definitely won't be supporting their products. Hidden costs & BS charges don't fly with me.
Originally posted by: HOOfan 1
from my understanding the $15 RMA fee is not normal practice for Sapphire.....
Usually you are lucky if they will RMA at all
And that's the God's honest truth! LOL!
Originally posted by: apoppin
thanks for finally posting a link. However, there is no "application fee" and if you are only paying the commercial rate they pay back to you, it is not $15.
i never had to RMA a VT card, have you? OtOH, i have had to RMA a Sapphire and i was able to avoid the *extra* $15 by RMAing thru the etailer..
You are pretty clueless when you say VT just slaps a sticker on Sapphire's product and sells it as their own. They have quite a choice of what they will use - reference design or not. And the cooler that VT uses is different than the Sapphires; as is the PCB. The GPU is the same, however.
Worry about your own myriad of problems; i am taking care of myself fine. Since you do not get what i am saying about "mentally adding" the POSSIBLE extra $15 .. then forget it ... i can't draw you a picture here .. Take some remedial reading lessons and at least attempt to concentrate on what you read.
:roll:
1. I never said there was an application fee did I? I said people had to pay shipping both ways, which you refuted with bogus information. You can google and see that people paid $10-15 for return shipping, but I already mentioned that in an earlier post, but you obviously didn't pay attention to that either.
2. VT uses the SAME REFERENCE COOLER and SAME PCB on its cards that sapphire does, because sapphire makes the card for them. How hard is that to understand? There is no quality difference. Partners can put a different cooler on them, but visiontek goes REFERENCE, IE MADE BY SAPPHIRE.
3. Please go ahead and explain how adding $15 to a sapphire purchase makes any statistical or mathematical sense instead of just attacking my intelligence without any sort of reasoning behind it. My post had substance to it, and I presented valid points, while yours simply ignores those. I actually read your posts, as much as a waste of time it is; the least you could do is read mine and think it through a little bit before you reply me.
taltamir
Lifer
- Mar 21, 2004
- 13,576
- 6
- 76
you know... part of the cards are reference cards with a different sticker. the other part actually have a different PCB / components with the same GPU. It depends on the individual model. So you are both right on that one, it just depends on the model. (although MOST models are the reference one, only a few rare ones are redesigned)
Sapphire is terrible. I bought a Sapphire X1900GT that I think became defective after a few months. When I tried posting on Sapphire's tech help forums, their moderators would always blame something else, usually the PSU. It was completely ridiculous and unprofessional. And then I heard about the $15 rma fee, I just decided to not return it at all and just buy a different card. Sapphire sux!
But visiontek's boards are all reference, aka sapphire made. I know certain companies design non-reference boards, but visiontek has all reference designs.
taltamir
Lifer
- Mar 21, 2004
- 13,576
- 6
- 76
actually it is not sapphire made.
This data dump from a bios only implies it, but there is another line you can see when examining the bios, and that is who made it. I have yet to see an AMD board that was not assembled by "Wekiva".
However, it IS possible that Wekiva has several different designs that they allow. perhaps a manufacturer can choose to have Wekiva use higher quality capacitors and a higher layer board. I don't know if that is the case, but it is possible.
The only question is, does wekiva also make those custom boards / fans for manufacturers, or do they make those themselves.
I have seen a show on eVGA's black pearl... they would get G80 boards, manually replace the HSF on them, and put them in a sauna testing room. Those that passed the rigerous tests would manually have a black pearl sticker placed on them, the rest got an overclocking or stock bios, depending on their OC level.
This data dump from a bios only implies it, but there is another line you can see when examining the bios, and that is who made it. I have yet to see an AMD board that was not assembled by "Wekiva".
However, it IS possible that Wekiva has several different designs that they allow. perhaps a manufacturer can choose to have Wekiva use higher quality capacitors and a higher layer board. I don't know if that is the case, but it is possible.
The only question is, does wekiva also make those custom boards / fans for manufacturers, or do they make those themselves.
I have seen a show on eVGA's black pearl... they would get G80 boards, manually replace the HSF on them, and put them in a sauna testing room. Those that passed the rigerous tests would manually have a black pearl sticker placed on them, the rest got an overclocking or stock bios, depending on their OC level.
so with newegg you get 1 year to exchange a defective card automatically? i don't see where they mention it on their site. or is this the optional warranty?
Many Video Cards from Newegg (maybe all, don't know for certain) have this standard statement in the "Returns & Rebates" section:
This item is covered by Newegg.com's Standard Return Policy.
Return for refund within: 30 days
Return for replacement within: 1 year
I suggest that if anyone goes on the Sapphire Forums you just tell them that you have an Enermax Galaxy PSU or a PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool...then they won't try to blame the PSU.
g33ng3cko=MORON
The guy is a one man wrecking machine for their reputation. The fact that his but has not been fired shows what type of a company Sapphire is.
I have worked in customer service and if I so much as gave a customer a look they didn't like, I would have been cleaning out my locker. Unfortunately over the past 10 years the tech industry have become notorious for poor customer service and it is dip***ts like gr33ng3cko who have caused this bad reputation.
g33ng3cko=MORON
The guy is a one man wrecking machine for their reputation. The fact that his but has not been fired shows what type of a company Sapphire is.
I have worked in customer service and if I so much as gave a customer a look they didn't like, I would have been cleaning out my locker. Unfortunately over the past 10 years the tech industry have become notorious for poor customer service and it is dip***ts like gr33ng3cko who have caused this bad reputation.
apoppin
Lifer
exactly. Quality control is also different and the GPUs are binned by VT for their OC models. Also cooling is very different on some models.
With Sapphire you get a year. With VT you get life time. Only a moron would say the cards are "the same"
:roll:
i have a sapphire and a VT 2900 series side-by-side and it is pretty clear who uses superior components
i will still recommend to buy sapphire only if it is significantly cheaper than VT; and also if you plan to get rid of it in a year
i still have both of 'em for sale cheap .. paired in Crossfire they are only about 10-15% slower than my {sapphire} HD4870
bob4432
Lifer
- Sep 6, 2003
- 11,727
- 46
- 91
just had an asus 3850 go bad after less than 30 days but had sent in the upc - asus made it ridiculous to get an rma, so i called newegg and was able to get it all taken care of in a ok manner, not exactly 100% happy but still not jumping through hoops. went w/ a sapphire 4850 as my last 4 sapphire cards worked flawless for years, but figured asus would be better - now they lost a customer because of the hoop jumping to get a rma for an obvious defective product.
if this shit contines, guess i will jump back to nvidia w/ evga, xfx or bfg. and no, this wasn't my first asus product, probably the 5th or 6th one including m/bs, so i was quite sad to get that type of customer service - oh yeah, not to mention the 2hrs on hold to talk to somebody for 10mins. hope you don't have to use the asus rma service.
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