GIGABYTE Aorus GTX 1080Ti Xtreme 3rd RMA?

Pipo · 13 Aug 2017 at 00:53

I purchased my Aorus GTX 1080Ti Xtreme Edition back in April at non named distributor(not OCUK). Since then I have endless issues with my card.
Card was not stable in OC mode. I sent it back to distributor where I bought it, they could not find issue two times. So I sent card directly to GIGABYTE UK for testing. They found issue, fixed it with updating BIOS. When I received my card back, I put it to PC, turned PC on and....I did notice fan noise immediately. It was not loud, but I could hear it thru my closed case. When I stopped broken fan, I could not hear noise anymore. I did not have problems with crashing anymore since they fixed it tho.
I sent it to GBT again...according to them, it was normal fan behavior. Well I was surprised. I was even more surprised when they offered me swap for new card. I agreed, they sent me card (not brand new, it was used) and again some problem. Card is not stable even on default. It crashes in games, drivers resets etc. I can use it in Silent Mode only which has lower clocks.
It is august and I still have problems. When I count how many days I was without my card, I am pretty sure it would be more then 7 weeks. It is getting ridiculous to do 3rd RMA...

Does anyone know if I have right to ask refund? Or at least brand new card, not used/refurbished?

andybird123 · 13 Aug 2017 at 07:05

Yes, under UK law they get 2 attempts to fix and after that you should be entitled to a refund - but this will be with the retailer not gigabyte.

pastymuncher · 13 Aug 2017 at 11:33

The problem now is that you have broken the chain by going direct to Gigabyte and don't even have the original card anymore so I doubt that you will get a refund from the retailer.

GTiPUG · 13 Aug 2017 at 12:07

Puppetmaster · 13 Aug 2017 at 12:39

Did you buy it from a distributor or a retailer? If its a distributor I assume you have a trade account and the laws are quite different if you are purchasing in that way.

Sasahara · 13 Aug 2017 at 13:16

3 Similar problems = a lot of bad luck or something else is the cause.

What is you system spec, particularly the PSU make & model which is the likely problem.

andybird123 · 13 Aug 2017 at 13:22

pastymuncher said:
The problem now is that you have broken the chain by going direct to Gigabyte and don't even have the original card anymore so I doubt that you will get a refund from the retailer.

The retailer had it twice and refused to fix it, it would be quite believable to say they told him to send it to the manufacturer. If he paid by credit card - and assuming UK as his English indicates he moght not be - it would be easy.

Sasahara · 13 Aug 2017 at 13:48

andybird123 said:
The retailer had it twice and refused to fix it, it would be quite believable to say they told him to send it to the manufacturer. If he paid by credit card - and assuming UK as his English indicates he moght not be - it would be easy.

The retailer didn't find any problems with it, so that doesn't count. The retailer has to acknowledge there is a fault (or you get a 3rd party to verify a fault) and try to repair it, otherwise you could just send things back you didn't like 3 times to get you money back.
They didn't refuse to fix it, they couldn't find anything wrong with it.

TBF this looks like a problem with the PC, probably PSU.

Pipo · 13 Aug 2017 at 15:14

PSU: SuperFlower Leadex Gold 650W.
I had Zotac Xtreme GTX 1080Ti in my PC for few days, no problems at all. I doubt it there is problem with my rig.

Puppetmaster said:
Did you buy it from a distributor or a retailer? If its a distributor I assume you have a trade account and the laws are quite different if you are purchasing in that way.

I bought it from retailer.

andybird123 said:
The retailer had it twice and refused to fix it, it would be quite believable to say they told him to send it to the manufacturer. If he paid by credit card - and assuming UK as his English indicates he moght not be - it would be easy.

Actualy my retailer offered me to send it to GBT when they could not find issue second time( unstable in OC mode). I agreed, they told me that card was sent to GBT. When my retailer sent card back to me with result: not fault found, I asked my retailer under what reference number they sent card to GBT, so I can check it myself directly at GBT. Well, they told me that they never sent card to GBT. WTF. I was so ****** of that I sent card directly to GBT.

I did mistake in my first post when I said that I sent it to GBT directly with fan issue. I sent it to my retailer first(not fault found of course), and they sent it to GBT. GBT said its normal fan behavior, and yet they swaped the card. Is not that strange?
Anyway there is video on youtube with my noisy fan. For some reason I could not record it louder with my phone. Do you think guys this is normal fan spin? I hold that broken fan at the beginning of the video so you can hear the difference. IDK maybe I was wrong and this is normal fan spin on 800£ card lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8SVbHME_Sw

Sasahara said:
...otherwise you could just send things back you didn't like 3 times to get you money back...

Is it a law? I did not know that...

orbitalwalsh · 13 Aug 2017 at 17:36

@AORUS UK should be able help you out directly. Believe they go if it's 3rd RMA regardless it's a brand new card

Gerard · 13 Aug 2017 at 19:15

The xtreme cards had a lot of issues with maintaining boost clocks, seen plenty of complaints about it on newegg etc. It's like they don't even bother testing it, just slap an oc bios onto it and hope it works for it. I had one with the same issue, the 1080 variant.

orbitalwalsh · 14 Aug 2017 at 07:05

Gerard said:
The xtreme cards had a lot of issues with maintaining boost clocks, seen plenty of complaints about it on newegg etc. It's like they don't even bother testing it, just slap an oc bios onto it and hope it works for it. I had one with the same issue, the 1080 variant.

My Aorus X 1080 hit boost fine , pushes 2160 nicely with water though . Can't comment on the Ti though

shamus21 · 14 Aug 2017 at 10:59

I suspect this is one of the reasons why a few retailers were selling them for the same price as the standard Aorus 1080ti. £679.00 at the time about 3 months back

Defiant306 · 14 Aug 2017 at 13:22

Ah this sucks, I was eyeing this card up for an upgrade if they drop prices with Vega.

CaptainRAVE · 14 Aug 2017 at 13:51

Defiant306 said:
Ah this sucks, I was eyeing this card up for an upgrade if they drop prices with Vega.

No problems with mine. Will be way better than vega.

benjii · 14 Aug 2017 at 14:02

CaptainRAVE said:
No problems with mine. Will be way better than vega.

Same. Mine will happily boost to 2074 with a, slightly more aggressive but not maxed, fan profile. I also increased the thermal limit to 90c (max temp 75c under load) and the power limit to 130%.

AORUS UK · 14 Aug 2017 at 14:10

Hey @Pipo,

Please get in touch with our RMA department directly and let them sort you out.

There's various different ways that we can handle it and it's best if you let the pros take care of it.

I've seen your video and from my perspective that's definitely an issue and needs to be fixed, no gamer deserves to have a noisy fan interrupting their session like that.

So just mail them to returns(at)gbt-tech(dot)co(dot)uk, tell them about the issue and your history with this card as well as attaching the video and they'll see what they can do for you.

If it makes you feel a bit more comfortable, tell them the Marketing & Community Manager for AORUS UK advised you to do this.

Let me know how you get on!
Cheers!

hobib_ali · 15 Aug 2017 at 21:15

AORUS UK said:
Hey @Pipo,

Please get in touch with our RMA department directly and let them sort you out. There's various different ways that we can handle it and it's best if you let the pros take care of it.
I've seen your video and from my perspective that's definitely an issue and needs to be fixed, no gamer deserves to have a noisy fan interrupting their session like that.

So just mail them to returns(at)gbt-tech(dot)co(dot)uk, tell them about the issue and your history with this card as well as attaching the video and they'll see what they can do for you.
If it makes you feel a bit more comfortable, tell them the Marketing & Community Manager for AORUS UK advised you to do this.

Let me know how you get on!
Cheers!

hey mate

since you work for GBT directly why cant you physically get involved and help this chap out? at least get him a new card, he spent a lot of cash for a product, and now he is getting the run around, Aorus is a new brand and you should jump at the chance to correct issues for your customers!! If I was manager then I know what I would do, the customer is ALWAYS right, because he paid for that right!

Danny75 · 15 Aug 2017 at 21:51

andybird123 said:
The retailer had it twice and refused to fix it, it would be quite believable to say they told him to send it to the manufacturer. If he paid by credit card - and assuming UK as his English indicates he moght not be - it would be easy.

Sasahara said:
The retailer didn't find any problems with it, so that doesn't count. The retailer has to acknowledge there is a fault (or you get a 3rd party to verify a fault) and try to repair it, otherwise you could just send things back you didn't like 3 times to get you money back.
They didn't refuse to fix it, they couldn't find anything wrong with it.

TBF this looks like a problem with the PC, probably PSU.

Yes, according to the customer, the retailer said they couldn't find a fault (twice). However, Gigabyte can be considered the 3rd party here and they did verify a fault, therefore retailer must acknowledge they were wrong, and customer has a strong case v retailer for refund. Customer did choose retailer/distributor originally, distributor failed to verify actual fault, and therefore failed to repair. They had their one attempt* at repair, got it wrong, and so could now be required to refund or offer a price reduction for all the problems experienced.

* If you are outside the 30-day right to reject, you have to give the retailer one opportunity to repair or replace any goods or digital content which are of unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described.

You can state your preference, but the retailer can normally choose whichever would be cheapest or easier for it to do.

If the attempt at a repair or replacement is unsuccessful, you can then claim a refund or a price reduction if you wish to keep the product.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

Sasahara · 16 Aug 2017 at 01:25

Yes you are correct, the grey area came when the retailer couldn't find a fault.
My post was before we got the extra info that he didn't send it direct to gigabyte. My response was based on the first post only.

But you are correct that once the retailer or independent expert confirms a fault there is one opportunity for the retailer to fix the problem within a reasonable time. If that fails you are entitled to a refund if you request it.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/notes/division/3/1/3/4/6