XFX 260-216 Black Edition RMA Please

[Sepulchre]

Hi,

I purchased an XFX 260-216 Black edition and received it on 16/12/08, since then I have had several crashes where the screen freezes and the sound loops, I've had this again 4 times tonight within 5-10 minutes of playing COD4 or CODWAW. I have tried another grx card in my PC (an old 7800GT) which is able to play the game without issue albeit at a slower frame rate.

when it crashes it looks like this -


Can you tell me what I need to do to arrange an RMA, how long the process will take and when I can expect a replacement card? I'm hoping Scan don't want to send it back to XFX given XFX's notoriously bad customer service.

[Sepulchre]

Bit more info, I've just run some stability tests using FurMark, these runs are as follows -

Card set to default factory overclock - Furmark ran for 127 seconds at which point the screen froze, the GPU was logged running at 81C.

Card set to default 260GTX settings - Furmark ran for 1000 seconds and reached 81C without any crashes. I stopped the run at this point.

Card set to factory default overclock with Fan set to 100% - Furmark ran for 1000 seconds and reached 68C without crashing at which point I stopped the run.

So it would appear that the card is not stable at the default factory overclock settings, but is fine at default GTX260 settings or when the fan is blowing at full speed, this indicates to me that the GPU is overheating. This is not great for a premium factory overclocked card, but reading around it does not seem to be unknown on a lot of the factory overclocked 260 cards

My PC is built in an Antec 900 with all case fans set to medium, air flow is unobstructed by cables so there should be plenty of cool air entering the PC to cool the card sufficiently.

I look forward to receiving a reply from a member of Scan.

[GoNz0]

is this within 7 days of delivery so you can reject it for full refund ?

best bets to get a full refund and pray scan dont follow the "standard xfx RMA"

then buy another brand at stock speeds and overclock it yourself.

[matty-hodgson]

what PSU do you have?
if the PSU isn't up to the job, then when things get hot, the resistance increases and it'll just pack in with a poor quality PSU.

are all the connections between the PSU and GPU properly connected?

[Sepulchre]

unfortunately not, it was delivered on 16/12/08 put away until xmas so has only been used for 4 weeks. I think this is something I would have at one time picked up on far sooner, but a 4 month old baby tends to restrict my gaming time these days.

What is the "Standard XFX RMA" ??

[Sepulchre]

what PSU do you have?
if the PSU isn't up to the job, then when things get hot, the resistance increases and it'll just pack in with a poor quality PSU.

are all the connections between the PSU and GPU properly connected?

Its a Be-Quite 750W, all connections are good.

Full spec -

Q6600 @ 3.5Ghz | Asus P5k-e Wifi | 4 x 1 Gb OCZ 6400 | GTX 260-216 BE | Antec 900 | AC 7 - 59°C Under Prime | Hyundia 24" PVA 1920x1200| Be Quiet! Dark Power 750W|

[pauleden]

What is the "Standard XFX RMA" ??

It's the reason I won't buy XFX right now.

[GoNz0]

What is thr "Standard XFX RMA" ??

terrible, search the forums

you will be without the card for a few weeks m8, then end up with another one that will no doubt do the same, they never have been any good at selling overclocked cards.
thats if they even admit its faulty as you stand a 50% chance of getting the same duff card back.

try for a refund and get a BFG

[Sepulchre]

terrible, search the forums

you will be without the card for a few weeks m8, then end up with another one that will no doubt do the same, they never have been any good at selling overclocked cards.
thats if they even admit its faulty as you stand a 50% chance of getting the same duff card back.

try for a refund and get a BFG

Will do, I might even go for a BFG 285GTX at £309 as I still have some xmas money left. Hopefully scan will accommodate this.

[Richh]

What is the "Standard XFX RMA" ??

Not quite the same situation, but... http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...nt-policy.html

Hopefully you will be the guinea pig for ScanXFX's cuddly new customer-centric policy, although unfortunately the amount of time the card has been in your possession (albeit not used for some of it) means they are within their rights to treat it as a conventional RMA rather than a dead product.

As to whether Scan will allow you to refund/exchange for another brand, if you want the replacement quick you're likely to have to pay full whack up front with them refunding you for the old card after (could be some days after) XFX get it back and replicate the fault.

BTW - you know the moral of this story? Don't have kids.

[Sepulchre]

BTW - you know the moral of this story? Don't have kids.

lol your right they do eat into your free time.

Out of interest where is the Scan RMA procedure, i've scoured their web site but cant seem to find it?

[sleepyhead]

Fill out THIS form.

[Sepulchre]

I've just spoken with Amanda at Scan who was very helpful, she tells me the card will be tested by Scan and if they confirm the card is faulty it will then go back to XFX for further testing, she tells me this can take up to 15 days but typically takes around 10 (from the time Scan receive the card).

If the card is found to be faulty by both Scan and XFX they will send out a direct replacement, which I'm not overly happy about as I would rather not run the risk of going through this again with another XFX card when other manufactures allow Scan to do a direct replacement if its found to be faulty which would suggest an RMA could be turned around much faster.

Based on this overly complex and time consuming process imposed by XFX I'll avoid buying further XFX products unless they adopt the same returns process as other manufacturers. Its a pity that this only becomes obvious when an issue occurs rather than at the time of purchase, but I guess if this was made known up front a lot of people would avoid XFX cards (this is something I've since found out is well know on the web and a reason why people avoid XFX, as intimated by posters in this thread).

The issue as far as I can see sits with XFX's crazy returns process and not with Scan. I've said to Amanda that I would be happy to take a card from an alternate manufacturer or indeed pay the extra and upgrade to a 285GTX, apparently though this wont happen unless Scan are out of stock of the XFX card which I find somewhat limited in terms of customer service, and I don’t see the reason for it given when XFX deem the card to be faulty Scan will receive either another card or a refund directly from XFX at which point it must become possible for Scan to arrange with the customer a solution which best fits their requirements, especially if it means Scan end up with an extra 80 quid in their pocket as they would in this case. So here’s hoping the XFX card is out of stock and I can either get a 260 from an alternate manufacturer or upgrade to a 285. For clarity I'd like to point out that I was happy with the performance of this card and I'm not using this fault as a means to upgrade the card, I do however as stated previously have a few quid left from Xmas so thought this might be an opportunity to spend it

[filbert]

I don't know the rules or law, but I wouldn't be happy spending that amount and it going faulty so soon.
If it was found faulty by scan I would expect my money back, remember the contract is with scan not xfx.
Come on scan surely on such a new card you should deal with this quicker, and the op wants to upgrade to a more expensive card.

[Sepulchre]

Thanks for your post, I didn't think my request was unreasonable.

I've just got the card bubble wrapped and boxed securely including all games, flyers and licence codes just the way it as when I bought it. I just hope the replacement is a brand new card and sent with the same care.

[Joey2oo7]

I couldn't even get a replacement card sent out when my XFX Black Edition GTX260 was DOA (faulty fan). In the end i got fed up with Scan's attitude regarding the whole matter, demanded a refund and purchased a replacement card from Amazon......