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30xx Series Founders Edition

Stu said:
There is varying discussion about warranty cover after taking off the cover (e.g. for thermal pad upgrade or watercooling), so I thought I'd get into the mix and contact Nvidia support. There was a lot of "we do not recommend modifying the card in any way" from the support rep, but I repeatedly pointed out that is a recommendation and not binding, and asked where this is referenced in the warranty (which it is not in my opinion). The guy clearly did not have an answer and referred my query to level 2.

Level 2 support have been more measured in their wording... they have not said removing the cover voids warranty, however, "for any sort of a warranty claim the card would need to be returned to us int he same condition as it left the factory; for example, andy water blocks removed and the stock cooling solution replaced." I don't know if this means the stock pads... is this viable after pad mod? He also added that any damage caused by the user would void the warranty.

In my original post I specifically referred to adding after market cooling, and said there are reports of temps dropping up to 30 degrees, which will be good for the health of the card and boost will work better. I've also done a little mining on the side, which really increases memory temp, though I did not share that. The Level 2 support rep has said the following, "I can't recommend you replace the thermal pads. If anything happens to the card, warranty eligibility would be handled on a case by case basis. Are you seeing and particular issues with the card right now or just concerned with the temps?"

The fans are definitely loud for short periods when gaming, which I would love to mitigate. Do cards boost better when cooling is improved? Question, do I share high temps during mining? Nvidia may say this is not normal use, and the card temps are safe during all other operations; however, I believe there is nothing that says mining is not appropriate and invalidates warranty.

Opinions before I reply to Nvidia?
Click to expand...
Boosts are better with improved cooling, don't believe I'm wrong.
 
I had two 3090's, a FE and a zotak, i ended up selling the FE and keeping the zotak, the cooler works just so much better than the founders edition at cooling memory when mining. I can mine pretty quietly on the zotak, on the FE i had to have it at jet fan speeds to keep it cool enough, for games very little difference and id have kept the FE as it had a better boost.
 
Stu said:
There is varying discussion about warranty cover after taking off the cover (e.g. for thermal pad upgrade or watercooling), so I thought I'd get into the mix and contact Nvidia support. There was a lot of "we do not recommend modifying the card in any way" from the support rep, but I repeatedly pointed out that is a recommendation and not binding, and asked where this is referenced in the warranty (which it is not in my opinion). The guy clearly did not have an answer and referred my query to level 2.

Level 2 support have been more measured in their wording... they have not said removing the cover voids warranty, however, "for any sort of a warranty claim the card would need to be returned to us int he same condition as it left the factory; for example, andy water blocks removed and the stock cooling solution replaced." I don't know if this means the stock pads... is this viable after pad mod? He also added that any damage caused by the user would void the warranty.

In my original post I specifically referred to adding after market cooling, and said there are reports of temps dropping up to 30 degrees, which will be good for the health of the card and boost will work better. I've also done a little mining on the side, which really increases memory temp, though I did not share that. The Level 2 support rep has said the following, "I can't recommend you replace the thermal pads. If anything happens to the card, warranty eligibility would be handled on a case by case basis. Are you seeing and particular issues with the card right now or just concerned with the temps?"

The fans are definitely loud for short periods when gaming, which I would love to mitigate. Do cards boost better when cooling is improved? Question, do I share high temps during mining? Nvidia may say this is not normal use, and the card temps are safe during all other operations; however, I believe there is nothing that says mining is not appropriate and invalidates warranty.

Opinions before I reply to Nvidia?
Click to expand...

Would be super interested to hear how far you get. I had a similar response (3090 FE super loud fan during gaming 108+ temps) but kind of just gave up. I did watch a LTT video today where he pointed out an Igor's lab post where Nvidia have quietly modified newer FE cards. Perhaps this is some ammunition to say that you (nVidia) know it's an issue - I can either fix it at no cost to you but you honour my warranty or I keep pushing for you to pick it up and replace the pads or I take it up with trading standards/post negative feedback on trust pilot/twitter etc. Maybe that's too hardball - I dunno - still feel ****** that I've dropped so much money on something that is like a jet engine and might konk out early. It seems like this issue is being picked up by a lot of people and publications - I wonder if cards weren't in such short supply whether they would be more inclined to offer replacements/repairs but they know we're kind of stuck with what we have.
 
WolfHauser said:
Would be super interested to hear how far you get. I had a similar response (3090 FE super loud fan during gaming 108+ temps) but kind of just gave up. I did watch a LTT video today where he pointed out an Igor's lab post where Nvidia have quietly modified newer FE cards. Perhaps this is some ammunition to say that you (nVidia) know it's an issue - I can either fix it at no cost to you but you honour my warranty or I keep pushing for you to pick it up and replace the pads or I take it up with trading standards/post negative feedback on trust pilot/twitter etc. Maybe that's too hardball - I dunno - still feel ****** that I've dropped so much money on something that is like a jet engine and might konk out early. It seems like this issue is being picked up by a lot of people and publications - I wonder if cards weren't in such short supply whether they would be more inclined to offer replacements/repairs but they know we're kind of stuck with what we have.
Click to expand...

Unless doing mining and not controlling temps, I doubt these cards will need replacement/repairs typically, but I would like the card to be quieter (and higher boost clock would be nice)... not sure Nvidia care about how loud the card is or how high it boosts as long as it hits advertised boost clock (every card seems to go well past 1710MHz).
 
Had my 3070fe in room alongside my xbox series x. Ran assassinss creed odyssey on the pc for a bit. Its waaaaaaay loud compared to the silence of the Xbox. Actually made me wonder why I even bothered with a decent pc at all.
 
Hedge said:
Had my 3070fe in room alongside my xbox series x. Ran assassinss creed odyssey on the pc for a bit. Its waaaaaaay loud compared to the silence of the Xbox. Actually made me wonder why I even bothered with a decent pc at all.
Click to expand...

A quick undervolt will get a 3070FE almost silent with the same performance as stock or better.
 
Stu said:
There is varying discussion about warranty cover after taking off the cover (e.g. for thermal pad upgrade or watercooling), so I thought I'd get into the mix and contact Nvidia support. There was a lot of "we do not recommend modifying the card in any way" from the support rep, but I repeatedly pointed out that is a recommendation and not binding, and asked where this is referenced in the warranty (which it is not in my opinion). The guy clearly did not have an answer and referred my query to level 2.
Click to expand...

first of all thanks for digging on this. it already sounds more real-world than the BS the reps usually spout. if you did a good job and whatever fails was nothing to do with you, you should be fine.

I would mention mining to them. I'm not aware of any warranty issue with it, and he's already trying to understand why you'd pad it. the 3080 at least is NOT suitable for mining as is. I have mine downvolted to the lowest possible voltage (718mv) and still get around 95mh/s - but it will start throttling due to mem temp hitting 108-110C. This is entirely NV's fault, so they cannot morally object to us fixing their mistake. and it sounds like that should be fine (unless we screw something up).
 
WolfHauser said:
I did watch a LTT video today where he pointed out an Igor's lab post where Nvidia have quietly modified newer FE cards.
Click to expand...

Oh that wasn't just a rumour then? well then we have them banged to rights. really they should cover the costs via warranty, but hey, crazy times, but they need to honour the warranty if we do it for them.
 
Stu said:
Unless doing mining and not controlling temps, I doubt these cards will need replacement/repairs typically, but I would like the card to be quieter (and higher boost clock would be nice)... not sure Nvidia care about how loud the card is or how high it boosts as long as it hits advertised boost clock (every card seems to go well past 1710MHz).
Click to expand...

Yeah I totally agree - the noise was what led me to investigate what was going on with the card. When I was playing Control it sounded like my PS3 when it was on its last legs years ago. Exactly as you said, nVidia didn't really care about the noise - they just said it's normal. Found this other article today that said nVidia has no comment on the issue.

The LTT video I mentioned is kind of crumby - it just says there is an issue... and here's a product we can plug for you to buy and fix it! I feel like a journalist would say "there's an issue - we're pressing nVidia for an official response and solution".

I reached out to GamersNexus a few months ago but never heard anything back.

Next steps - is it time to organise (perhaps there is something already?) and get some numbers behind the issue because at the moment we're individuals getting different responses that they can pretty easily swat away.
 
A2B said:
Oh that wasn't just a rumour then? well then we have them banged to rights. really they should cover the costs via warranty, but hey, crazy times, but they need to honour the warranty if we do it for them.
Click to expand...

Yeah but what have they done to the card in modifying it ?

Improving the card is only like Asus bringing out V1.2 of a motherboard you dont have them "banged to rights".

The bottom line is you can improve the memory cooling by changing the pads but you risk voiding the warranty. The actual right or wrong of it doesnt really matter if Nvidia say no to your RMA because you changed the pads its going to cost you more than the cards worth to fight their decision.

Problem as I see it that the original pads are pretty much destroyed when removing it. Then again there was the guy in the other thread with a cracked component, obviously took it apart at one point and Nvidia approved his RMA.

Its like I said whats it worth in risk to you whether you do it or not. If supply was plentiful we wouldnt even be having this discussion whether to do it or not as people would just do it.
 
I think one reason this is easier to get than the PS5, is that in the FE discord channel the admin is actively kicking scalpers and the like, whilst on the PS5 telegram channel the channel is rife with people boasting they getting multiple consoles with no action taken.
 
varkanoid said:
Yeah but what have they done to the card in modifying it ?

Improving the card is only like Asus bringing out V1.2 of a motherboard you dont have them "banged to rights".

The bottom line is you can improve the memory cooling by changing the pads but you risk voiding the warranty. The actual right or wrong of it doesnt really matter if Nvidia say no to your RMA because you changed the pads its going to cost you more than the cards worth to fight their decision.

Problem as I see it that the original pads are pretty much destroyed when removing it. Then again there was the guy in the other thread with a cracked component, obviously took it apart at one point and Nvidia approved his RMA.

Its like I said whats it worth in risk to you whether you do it or not. If supply was plentiful we wouldnt even be having this discussion whether to do it or not as people would just do it.
Click to expand...

I think the most significant outcome at this point would be for Nvidia to clearly state that changing the pads does not void warranty (obviously if you damage the card or get it wrong, then it's on you). Considering the "right to repair" proposals in EU, I do not think removing the cover should be grounds for invalidating the warranty, especially to replace crappy thermal pads that will degrade over time.
https://www.techrepublic.com/articl...ices-but-campaigners-want-to-go-much-further/
 
varkanoid said:
pads are pretty much destroyed when removing it. Then again there was the guy in the other thread with a cracked component, obviously took it apart at one point and Nvidia approved his RMA.
Click to expand...
Maybe that guy didn't get as far as removing the pads though after taking the backplate of and seeing the component damage.

As you say though it's taking a risk swapping the pads, you don't really gain any extra performance bar some extra hash rate from it and if the card fails due to the memory running too hot then nvidia will just replace it anyway.
 
chrcoluk said:
I think one reason this is easier to get than the PS5, is that in the FE discord channel the admin is actively kicking scalpers and the like, whilst on the PS5 telegram channel the channel is rife with people boasting they getting multiple consoles with no action taken.
Click to expand...

I'm not quite sure why as the prices are remaining at RRP but IMO PS5 availability is being manipulated - I understand to an extent the retailers releasing stock in blocks of smaller quantities to prevent their web-sites being overloaded and to try and prevent scalpers getting the lot in one go, etc. but there is a lot more quantity coming into the UK that seems to just sit around for weeks or even months on end before moving.
 
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