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AMD RMA

Soldato
Joined
25 Jun 2013
Posts
5,036
Location
Warks
I've got to return a new processor to AMD, since the retailer (not ocuk) refuses to accept there's a problem and has returned it to me at a £24 charge.

AMD's given me an address in the Netherlands. Does anybody know if there's a UK alternative, or what's the cheapest way to get it sent out? Thankfully as it's just a CPU, it'll fit in a jiffy bag.
 
What's actually wrong with the CPU?
I'd try asking an AMD UK Rep, last time I recall it was -VK-, but that was 2011, and after the shambles of Bulldozer I haven't seen him since.
I still remember the quote "You'll be pleasantly surprised".

But apart from that, he's alright lol.
 
I couldn't get it to work with 2133MHz RAM trying two different branded boards and several different RAM sticks. I sent it back, and they got it working on one board with one set of RAM and said it proved it wasn't faulty, and it was my responsibility to make sure the components were compatible. AMD on the other hand said it should work fine, and so I should return it to them.
 
Nope, but the PSU ran all the boards and memory fine at 1866MHz (and all the memory worked fine at 2133MHz on another system). I told the retailer this, but they said I was using incompatible components.

AMD said that the processor (A10-6800K) fully supports 2133MHz, so if the RAM's fine and the boards are fine, to return the APU.
 
What motherboards have you tried?

Have you checked the RAM is on the compatibility list for your motherboard?

Very unlikely its a faulty CPU. In my experience they either work, or they don't :)
 
ASRock A85X and Asus F2A85-M. The RAM compatibility list is always really short, but ASRock told me they'd previously tested the Patriot Viper 2133MHz I used and it was fine -- they said there could be a problem with the memory controller in the APU. People have used loads of RAM types up to 2400MHz with the APUs without any issue.

The worst that'll happen is AMD will return it to me tested as not faulty, they said there's no charge to return it to me. I don't want the APU if it's got a faulty memory controller though.
 
Supporting and running 2133MHZ are two different things.

It wasn't until Thuban that AMD could run 1600MHZ RAM stable without any issues.
Could just have a trash IMC.
 
If you can run at 1866MHz with slightly tighter timings, you'll likely see better performance than at 2133mhz anyway.
 
Supporting and running 2133MHZ are two different things.

It wasn't until Thuban that AMD could run 1600MHZ RAM stable without any issues.
Could just have a trash IMC.

In this instance AMD sounds confident it'll work at 2133MHz, as they recommend it for best performance in their official product info. Most of the reviews show benchmarks with 2400MHz too, even though it's an overclock. None of the ones I've seen mention any problems above 1600MHz.
 
If you can run at 1866MHz with slightly tighter timings, you'll likely see better performance than at 2133mhz anyway.

Normally, yeah. But with the IGP the higher memory speed increases GPU performance quite a bit. 2133MHz memory and an overclock seems to give about +30% gaming performance over 1600MHz/stock.

I did try running the 2133MHz with looser timings, but still couldn't post at all.
 
Really? It's only a 14% odd difference in theoretical bandwidth at the same timings, let alone if you tighten up timings at 1866MHz. At this end of the spectrum the iGPU is kind of choked by latency more than BW

I've done much fiddling with Trinity APUs (5800k and 5700) and found this to be the case myself. If Richland is that much better at higher frequency, IDK
 
That's going on review benchmarks. I don't have them to hand and I'm just heading out - but you get about +15-20% with a reasonable overclock and on top about +10-15% with 2133MHz memory.
 
In this instance AMD sounds confident it'll work at 2133MHz, as they recommend it for best performance in their official product info. Most of the reviews show benchmarks with 2400MHz too, even though it's an overclock. None of the ones I've seen mention any problems above 1600MHz.

Doesn't mean you won't get one that can't do 2133MHZ though.

By all means try RMA'ing with AMD, but it just sounds like a trash IMC.
 
Doesn't mean you won't get one that can't do 2133MHZ though.

By all means try RMA'ing with AMD, but it just sounds like a trash IMC.

have to agree sounds like an imc issue even my older generation a10 5800k is happily running patriot viper black mamba at 2133 but I'am running on a gigabyte F2A85X UP4.
 
The Asus is a pretty high end FM2 board. The APU itself would overclock easily - up to 4.8GHz without even trying, and the IGP would do something like 800MHz to 1000MHz, that seems in line with the Richland 6800Ks in general.

Thing is I could have returned my Patriot 2133MHz C11 for Patriot 2400MHz C10 if it'd worked - I just didn't want to be returning boards and memory left right and centre. There's obviously not much chance this one will run at 2400MHz, given it won't post at 2133MHz.

(Just found one benchmark for the 6800K - Left 4 Dead 2: at stock clock and 1600MHz RAM, 61fps. At stock clock and 2133MHz RAM, 72fps. At a 4.7GHz overclock and 1600MHz RAM, 70fps. Annoyingly it doesn't have both combined, but I'd guess 80fps+ as there's no reason they wouldn't combine)
 
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Yeah, I tried three sets, different types. They all ran on my other systems at 2133MHz with no problem. The Patriot Viper will run at 2400MHz even with extra voltage.
 
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