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Gigabyte GeForce GTX 480 Warranty

Associate
Joined
1 Jun 2004
Posts
129
I bought my lovely new Gigabyte GeForce GTX 480 "Special Edition" from OCUK last May but sadly I think it has died. :( Does anyone know if this card is covered by Gigabyte warranty?

I’ve looked on the UK Gigabyte website and found this warranty checker:
http://uk.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/customer-service.aspx
But it just says I should contact OCUK .

The OCUK website says I should contact Gigabyte and there link here:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/support.php#direct
takes me to the Taiwan Gigabyte website :S

Can someone how has gone through a successful Warranty /RMA please advise what to do. How long does this process usually take?

Thanks
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Apr 2010
Posts
11,896
Location
West Sussex
Usually 3 years and they go by the date of manufacture on the card which is a part of the serial.

Mate of mine had a duff UD3 and they were in Milton Keynes IIRC.
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Oct 2010
Posts
22,383
Location
Purley - Croydon
rma direct with GB. Milton Keynes rma base.

Someone else on the forum sent his gtx480 soc there and got a gtx580 back.

Indeed I did!!

Basically, I've forgotten how you go about it!

IIRC, you email [email protected] and they email you a form which you fill out (excel)

You then get an RMA number and send it off to their Milton Keynes centre. Then you wait for the GTX 580 to arrive :D
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,805
Theres a reason I usually buy gigabyte, hope people don't start abusing this like what happened with BFG tho :(
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,805
By misusing the RMA service to get free upgrades basically... (tho BFG did actually have a pretty bad failure rate for some reason). It wasn't the reason for them going under but it certainly didn't help.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
1 Jun 2004
Posts
129
OK thanks for all the replies. How long did the whole process take? Do you think I will have a working gfx card before Christmas. Will be sad to have a gameless Christmas...
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Apr 2010
Posts
11,896
Location
West Sussex
By misusing the RMA service to get free upgrades basically... (tho BFG did actually have a pretty bad failure rate for some reason). It wasn't the reason for them going under but it certainly didn't help.

The problem is ROC lead free solder.

It has no lead, only tin. Tin is a lot more brittle than lead, and doesn't offer any flexibility.

Heat will degrade the flux (which bonds it) at which point stress from expansion and contraction of the PCB will cause the solder joints to crack and fail.

The 2 series were incredibly hot cards. ROC solder was also just beginning to become mainstream on the cards, and anything over 80c will degrade the flux (an epoxy) really quickly.

It also didn't help that Nvidia stopped producing replacement cards for BFG to supply, and they had nothing to sell (stocks were gone). At which point they were just sitting there RMAing cards and not recouping any cash whatsoever. A deadly combination.

XFX received the same red headed stepchild treatment, but just simply performed a turncoat manoeuvre and went to ATI. BFG were faithful til the end (literally).

In summation - Nvidia suck ass.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,805
Yeah but BFG got hit by it a lot harder than any other brand - I'm wondering if somewhere in their pipeline they were being stored in conditions where the temperature or humidity contributed to the BGA solder failure that was rampant on BFG cards.
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Apr 2010
Posts
11,896
Location
West Sussex
Yeah but BFG got hit by it a lot harder than any other brand - I'm wondering if somewhere in their pipeline they were being stored in conditions where the temperature or humidity contributed to the BGA solder failure that was rampant on BFG cards.

Well the BFG plant was in Wales :D

Nice dry place :D
 
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