Best ATI Partner's Warranty/RMA Policies

[Kent_Diego]

Hi All, In the past I have bought many "Built by ATI" cards. I have had to
RMA a few and ATI was great with timely mail in service. Now ATI has changed
their warranty to 1 year and it seems impossible to find a "Built by ATI"
card anymore. I looked at Sapphire and found they have 1 year but will not
RMA; you have to return to seller. Looks very crappy to me. Many nVidia
board partners have lifetime warranty and RMA service. BFG, XFX and EVGA
seem good. I recently bought a cheap EVGA 5500 FX card to have Aero support
in Windows Vista Beta in an old computer and was very impressed with EVGA.
The new ATI cards seem to be a better deal than the comparable nVidia cards
but risking a huge amount of money on a card with a 1 year warranty and no
RMA support seems foolhardy. Are there any ATI partners that have lifetime
or 3 year RMA support?

-Kent

 

[Tod]

It sounds like your looking at OEM cards, which I can understand that you
have to RMA through the retailer you bought the card from.
Typically OEM stuff only comes with a one year warranty.
Any card that you buy in retail packaging should allow you to RMA directly
to the manufacturer.
I believe there is some law that manufacturers have to deal directly with
the buyer
if it comes in retail packaging?

 

[First of One]

Hi All, In the past I have bought many "Built by ATI" cards. I have had to
RMA a few and ATI was great with timely mail in service. Now ATI has
changed their warranty to 1 year and it seems impossible to find a "Built
by ATI" card anymore.

ATi-branded cards are still pretty commonplace in North America. Take a look
at Pricegrabber.com or NCIX.com. In Europe, ATi has withdrawn its branded
cards, leaving the market to its board partners.

The new ATI cards seem to be a better deal than the comparable nVidia
cards but risking a huge amount of money on a card with a 1 year warranty
and no RMA support seems foolhardy.

Depends on the level of risk you are willing to take. You had to RMA a few
cards in the past. I have yet to see a video card fail in my system. Over
the years I've owned five ATi's, a LeadTek, a 3dfx, a Diamond and a
Creative. Video cards in general are much more reliable than other devices
like CD drives and monitors.

Keep in mind video cards depreciate quickly. I bought my 9800 Pro for $300.
In less than two years it had fallen to $60 (the going rate on eBay). In
three years, when its warranty ends, it won't be worth the cost of shipping
for an RMA. There will always be 2nd-hand cards or worthwhile alternatives
(X700 Pro, Geforce 6600) on the market to step in as replacements.

Are there any ATI partners that have lifetime or 3 year RMA support?

Connect3D and Powercolor both have two-year warranties with direct RMA to
the manufacturer. Visiontek has a lifetime warranty on all its cards. BFG
was a Visiontek offshoot, by the way.

 

[Kent_Diego]

I have had a 9700 Pro and a 9800 Pro fail with graphical problems. The
8500's fans don't seem to last very long. When you spend $200-$300 on a card
you expect it to last more than a few years. I have old computers and
friends/kids/relatives for my old cards so if they fail I still need to pay
~$80 for a replacement. Three years or more is not too long for the card to
work.

......
Connect3D and Powercolor both have two-year warranties with direct RMA to
the manufacturer. Visiontek has a lifetime warranty on all its cards. BFG
was a Visiontek offshoot, by the way.
......

I looked at the Vision Tek web site:
http://www.visiontek.com/all_products.html
They do not seem to have anything newer than a X800 but they do have the
lifetime warranty. They did indicate RMA support would be arranged via
email.

PowerColor:
http://www.powercolor.com/news_lifetime_warranty.htm has lifetime warranty
on the X1900 cards only and 2 years for the rest with direct RMA support for
all cards.

Connect 3D:
http://www.connect3d-us.com/start.html Two years with RMA support.

So it looks like my ATI choices are very limited unless I can find a
VisionTek X1900 on sale. Two years is not long enough. It is worth an extra
$30-$40 to get a lifetime warranty.

 

[Kent_Diego]

It sounds like your looking at OEM cards, which I can understand that you

have to RMA through the retailer you bought the card from.
Typically OEM stuff only comes with a one year warranty.
Any card that you buy in retail packaging should allow you to RMA directly
to the manufacturer.
I believe there is some law that manufacturers have to deal directly with
the buyer
if it comes in retail packaging?

I don't know Tod.
http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/index.php
See if you can see any way to submit a card for RMA. I did see in the FAQ
that the warranty is 2 years. Last time I looked I am sure I read that you
had to send card to seller for support.