Possible problem with GPU sale

badbob · 16 Mar 2008 at 23:40

Sold a fully working ATI X1900XT flashed to 1900XTX on avforums, and now after 10 days of owning it he's come back to me. At stock and overclocked it was perfectly stable (moreso than this nvidia 8800GT) and under 30-35 idle 50 load. I would not have put up a faulty card, I'm not con man.

I know these cards get quite hot but this one is actually melting the solder on the coolers heatpipes (left a nice blob or two on the PCi slot & motherboard - luckily no permanent damage done). It's also continuously crashing the PC in any game (no doubt due to the heat issue). I did have to shorten the cooler so I could get the top on the case but it was crashing before & after the surgery so I'm sure that's not the problem. Did you have any heat/crashing problems with it?(it's fine in 2D mode),I know the bios has been flashed to XTX speeds but I've underclocked it to original & below and it's still getting amazingly hot. I don't really know what to do about this situation,your thoughts would be appreciated. It's in a Zalman HTPC case and even with the top off and a fan blowing onto the cooler it smells red hot within about 30 seconds of playing any game,crashes and then switches the PC off.

-iceblade^ · 16 Mar 2008 at 23:48

either one of the two of you isn't being honest, and i think it's him, tbh. after all, what are the chances it dies JUST after you sold it?

Mud · 16 Mar 2008 at 23:52

First I'd ask for a picture of the melted solder to verify the card is acting up at all...although it doesn't sound like the buyer is angry and looking for a refund (yet!).

willhub · 17 Mar 2008 at 00:16

Get some pics off him of it with say ATi Tool 3d view up and also riviatuner for temps. I really cant see it getting hot enough to melt anything tbh.

badbob · 17 Mar 2008 at 00:18

I wonder if his "mod" has cut the heatpipes? And isn't solder melting point around 300 degrees c? hm no 180 degrees c.

-iceblade^ · 17 Mar 2008 at 00:30

wait... how can he mod the card and then want to return it to you?

willhub · 17 Mar 2008 at 00:32

"A solder is a fusible metal alloy with a melting point or melting range of 180 to 190 °C (360 to 370 °F), used in a process called soldering"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder

benjo plz. · 17 Mar 2008 at 00:35

Yeah, there's no way it's getting that hot lol.

Magnum_Force · 17 Mar 2008 at 00:43

Perhaps it's a problem with his PSU??

But defo ask for pics etc before you do anything. If I were you I'd deffinately want to see what kind of "mod" he has done to the cooler (was it the stock cooler??).

Selekt0r · 17 Mar 2008 at 04:13

Ify you're feeling helpful then by all means try to help him troubleshoot the problem, but at the end of the day if it worked when you sent it off and he's modded the cooler then you don't owe him anything.

daz.wallace · 17 Mar 2008 at 06:28

Selekt0r said:
Ify you're feeling helpful then by all means try to help him troubleshoot the problem, but at the end of the day if it worked when you sent it off and he's modded the cooler then you don't owe him anything.

Have to agree here, if he's taken it upon himself to take a hacksaw to the cooler then he has no comebacks

mrk · 17 Mar 2008 at 07:22

Lol people who do this amaze me, they feel SMRT and begin to chop-sui away and then claim the item is faulty.

Amazing.

I'd simply upload a picture of a door and tell him where to go.

Richdog · 17 Mar 2008 at 09:48

Err... he modded the cooler? Tell him to get stuffed, he modded the ******* cooler (which would mean taking it off) and probably damaged something!

HeX · 17 Mar 2008 at 09:50

Richdog said:
Err... he modded the cooler? Tell him to get stuffed, he modded the ******* cooler (which would mean taking it off) and probably damaged something!

Yup, can't expect to take a hacksaw to the cooler and then start going on about how the card is overheating...

The Asgard · 17 Mar 2008 at 10:03

The solder melting bit is BS.

Why is he using a X1900 in a HTPC case? The card is not really designed for that type of enviroment. The X1900 gets very hot in a standard case.

While its a difficult situation I do think he's shot his bolt by modifying the card.

james.miller · 17 Mar 2008 at 10:09

if he had to modify the cooler he's SOL. he should have tested it first. hell, he should have checked that it would fit before buying it at all. but thats besides the point. the main thing here is that he shouldnt have modified a card which he claimed wasnt working in the first place.

...you dont buy an amplifier that turns out to be faulty, cut the side off it so it fits in your shiny av rack and then try to get your money back on it. right, Badbob?

MattU · 17 Mar 2008 at 12:27

If it crashed 'before the surgery' why on earth would he have started shortening the cooler? Assuming he did test it before I would have to say that it worked properly. Also, how do you shorten a cooler?!

badbob · 17 Mar 2008 at 12:29

The only thing I could think of (without knackering anything) is removing the plastic piece from the top of the Accelero S1.

pendulum666 · 17 Mar 2008 at 12:33

What a joker. It doesn't even warrant a reply imo.

Talrinys · 17 Mar 2008 at 12:36

Don't give in to anything this guy might demand. Your only responsibility is making sure that the card works in a normal environment, and that it's completely stable at clock. Since those two claims were true when you sold the card, anything that's happened afterwards is his fault, and his fault only.