New Modder Friendly Warranty

[xfxsupport]

I am happy to announce that XFX has modified our warranty on the 6,7, and 8 series video cards for our North American customers. We now offer a "Modder" friendly warranty per many of your requests. You can see more about the new warranty at:
http://www.xfxforce.com/web/viewFeature.jspa?featureId=1067748
or if you have any questions just ask myself.


XFX Support

[werty316]

Finally I can abuse my video card and overclock the heck out of it :toot:

I am kidding of course :icon_tiphat:

[Kougar]

That is great news!! I wish I'd known about it before launching my review as I would have made sure to devote a few paragraphs to this! I updated the review with the info + link.

[xfxsupport]

We are pretty excited about it as well. Thanks for the addition to your review.


XFX Support

[slugbug]

Woohoo, time to break out the liquid nitrogen :ahhhhh:

[Bio-Hazard]

Now I don't have to worry about my water block being installed...........;)

[Schwarz]

I'll add it to my review (eVGA 7900GT KO vs XFX 8800GTS (320MB) )
This is great news for every computer enthusiasts.
I even think so far you DO offer the best.

[Rafal]

You guys are amazing! Modding communities will be thrived by this :) Great job XFX :-)

[Schwarz]

Taken from my review.


As far as the warranty goes XFX so far is the best in the market offering their usual Double Life Time warranty
wich means you can sell it or give to anyone and that person gets the lifetime warranty.
BUT you also get the new Modder Friendly warranty, wich is a first in the industry.
It lets you Overclock your card and if things go wrong well guess what, XFX will honor the warranty.
You don't have to lie your way out to get your card replaced.
This is good for all series 6,7 and 8 cards !
So if you have a XFX card, whatcha waiting for, register your card and start pushing it !
And again this is also valid for the double life time warranty !
You don't have a deadline to register your card so I really recomand people to register their cards even if you bought it a while ago.

[tomato]

So, is this modder friendly warranty immediately? And does it cover previously purchased cards? Or just any purchased card from here on out?

[xfxsupport]

The warranty changes are already in effect and are backdated to previously purchased 6,7, and 8 series video cards. Do however keep in mind, initially these warranty changes are for our North American customers only. I am currently unaware if other regions will also adopt these changes.


XFX Support

[Bio-Hazard]

It gives a date on their website if I remember correctly.............;)

[werty316]

From statement #4:

To qualify, any 6 Series or greater Graphics Card purchased on or after April 17, 2007 must be registered within the first 30 days of purchase or the protection for the card will be limited to 1 year.

So after a day of reading this sweet news guess what happened? I let the smoke out of my card :dielaffin: :ahhhhh: kidding of course :icon_tiphat:


Taken from my review.

As far as the warranty goes XFX so far is the best in the market offering their usual Double Life Time warranty
wich means you can sell it or give to anyone and that person gets the lifetime warranty.
BUT you also get the new Modder Friendly warranty, wich is a first in the industry.
It lets you Overclock your card and if things go wrong well guess what, XFX will honor the warranty.
You don't have to lie your way out to get your card replaced.
This is good for all series 6,7 and 8 cards !
So if you have a XFX card, whatcha waiting for, register your card and start pushing it !
And again this is also valid for the double life time warranty !
You don't have a deadline to register your card so I really recomand people to register their cards even if you bought it a while ago.
As far as I know eVGA allows this. Also you spelled "which" wrong.

[Scott]

Purchased on or after April 17th 2007

[xfxsupport]

It does look a little confusing so let me help clarify the terms of this new warranty. The website displays

"To qualify, any 6 Series or greater Graphics Card purchased on or after April 17, 2007 must be registered within the first 30 days of purchase"

What this means is that if you purchase a 6,7 or 8 series video card on or after April 17th 2007 you will need to register it within 30 (as is the case with many product warranties these days). However we did not forget about our customers that currently have a 6,7 or 8 series cards. They are also covered by the new terms of this warranty and we recommend they register their video card online as well if they have not.


XFX Support

[Scott]

Thats cool. That is even better than what Ryan told me.

[Victor]

Accroding to the site, it seems like only the card purchased on the 4/17/07 qualified for this. So I don't think that many of the 6/7 card owners can qualify for this unless they purchase their card after the date.

Still great news as it covers for life for 2 owners. BTW, be sure to register the card within 30 days of purchase (or you only get 1 year:)).

[werty316]

It does look a little confusing so let me help clarify the terms of this new warranty. The website displays

"To qualify, any 6 Series or greater Graphics Card purchased on or after April 17, 2007 must be registered within the first 30 days of purchase"

What this means is that if you purchase a 6,7 or 8 series video card on or after April 17th 2007 you will need to register it within 30 (as is the case with many product warranties these days). However we did not forget about our customers that currently have a 6,7 or 8 series cards. They are also covered by the new terms of this warranty and we recommend they register their video card online as well if they have not.


XFX Support
Thats what I was thinkin; thx for clearing this up :icon_tiphat:

[Schwarz]

Ill modify it.
Thanks.

[Scott]

They won't even cover my cards. Bummer some policy about a guy named Scott Sherman shall never get anything fixed by XFX.

[xfxsupport]

Every policy has its loop holes I guess :).

[Chakka]

Great news! Ive had my XFX 7900gt card modded for over 9 months...still going strong!

I have found new faith in XFX again.

Honestly I was going to buy EVGA next but with this new warranty Ill be back in the XFX camp!!! Plus Bjorn3d is a better place to get answers to questions than the EVGA forum...XFX just needs to get the word out on this new warranty if they want to sell more cards imo.

[darkorb]

Oh wow thats awesome, im gonna be getting an XFX 8800gts 320mb next week!!!

I dont think ill need to OC it though :P

[tomato]

Thanks for clearing everything up, xfxsupport & Scott ;) XFX comes through again!

[raidersforever01]

Don't do that, now i have a rain check for destruction. I haven't killed a gpu yet but now i am not worried to push it.:grin:

[XJnine]

Reading through the warranty I'm trying to figure out if it is "modder" friendly or just "overclocker" friendly. I didn't read anything that makes me think I could do anything physically to my card which would actually be modding it. If I remove my heatsink and fry my card with an aftermarket heatsink I'm assuming I'd be liable but if I overclock my card and fry it with the OEM heatsink I would be covered. Am I correct? If XFX is willing to cover the card even if the stock cooling is tampered with I'll be very, very impressed. Although I know from experience that has happened in the past, I know it's not the rule.

[raidersforever01]

I was kind of wondering what could be done also. It is not really giving to much information about being modder or OC friendly. I don't want to do something then find out it really wasn't covered.

[werty316]

When I read "modder" friendly, I am thinking that you can overclock or use an aftermarket cooler since those two types of situations involve "modding" your video card from its stock state.

[XJnine]

Products received by XFX must be in original condition and must be complete with all original components to be covered by the protection.



XFX reserves the right to claim shipping fees as well as a service charge* for any incomplete or modified Product that is returned and that requires repair or replacement, or when the Owner is not entitled to any coverage under the XFX Double Lifetime Protection.

According to these lines in the 'fine print' if you replace the stock cooling solution I'd assume it's no longer in original condition, even if the stock heatsink has been reapplied. It's no longer in original condition.

The second quote states that they can charge shipping and additional fees if they find the card has been modified. Again, that would involve anything that changes the card from its stock state.

The warranty is being called modder friendly but it also says they can charge you if they receive an RMA that is a 'modified product'. Hmm, a modder warranty that you can't mod.

I guess I'll wait for the official XFX response.

[Schwarz]

I guess its actually an overclocker friendly warranty more then a modder.
I think XFX should clarify that.

[tomato]

If you mod by adding an aftermarket cooler and the card goes belly up due to OC'ing... you could RMA the card and just replace the aftermarket cooler that you added with the original stock cooler, couldn't you? Or would most people, (not myself, I keep all components/packaging/etc.) just throw away a perfectly good stock cooler? :?

[XJnine]

Even though you replaced it the card is no longer in "original condition". The stock TIM has been replaced by whatever you chose to replace it with and I know for a fact that the 8800GTS and GTX's have to use a thick thermal pad as opposed to just using paste. If you try to replace the pads (which will be ruined when you take the HSF off) with paste the heatsink will no longer make contact with the ram chips, VRM's, and some other chips on the card. By switching those things around it becomes a "modified product" which, according to the fine print in the warranty, they can charge you for the repair or replacement.

I'm hoping that the warranty actually covers replacing the stock cooling solution with an aftermarket one but I'm not so sure because of the wording in the warranty.

XFX, please clear this up for us...

[xfxsupport]

Yes you can replace the stock cooling with aftermarket cooling and it will not void your warranty (as long as there is not physcial damage to the video card). Just keep the original hardware aside incase you ever need an RMA. Some of our video cards do use pads between the components and the cooling hardware, that if your careful you can remove and keep aside or purchase at some PC supply stores.

XFX Support

[XJnine]

Awesome! Thanks for the clarification.

[Schwarz]

WOW...
I thought it would only be for OC but it seems you can also remove the cooler.
I'll also add that to the review as soon as I get the 8800 :)
XFX is awesome...wow i'm impressed that you still honor the warranty even if someone actually goes on a takes out the stock cooler to put another one on.

[werty316]

Yes you can replace the stock cooling with aftermarket cooling and it will not void your warranty (as long as there is not physcial damage to the video card). Just keep the original hardware aside incase you ever need an RMA. Some of our video cards do use pads between the components and the cooling hardware, that if your careful you can remove and keep aside or purchase at some PC supply stores.

XFX Support
Oh this is too sweet.

Should I assume this includes overclocking?

[xfxsupport]

Your assumption would be correct, overclocking is also allowed.


XFX Support

[Schwarz]

Why would you change the cooler on top of it if it weren't for overclocking :p

[tomato]

To make it look sexy ;) :)

[Schwarz]

yah...you got a point.

[nytwulf]

WOW!:jawdrop: , that is all I can say. I am dumbfounded that a company is actually willing to give this kind of warranty for a high-end video card. I love XFX! The first high-end system I ever built for myself I got an XFX 7900GT and couldn't have been happier. I then built a moderate range gameing machine for my fiance using and XFX 7600GS and she was thrilled with it. If XFX keeps up with this warranty on upcoming products I will never go to a different company. This is more than any enthusiast could ask for. Awesome job XFX!:grin:

[gunner46]

Has XFX given any thought to cross shipping Video Cards for RMAs ?
This would make an already oustanding Warranty even better.:icon_tiphat:

[xfxsupport]

Actually from what I hear, that is also something we are working on. I agree that it would make for a much more pleasant RMA experience.


XFX support

[werty316]

Plus users wouldn't go without their computer while waiting.

[raidersforever01]

Cross shipping is in the works? That would be awesome i don't have the money or resources to sit out an RMA well atleast not comfortably sit one out. It would make life so much easier.

[JohnZS]

Are there any plans to incorporate this into the EU warranty?
John

[werty316]

Are there any plans to incorporate this into the EU warranty?
John
EU division would have to decide on that.

[JohnZS]

EU division would have to decide on that.
:frown:
Anyway I can show them this thread?
John

[mnap86]

Would be nice if this comes to europe as well.

[JohnZS]

Would be nice if this comes to europe as well.
I second that notion :grin:
John

[krasher]

That is an outstanding warranty. Problem is I am in New Zealand so it doesn't apply to me :(

[JohnZS]

That is an outstanding warranty. Problem is I am in New Zealand so it doesn't apply to me :(
Yes, this isn't a dig at XFX but I think all companies should have a single global warranty that way people are not discriminated by where they happen to live, because at the end of the day it is STILL the same product whether it is purchased in the USA, the UK or New Zealand!
John

[westy87]

Yes, this isn't a dig at XFX but I think all companies should have a single global warranty that way people are not discriminated by where they happen to live, because at the end of the day it is STILL the same product whether it is purchased in the USA, the UK or New Zealand!
John

You could almost make a court case out of that argument I spose. Like, if XFX is guarenteeing the product to last a lifetime in America, and it was manufactured at the same place, then you can then go on to say that if its the same product then it should have the same guarentee elsewhere. But oh well.

[JohnZS]

You could almost make a court case out of that argument I spose. Like, if XFX is guarenteeing the product to last a lifetime in America, and it was manufactured at the same place, then you can then go on to say that if its the same product then it should have the same guarentee elsewhere. But oh well.
True, but it would cost a lot of money (unless lots and lots of people grouped together) and then big corporations always have some sort of clever way of sneaking out of these things.
XFX are not the only offenders, BFG, EVGA, ASUS, and even Intel have better warrantys in the USA and North America than they do in the rest of the world.
John

[werty316]

Its not just that guys, XFX has offices in other countrys and they might no necessarily have same policies as the US office.

It can't really fight for a policy that is from another country when you don't live in the that country.

[cognoscenti]

What about here in the UK? £510 each and I bought 2 of these XXX Ultras.
As soon as I remove the stock cooller the warranty is gone?!

$2000 of graphics cards is alot to not be covered:frown:

[BarryB]

Yes, but you could always put the stock cooler back if it breaks ;-)

[Frag Maniac]

Well I guess this clears up the doubts I had about people saying modding was OK. Any chance of XFX offering already modded water block cards like BFG does? Seems to me it would be the next step and better than the fanless ones you're already offering.

BTW, I don't mean the huge GPU/chipset type blocks BFG uses, justy a GPU block and heatsinks where needed.

[trueg50]

What about here in the UK? £510 each and I bought 2 of these XXX Ultras.
As soon as I remove the stock cooller the warranty is gone?!

$2000 of graphics cards is alot to not be covered:frown:

Poor girl. :frown:

Is the reason due to possible shipping and handling damage or something? That is the only reason I can think of.

I think my next card will be an XFX!

[werty316]

Its not that it would be due to shipping and handling damages, its more that the stock cooler was removed.

[neonlazer]

So..As long as i still have the stock heatsink and can put it back on video card im ok on this warrantee?...though if you had to register within 30 days of being bought well..that wouldnt be me :( i bought this in 5/06...but i have just redone my water cooling system and after a few days i am noticing that i have colored pixels on desktop and pixel streaks on some windows..which i have figured out to be bad video memory...is this RMA'able?

[mazda_626]

I have a question.
Why is it XFX do not know how to write a clearly written warranty?
I live in New Zealand, owned a XFX 7900GT, asked for clarification of replacing the stock cooler in the original XFX forums, to which i was told was fine as long as i kept the original cooler.
9 months later and the 7900GT goes belly up, artifacts and dots all over the place, i even proved my aftermarket cooling was better than stock.
My RMA was denied, not by the store but by Pine group, even the ticket system didnt help because New Zealand doesnt actually have a support centre.
I was told the RMA was denied due to the cooler being removed, I told them i asked for permission on the original forums but their answer was pretty much "prove it, i doubt anyone from XFX would have said anything like that".
i complained and pointed out even the asian (NZ distributor deals with Hong Kong) warranty does NOT clearly state that I cant remove the factory heatsink and asked XFX to word the warranty to what they mean.

for example.
This warranty is limited to the repair and/or replacement, at XFX's discretion, of defective or nonconforming Product, and XFX shall not be responsible for the failure of the Product to perform specified functions, or any other non- conformance caused by or attributable to: (a) any misapplication or misuse of the Product; (b) failure of Customer to adhere to any of XFX's specifications or instructions; (c) neglect of, abuse of, or accident to, the Product; or (d) any associated or complementary equipment or software not furnished by XFX.the fact it says "at XFX's discretion" means everything written after this means nothing. XFX can choose to RMA your card or just laugh at you, according to XFX anyway. placing of commas dont seem to matter to XFX.

i shall continue "and XFX shall not be responsible for the failure of the Product to perform specified functions, or any other non- conformance caused by or attributable to:(d) any associated or complementary equipment or software not furnished by XFX." cuased by or attributable to would imply that the warranty is void if the fault was cuased by or attributable to the aftermarket cooler. but remember, "at XFX's discretion" surpasses this. So i could supply a team of engineers to prove it was the standard 7900GT fault but XFX, at it's discretion can and will pick and choose RMA approval.
I never even sent them the card.
It is possable that they denied the RMA due to the card not meeting XFX specifications, but XFX wont send me a copy of their specifications. But even then, thats where "caused by or attributable" comes into play. as long as the cooling was better than factory, then it couldnt be "caused by or attributable" and i proved my cooling was better.
think i'm alone in this? i'm not, i know many other people that have lost out but we can not do a damn thing about it.


why have i said all this here? how does it relate to your north americain warranty?
Quite simply, the way the warranty is written. I am living proof that XFX can and will deny all and resort to the warranty, to the letter.
this thread could be deleted, the warranty be changed and then where is your proof?
this thread could stay here, the warranty not be changed but your still screwed!!
heres why
XFX's liability under the Double Lifetime Protection is limited to the repair, or, at XFX's discretion, the replacement of the portion(s) of the Product that are found to be defective in material or workmanship. XFX reserves the right to claim shipping fees as well as a service charge* for any incomplete or modified Product that is returned and that requires repair or replacement, or when the Owner is not entitled to any coverage under the XFX Double Lifetime Protection.

* Service charge is variable based upon actual material costs to repair or replace missing or modified parts to return them to original factory condition.

so you buy the card in noth america, change the cooler, 9 months later the card artifacts, you send the card away thinking all is well then find they deny you because the cards factory cooling was removed.
where does this warranty actually define what is meant by "Modder Friendly"? it doesnt, does this mean i can volt mod with a soldering iron? what about pencil shading? I seriously doubt it since it doesnt state it's overclocker friendly. so you could technically volt mod the card as long as you dont overclock it, but wait, whats the point in that.
XFX are still not giving you written permission to mod your video card, there is written proof in the warranty stating you can accually remove the factory heatsink, EVGA do state that very thing in thier warranty quite clearly.

I've made it my mission to occasionally check out this forum to see how many 7900GT are still dying and see how many people are denied RMA's. i've also been trying to get XFX to accually write a descent warranty. all i find is XFX are too scared to commit and put things into writting.
yes i'm still pissed, i lost $750 due to a companies badly written warranty and change of foum, though this forum is alot better than the one XFX was running.

So this is a warning to all that are reading this thread, XFX still has complete control and full ability to deny you an RMA even if you refit your factory cooler purely due to the vague nature of the XFX warranty.

edit: the writing was a little big :D
I would ask what warranty would i fall under if i imported a card from north america, but i seriously doubt that would matter due to the way the warranty is written.
if anyone can prove me wrong, PM me and i'll publicly apologise and edit this thread.
to date there are no clear links to more fine print or definitions of wording.

[Miker]

That 2xLifetime Warranty is for people in the North America! By removing your heatsink you voided the warranty because you live in Europe. Even if you put it back on it is still Void. XFX has the best Warranty of any graphic card company, don't go dissing it. The "Double Lifetime Protection" doesn't apply to you because you don't live in North America...

They have the right to deny any Warranty just to protect them selfs. Lets say someone ran the card with no heatsink and it blew, why should they fix it?

Legal: XFX doesn't even have to have a warranty like this and by posting this, saying you don't agree with the terms, also Voiding the Warranty.

[werty316]

Looks like someone needs to read more.

[Miker]

Complaining about the best warranty... what would have happened if he got a EVGA and took the heat sink off? :ahhhhh:

[werty316]

I don't really know as I am unfamilar with EVGA's warranty if you don't live in Canada or the US.

[Miker]

It was a rhetorical question.

[mazda_626]

Miker, there are so many things in your post i could comment on but i'll save people the boredom. It shows you havent read my post before commenting.

my idea of "the best warranty" is a well thought out and written warranty that everyone can read and understand.
Clearly none of the XFX warranty's are what i would class as "the best warranty".

I am not saying the concept is crap, but i am saying XFX have left alot of room for themselves to deny many RMA's, like they have done in the past.
read this whole thread, notice how many people are asking the same questions? that tells me that the warranty is not written correctly. there is nothing to say i couldnt import a North american XFX card and get a double lifetime warranty, but there is nothing to say i could either.

the EVGA warranty (http://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmviewfaq.aspx?topicid=2&faqid=57720). I have emailed them and they confirm that it doesnt matter where i live, this is for world wide.

By showing this, i'm not trying to put down XFX, i'm just supplying an example of what a competitor site has done so as to confirm or define what can and can not be done.

So XFX, you want to supply a modder warranty? please define exactly what the warranty covers.
while your at it, please tell the Asian branch to define their warranty.
I've been told the warranty's outside of north america are for resellers only, but if that was true, then why does pine group still get in the middle and stop RMA's?

The XFX warranty's just need to be better defined. end of story.
people will trust a company with a good warranty that is easy to understand.

edit: the north American warranty states
Even for those of you who know how to push our cards to the limits, if anything goes wrong, we’ll service it free of charge.then it also states
XFX reserves the right to claim shipping fees as well as a service charge* for any incomplete or modified Product that is returned and that requires repair or replacementboth quotes contradict themselves. first they are giving permission to mod, then they are saying if the card is modified, they can denied a RMA.
they dont say that if the modification caused the problem then they can deny the RMA, which Should be written.
so as it's written now, anyone could mod their cards but XFX could still deny the RMA regardless if it's a manufacturing fault

[werty316]

Plain and simpel if you aren't satisfied with XFX's warranty terms go with another company.

[Miker]

Plain and simpel if you aren't satisfied with XFX's warranty terms go with another company.

I second that.

[westy87]

Unfortunatly I have heard of many people having problems with xfx over here in Australia and New Zealand. My favourite online etailer has stopped stocking xfx and is now stocking evga instead because of this, as he only wants to sell the best. He ran a poll on his site about if people like customer service or cheaper prices more, and every 1 said customer service. So, after that he changed to evga cause over here they are better (apparently)

[mazda_626]

Plain and simpel if you aren't satisfied with XFX's warranty terms go with another company.
I have and i'm quite happy i've moved on BUT I'm still finding alot of people that are getting their RMA denied for reasons not defined in the XFX warranty.

How the hell are XFX to know what could be fixed or rewritten if people dont tell them.
How are people to know the truth if people dont tell it.

i wouldnt have written the first post if there wasnt a problem.
To me, it's like false advertising.
How hard is it to write a proper warranty? every other brand seems to be able to accomplish it.

It's now got to the point where there are some stores i deal with will NOT sell XFX because pine group step in and deny RMA's when they shouldnt be.
for those that dont know, pine group are the owner's of XFX. If pine group deny a RMA, then thats final. believe me when i say they follow thier warranty's to the letter. which is even more reason why the warranty's should be written properly.
yes, even north american customers are finding the same problems.
this whole thread is only as correct as the warranty it is commenting on. no doubt there will be people reading the start of this thread, go buy a new XFX card, water cool it and try and return it. i have no doubt that XFX will deny some of those RMA's even if they are a manufacturers fault.

it's too easy to say "Plain and simpel if you aren't satisfied with XFX's warranty terms go with another company." but if you asked all the right questions, bought the brands $750 card and followed the warranty based on what support have siad but then get denied a RMA becuase XFX choose to use the loop hole they have provided. it's then too late. i have moved on but this still makes way for many other poeple to have the same problem.
the only way to stop this is from XFX defining their warranty's alot better than they currently do.


If you wish to close your eyes, then your more than welcome to.
All i'm doing is stating the facts.
if people have read my first post and choose to continue to buy XFX based on the modder friendly warranty idea, then thats fine, atleast they are better informed.

[Miker]

In the warranty they tell you they have the right to deny a RMA, they do, got a problem with it?

[werty316]

Their warranty terms seem pretty clear to me and each one is accessable here: http://www.xfxforce.com/web/support/warranty.jspa

[Schwarz]

I have 3 XFX product.
3 8800GTS 320 to be exact, and when I had a problem XFX helped me the best no other customer service has helped me in years.
They even called me home to ask me what was going on.
Of course any big companies have little problems with some customers every once in a while.
I myself have been screwed over by eVGAs step up program, I could even call it false advertisement but I guess in general people would tell me Hey my step up went well !
Its happening to every companies even Asus has been pretty messed up lately.
All in all i`m very satisfied with XFX with my 3 cards from them thats all that matters to me.
My hat is still off to XFX for the great service it has given me in the last year.

[mazda_626]

In the warranty they tell you they have the right to deny a RMA, they do, got a problem with it?I do when they deny RMA's when they shouldn't.
but thats not the point.

Both miker and werty316 seem to have completly missed the point, completly.
my point is the warranty's do not actualy state what XFX claim. the XFX warranty's do not actually have written what XFX have denied RMA's.
more importantly, the XFX warranty's do not state what they claim (yes i have repaeted myself in the hope to get the pint accross).

obviously i'm explaining this to XFX and any potentialy new XFX customer's so they are better informed.
westy87 is correct, many stores are now choosing to not stock XFX becuase of the whole XFX warranty descrepency's. this is not just within australia and new zealand, this is world wide.

I have given many examples for the warranty problems but have seen no proof that i am wrong, just people saying i shouldnt buy XFX.

[Miker]

Everyone thinks XFX has the best Warranty out of all graphic cards.

[Schwarz]

Bah you will always have kids saying dont buy this dont buy that.
Its part of the fanboy game which I do not play.
When I look for a card a look for the best performing one vs the warranty.
So far XFX has the best warranty out of the bunch.
All in all it depends on personnal choice, I chose XFX for now and have not been regreting it one second.

[mazda_626]

When I look for a card a look for the best performing one vs the warranty.
So far XFX has the best warranty out of the bunch.
All in all it depends on personnal choice, I chose XFX for now and have not been regreting it one second.
this is where the wording of the warranty matters, if you were to buy the specific brand card based on warranty, it would be very disapointing to find the brand's denied you RMA because the warranty wasn't very well defined.
i'm glad you are happy with XFX and i hope that never changes. every brand does have it's problems and if the wording of the warranty is my only problem, then XFX cant be too bad.

Everyone thinks XFX has the best Warranty out of all graphic cards.not at all true, however the warranty XFX offer north america is among one of the best.
it all depends what some one is looking for, like Schwarz has said, it's personal choice.

but in my opinion, this is not a modder friendly warranty.
read this thread and see what the common questions are, then read the warranty carefully and you'll notice there is some imortant information missing.
the only difference now seems to be that they have removed the part that states the cooler is not to be removed, the rest of the warranty looks the same as other region warranty's.
new comers to XFX may just want to consider this before they invest their hard earned money. I'm not trying to convince people to not buy XFX, just making sure people are aware the warranty's have some important information missing which XFX could use so they can deny a RMA regardless of what XFX support say in this forum.

the best advice i could give someone would be this, if the double lifetime warranty appeals and you live in north america, buy XFX from a store with a good history with RMA's.
outside of north america, choose your store carefully, dont rely on the XFX warranty, rely on the store warranty and RMA. so just make sure the store has a very good RMA history.

XFX could either define their warranty's better or add an FAQ to their site which would answer common questions i.e. what their meaning of a modder is, can the cooler be removed and be region specific. most sites have a FAQ page which makes it easier to define things rather than change how a warranty is written.

I think i've commented on this subject enough. if no one understands what i have tried to say by now, no one ever will.

[Schwarz]

I do understand and quite understanding about it too.
Maybe Shannon can help you out with your RMA.
Its stange because ive been a long time member of bjorn3d even before XFX had a XFX tech support.
And ive seen many cases where people changed the stock cooler for an after market cooler and when it was time to RMA them XFX asked them to put the stock cooler back on and send it.
Iève even seen cases where people were getting much better cards because their current card was not available.
I know this warranty is available in north america but I know we had asked me and a few from here on B3D if it was available outside of NA and ièm not sure we had gotten an answer.
Like I said maybe shannon can help you out with your RMA problem unless it has already been dealt with already and there nothing that can be done.

[mazda_626]

ive seen many cases where people changed the stock cooler for an after market cooler and when it was time to RMA them XFX asked them to put the stock cooler back on and send it.
Iève even seen cases where people were getting much better cards because their current card was not available.
maybe shannon can help you out with your RMA problem unless it has already been dealt with already and there nothing that can be done.thats whats frustrated the heck out of me, seeing some poeple here recieve a RMA yet seeing other people in other forums being denied, as well as myself.
Unfortuntly, once pine group decide to tell a store the RMA is denied (even before recieving the card), there is nothing anyone can do. When questioned, they quote from the applicable warranty but change the wording to suit (the vague way the warranty's are written seem to confuse even pine group).
what i failed to do when i bought the 7900GT was make sure the store was okay with me changing the cooler, i just assumed asking XFX was all i needed to do. hence why i say people should not look at the XFX warranty's (since they are so vague) but look at the store warranty's and RMA history.
so, I'm not trying to still seek a RMA, just point out that the "modder friendly warranty" is not written in such a way that it gives people to mod. you could quote from the warranty where it says you can and i can show you a quote where it says you cant. who is correct?

[Schwarz]

Maybe shannon can help us clear this up and also might be able to do something for you.

[Miker]

You guys are confused... in North America you have to take off all aftermarket cooling before you sent it in and put on the old hardware. In Europe your warrenty is Void soon as you take the heatsink off.

[westy87]

You guys are confused... in North America you have to take off all aftermarket cooling before you sent it in and put on the old hardware. In Europe your warrenty is Void soon as you take the heatsink off.

Well we arent in Europe ;) But the same goes, xfx in Australia/NZ sucks with returns and warrenty, products are great though, but if you get a bad one, good luck with your return ;)

[Schwarz]

I wouldnt know about accross the sea.
I know XFX is mighty good here in NA.

[ikjadoon]

Does this warranty allow firmware flashes? I'm thinking about it, but I'm scared it might void the warranty....

And what happens if they find a defect in my card, but they don't have any 640MB versions left? Will I get stuck with a 320MB card?

~Ibrahim~

[bobletman]

I just have a quick question. So i got my reg number after I registered, so am I done now or is there something else I need to do.

[mazda_626]

Does this warranty allow firmware flashes? I'm thinking about it, but I'm scared it might void the warranty....

And what happens if they find a defect in my card, but they don't have any 640MB versions left? Will I get stuck with a 320MB card?

~Ibrahim~As quoted by MichealC from XFX north american customer support
flashing the BIOS would also void a warranty The person was then denied their RMA even though the bios was supplied by XFX customer support (not from these forums).
XFX warranty is like a lottery, you just might get UNlucky and get denied.
to be honest, if it's under warranty and needs a bios update, send it back to XFX to do the flash. if the flash fails, they cant deny you an RMA of equal or better performance card.

[1337talyzer]

YAY! REJOICE!,,, Wait a minute..... what about XFX Australia :( lol my 8800gtx rma got rejected :( apparently i voided my warranty by cleaning the cooler

[werty316]

YAY! REJOICE!,,, Wait a minute..... what about XFX Australia :( lol my 8800gtx rma got rejected :( apparently i voided my warranty by cleaning the cooler
Double lifetime only applies to residents in North America.

[xfxsupport]

XFX warranty is like a lottery, you just might get UNlucky and get denied.
to be honest, if it's under warranty and needs a bios update, send it back to XFX to do the flash. if the flash fails, they cant deny you an RMA of equal or better performance card.

I can not speak for other areas but for United States and Canada the double lifetime warranty is far from a lottery. If you flash your video card BIOS with a BIOS specifically given to you by XFX to resolve or help with an issue then it does not affect your warranty. If you decide you want to try and flash your 8800GTX XT with and 8800GTX XXX BIOS in hope for better performance and kill the card, then that would not be covered.

[Nexevo]

Hi all, I just purchased a nice shiny 8800GT so thought I would join the commnity. Enjoyed reading many post when I stumbled upon this one.

Modders warranty for US and Canada only?

A little discriminating isn't it? I sort of enterpreted it as "Any one outside the US or Canada don't know what they're doing when it comes to modding so don't include them."

Anyway my question to XFX Support is... Why is it that only these two regions get such a great warranty and the rest of us don't?

[mazda_626]

I can not speak for other areas but for United States and Canada the double lifetime warranty is far from a lottery. If you flash your video card BIOS with a BIOS specifically given to you by XFX to resolve or help with an issue then it does not affect your warranty. If you decide you want to try and flash your 8800GTX XT with and 8800GTX XXX BIOS in hope for better performance and kill the card, then that would not be covered.It's been a while since i posted that, but i seem to remember there were a few people from NA that were denied an RMA due to flashing thier bios with one supplied from XFX.
I believe the meaning of my posts in this thread were due to the way the warranty was worded at the time and how some NA XFX support members had twisted the waranty wording so as to deny RMA's. the warranty left a few different ways of interpretation as to the meaning, the logical way, and the twisted way. the NA warranty is much better written than any of the other areas though.


Hi all, I just purchased a nice shiny 8800GT so thought I would join the commnity. Enjoyed reading many post when I stumbled upon this one.

Modders warranty for US and Canada only?

A little discriminating isn't it? I sort of enterpreted it as "Any one outside the US or Canada don't know what they're doing when it comes to modding so don't include them."

Anyway my question to XFX Support is... Why is it that only these two regions get such a great warranty and the rest of us don't?I'll try to answer this for you as neutral as i can since i really hate certian aspects of XFX and how they run thier support.

all the different areas of XFX (i.e. asia, north america, etc) are run as separate entities.
so the north american XFX group have decided to offer something extra which means that they are prepared to pay for the extra support and parts needed to supply this extra warranty. they have taken it apon themselves to offer this "modders friendly warranty".
While most (if not all) other areas have settled on the standard and bare minimium XFX warranty (which is open to alot of different interpretations and is not aimed at the end user).
Think of the different areas like they are different stores, the North american store has decided to offer a little extra, while all the other stores have choosen not to. since all the other stores are owned and opperated separately, they can do this.

As much as i would love to explain in detail the problems this does cause to certian end users, i think i have done so enough times in the past to understand nothing is going to change.
But i will say this as a suggestion to those who find this thread does not apply to them (like me), If you are outside of the "modder friendly" warranty area (i.e. Australia, New Zealand = Asia group), then dont bother with XFX unless the store you buy from offers a "modder friendly" and a well written warranty themselves. also check out what the stores RMA history is like.
Alternatively, if you live outside of the "modder friendly" warranty areas, you could go buy a EVGA (http://www.evga.com/support/lifetime/), they offer a international modder friendly warranty which is well written, i have the email's to prove it and this is what i have choosen to do.

The following is for the benifit of those that are outside of the XFX "modder friendly warranty" area.
this is what i asked EVGA.
I've been told that if i were to buy a EVGA video card, lets say a 7900GT, that i could install water cooling and ramsinks without voiding the warranty.

All i have to do is hold onto the original fan and make sure that the water cooling and ramsinks are doing the same job if not better than the factory cooling. I also have to be sure that if there is any faults, that it's not due to the aftermarket cooling.

If it is true, does living in NZ change anything?thier reply
Hi, yes this is very true and you can use watercooling and aftermarket heatsinks. Just make sure that you do not remove the serial number sticker from the back of the card and keep all the original parts installed.

Thanks, EVGA


Just to summerize the above, i'm not saying the EVGA warranty is better than the North american XFX warranty, what i am saying is there is an alternative for those outside of the North American area.
Feel free to point out why the NA warranty is much better, but remember that internationally, not all XFX users have the luxury of the XFX North american warranty offerings.

[Miker]

Mazda_626, in places other then NA, EVGA is your best bet; but for NA, EVGA is not close to XFX. XFX has faster support turn around, less odd rules and whatnot.

As for XFX denying RMA for someone that flashed there BIOS, it must've been years ago, as XFX has really got there acts together at around the time of the 6XXXs or chances are there is some part of the story you haven't heard.

[3991vhtes]

XFX should offer this on their motherboards.. that would be awesome 8)

[leetmaster]

IF ONLY THEY HAD THIS IN AUSTRALIA :( WHY CANT I JOIN NA REGION :(.......... cant i just post my card to the us and pay for shipping both ways ? :P

[bimaslisteser]

Hello just waned to ask if my friend bought me an XFX motherboard in the USA, and then gave it me in the UK, would i get any warranty at all? Thanks

[Goliath182]

Hello just waned to ask if my friend bought me an XFX motherboard in the USA, and then gave it me in the UK, would i get any warranty at all? Thanks
If its registered under his address then you can get the warranty.

[swmeek]

shipping it back and forth might get costly though.

[Goliath182]

shipping it back and forth might get costly though.
Not if its a 295 lol.

[swmeek]

They were talking about a motherboard though!

[bigfoot]

I never buy XFX motherboards anymore I had only bad experience with XFX support in the UK to say they are a joke is being too kind

[Goliath182]

They were talking about a motherboard though!
Lol woops, well what about a 790?

[jedihobbit]

To XFX....

Question on "modding", I don't plan to do any serious oc'ing what would like to do a "bling" mod. To avoid any issues do you know if one could purchase replacement cooler covers (not the cooler assembly) as I want to paint the cover to match a theme.

REF: http://www.bjorn3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32519