Hi all,
I asked on here a while back for advice with my 8800GTX which has never been able to run at stock levels since I bought it in a preconfigured build from overlcockers. Basically the core and shaders overclock nicely to around 640/1520 but the memory needs underclocking to 890 to prevent artifacting.
Since I got the pc back in the end of 2007, I have never been too bothered about the problem. Until I bought a HR-03 along with a 120mm fan to be able to overclock it and keep it quiet. The cooler didn't help with the memory problem, and a few weeks ago I decided to RMA it.
After a few emails with a guy at EVGA, he approved that the card should be sent in for repair. And told me to reattach the original cooler, take off the original thermal pads, and apply thermal paste.
On Wednesday last week I dismantled the card from the HR-03, carefully cleaned the card with alcohol, and applied a very thin layer of AS5 on the GPU and memory chips. I removed the thermal pads from the cooler also cleaned it with alcohol. After reassembling the card, I could see from the side that the memory chips were not in contact with the cooler. I mentioned this to EVGA in an email and suggested that they reapply thermal pads to the card before testing it. (thermal pads are obviously a lot thicker than a thin layer of paste, thus making proper contact between cooler and card).
I didn't receive a reply so decided to include this information in a covering letter which I put in the box when I sent the card.
I sent the card this monday, and recieved and email from EVGA this morning:
"Dear Rob
I am sorry, but we have to refuse the RMA processing as the card was built
back without applying thermal paste.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards..."
Now, firstly, I want to point out that I DID apply thermal paste to every chip which requires it. I spent around 2 hours carefully cleaning the card and applying the paste which was very tricky to apply especially with all the capacitors etc which get in the way when spreading the paste.
Secondly, the thermal paste was basically pointless anyway as I had been advised to remove the thermal pads and reapply the paste myself. This paste would only have contacted the cooler if I used around 2 syringes of AS5. In including the covering letter which stated this fact, I feel I have covered myself.
I called up promptly after reading the email, and was told that they had opened the card up and there was no thermal paste, a photo was taken and they had effectively closed the case.
I feel at a bit of a loss now, they are insisting that there was no thermal paste, which is not true. And also they don't seem to understand my point that the thermal paste is irrelevant. I never ran the card in that condition, I had always used the HR-03. I simply wanted them to check the memory was at fault and either repair or issue a replacement card.
Thanks for reading this stupidly long explanation, but I wanted to get as much detail in as possible!
I asked on here a while back for advice with my 8800GTX which has never been able to run at stock levels since I bought it in a preconfigured build from overlcockers. Basically the core and shaders overclock nicely to around 640/1520 but the memory needs underclocking to 890 to prevent artifacting.
Since I got the pc back in the end of 2007, I have never been too bothered about the problem. Until I bought a HR-03 along with a 120mm fan to be able to overclock it and keep it quiet. The cooler didn't help with the memory problem, and a few weeks ago I decided to RMA it.
After a few emails with a guy at EVGA, he approved that the card should be sent in for repair. And told me to reattach the original cooler, take off the original thermal pads, and apply thermal paste.
On Wednesday last week I dismantled the card from the HR-03, carefully cleaned the card with alcohol, and applied a very thin layer of AS5 on the GPU and memory chips. I removed the thermal pads from the cooler also cleaned it with alcohol. After reassembling the card, I could see from the side that the memory chips were not in contact with the cooler. I mentioned this to EVGA in an email and suggested that they reapply thermal pads to the card before testing it. (thermal pads are obviously a lot thicker than a thin layer of paste, thus making proper contact between cooler and card).
I didn't receive a reply so decided to include this information in a covering letter which I put in the box when I sent the card.
I sent the card this monday, and recieved and email from EVGA this morning:
"Dear Rob
I am sorry, but we have to refuse the RMA processing as the card was built
back without applying thermal paste.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards..."
Now, firstly, I want to point out that I DID apply thermal paste to every chip which requires it. I spent around 2 hours carefully cleaning the card and applying the paste which was very tricky to apply especially with all the capacitors etc which get in the way when spreading the paste.
Secondly, the thermal paste was basically pointless anyway as I had been advised to remove the thermal pads and reapply the paste myself. This paste would only have contacted the cooler if I used around 2 syringes of AS5. In including the covering letter which stated this fact, I feel I have covered myself.
I called up promptly after reading the email, and was told that they had opened the card up and there was no thermal paste, a photo was taken and they had effectively closed the case.
I feel at a bit of a loss now, they are insisting that there was no thermal paste, which is not true. And also they don't seem to understand my point that the thermal paste is irrelevant. I never ran the card in that condition, I had always used the HR-03. I simply wanted them to check the memory was at fault and either repair or issue a replacement card.
Thanks for reading this stupidly long explanation, but I wanted to get as much detail in as possible!
