What exactely will void the warrenty on my 9700PRO?

[BoomAM]

Hi,
i was wondering what would void the warrenty on my Sapphire 9700PRO?
I was thinking of either:
Replacing the crappy TIM with some decent thermal paste,
And/Or
Replacing the old ATI Standard HSF with one of those zalman passive things.

Technically, im not actually "messing" with the card, i`d actually be improving the cooling on it.
My local online store, Overclockers UK, say that doing anything like that will void the warrenty, and will prevent me from RMAing the card.

While im on about HSFs for 9700PRO cards, can any of you lot answer this as well?
Click Here

Thanks in advance guys/gals

 

[sash1]

Yes that will most definitely void the warranty.

And your link is bad: but this one isn't

 

[BoomAM]

Thanks for the fixed link.
Dam, i`d mod it anyway, like i did when i first got my GF3Ti200, but when you`ve spent £275 on a card, you dont want to risk voiding the warrenty.
How long are the warrentys anyway?

 

[kylebisme]

3 years on the retail ati 9700pro i bought, i can't say what you got whith your card though. regardless the hsf is not crappy, it is completely sufiant at running my 9700pro in my hot little mini tower even with the warranty voided by running at 342/342. some day soon i will look to improve the cooling as i don't care about the warranty anyway and a bit more of an overclock cannot hurt, but to say the stock cooling is crappy is really stretching it. if it can't keep your card cool you either have really bad ventilation in your case or a dud card which you should rerun under warranty.

 

[sash1]

"How long are the warrentys anyway?"

Retail is 3 years
OEM is 30 days

~Aunix

 

[BoomAM]

Thanks for the info guys.
My Sapphire 9700PRO is a retail one. With the original ATI HS and not the silver round thing.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Physically altering your 9700 Pro in any way voids your warranty. However, if you can reverse the process and make it look like how it came, then you can probably RMA it with little to no hassle.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

NOTHING voids the warranty that they CANT prove.

 

[BoomAM]

So let me get this strait.
If i was to remove the stock HSF, then put on some decent thermal paste, then put on the Zalman Passive HS. And then the card developed some kind of physical fault a few months later, if i could make the card look like it did before i added the new HS, then they`d still RMA it?
To be honest, i still would`nt replace the HSF, incase something did happen. It took me the best part of a year to save up for the card, and i dont want to mess it up.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: BoomAM
So let me get this strait.
If i was to remove the stock HSF, then put on some decent thermal paste, then put on the Zalman Passive HS. And then the card developed some kind of physical fault a few months later, if i could make the card look like it did before i added the new HS, then they`d still RMA it?
To be honest, i still would`nt replace the HSF, incase something did happen. It took me the best part of a year to save up for the card, and i dont want to mess it up.

Yes but you shouldnt have to replace the card, I havent had a vid card go bad yet but thats just me. How are they going to know if you did anything to it if it looks the same?

 

[acx]

You can attempt to RMA anything. Whether or not they will be able to detect that you have tampered with the card and thus voided your warranty is another issue. Yes, you can probably RMA back after you've screwed around with the HSF by replacing the original HSF because the service rep probably won't be able to tell what you did to it. But that would be like going to a store, buying a Radeon 9700 and then replace it with a Radeon 9500 from Newegg, and returning the product to the store claiming it was a Radeon 9700 and it was defective to get a refund.

 

[blindtothagame]

LOL
true not voids the warranty if they cant prove it.
second its 3yrs warranty on retail......
oem i belive you get the same warranty from the company who makes the card 3yrs and 30 days from the oem dealer you brought the card from...

 

[Afro000Dude]

good idea acx...

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: acx
You can attempt to RMA anything. Whether or not they will be able to detect that you have tampered with the card and thus voided your warranty is another issue. Yes, you can probably RMA back after you've screwed around with the HSF by replacing the original HSF because the service rep probably won't be able to tell what you did to it. But that would be like going to a store, buying a Radeon 9700 and then replace it with a Radeon 9500 from Newegg, and returning the product to the store claiming it was a Radeon 9700 and it was defective to get a refund.

Your analogy depicts two separate, completely different cases. RMA'ing something you modded and then un-modded is a violation of their terms and conditions, but it's not like purchasing something and then replacing it with a lower model item. That second case is a type of fraud, or some kind of misrepresentation and is illegal.