The AMD switch

[jimjam81]

Yeah, maybe a little little bit reckless but I don't see it a a £570 purchase but more than £325-350 upgrade.

Will claim VAT back as it's for my work computer and will hopefully get between 130-150 for my Asus 5870 V1.

would have prefered Xfire/SLI but my two of my PCI slots are right next to my 1300W PSU, would off been less than cm. As my PC is on for at least 8 hours a day I think it would heat one card up too much.

I also play heavily modded games like Oblivion and Total Wars and getting 15-17 fps was not good enough for me.

Besides I guess this card should be worth at least £200 second hand a year from now if I decide to upgarde to 7000 series, judging by 5970 prices anyway.

 

[MichaelM]

Saw something about the bios switch possibly being there to allow mac users to upgrade to these cards without having to go through Apple.

Also a few people on forums seem to have tested both switches at varied clock frequencies to see if the unlocked bios allows for better overclocking results and it gave better results for some people but I haven't tried it myself.


It seems to be mildly beneficial to various people so increases sales, which could be the real reason for it.

 

[kylew]

You seem a bit confused about the difference between statutory rights and warranties. You always have your statutory rights and nothing the manufacturer, retailer or anyone else says can change or remove those (indeed, a retailer suggesting that they can be removed is potentially committing a criminal offence). These statutory rights require that the product is as described, fit for purpose, suitably durable, etc. Public statements by manufacturers about the capability of the product will usually be considered to be relevant to the "as described" aspect.

It is important to note that your statutory rights are wholly with the retailer, you have no statutory rights with the manufacturer under UK law.

A warranty is something that retailers or manufacturers may, or may not, provide in addition to your statutory rights. If they do offer one then it becomes legally binding but only to the extent that the warranty specifies.

If they choose to exclude something from the warranty (eg use of the switch) then they may do so. But you still have your statutory rights and would be entitled to exercise them against the retailer should an advertised feature not work as described or cause a failure.

I'm fully aware that your statutory rights lie solely with the retailer, and what I said about it, was in relation to the retailer, as for the most part, they'll be the ones you'll be dealing with when it comes to warranty claims.

I'm also pretty sure that it's a warranty that's compulsory, but a guarantee is what is optional, but your statutory rights state that it must be fit for purpose, and one of the purposes would be of course using the switch, as it's advertised on the box, like I said about the monitor outputs, they can't advertise it as a feature, then say you can't use it without voiding your warranty, as it's an intended feature, or, one of its purposes, so would fall under "not fit for purpose".