- Joined
- Aug 20, 2007
- Messages
- 22,215 (3.44/day)
- Location
- Olympia, WA
| System Name | Pioneer |
|---|---|
| Processor | Ryzen 9 9950X |
| Motherboard | MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk Wifi |
| Cooling | Noctua NH-D15 + A whole lotta Sunon, Phanteks and Corsair Maglev blower fans... |
| Memory | 128GB (4x 32GB) G.Skill Flare X5 @ DDR5-4200(Running 1:1:1 w/FCLK) |
| Video Card(s) | XFX RX 7900 XTX Speedster Merc 310 |
| Storage | Intel 5800X Optane 800GB boot, +2x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs, 1x 2TB Seagate Exos 3.5" |
| Display(s) | 55" LG 55" B9 OLED 4K Display |
| Case | Thermaltake Core X31 |
| Audio Device(s) | TOSLINK->Schiit Modi MB->Asgard 2 DAC Amp->AKG Pro K712 Headphones or HDMI->B9 OLED |
| Power Supply | FSP Hydro Ti Pro 850W |
| Mouse | Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless |
| Keyboard | WASD Code v3 with Cherry Green keyswitches + PBT DS keycaps |
| Software | Gentoo Linux x64, other office machines run Windows 11 Enterprise |
It took them a while compared to a normal RMA, but EVGA was awesome in that the conclusion is good and DID NOT take months.
Their engineering verified the card had a bad solder joint that was feeding voltage back into another circuit where it wasn't supposed to go. There are apparently safeguards against short bursts of voltage above the norm in said circuit, but they quickly burned up under a continuous load and the card completely failed then (when I noticed the black screen I am guessing), dumping voltage in the process back into the PCIe socket (I'm guessing they used a protection diode but the voltage was too much, but that's just guesswork). They pretty much blamed the whole thing on one very ugly solder joint.
That's what they told me, anyways.
After they established fault, they were much more willing to talk refund. They agreed to issue me an EVGA.com store credit for the value of the VGA card and the mobo I had to replace. Once given receipts, I have one hell of a big coupon code... Nearly $750....
Yep, they honored the gigabyte mobos receipt price, even though it's gone WAY down since I bought it fresh on the z170 launch.
I know, cash would be better than store credit, but I was told it was "against policy to issue check refunds over $300.00." I did not pursue it further even though I sensed a bit of BS there, as I'm happy to go on a component spending spree in the future at EVGA. I just hope my next card won't burn up my PCIe slots... but I think that's pretty rare.
PS: I love my EVGA z170 FTW. It overclocks my CPU to 4.5Ghz using a much lower voltage than my old gigabyte board (1.25v vs 1.35v), I guess power delivery (and thus, vdroop) is better.
My only complaint with it is from my brief electronics stint, and that tells me that those Apaq Solid capacitors they use are timebombs if stressed (literally, they explode like little grenades). Fortunately, all the reviews seem to think the circuit design is solid, so I'm hoping they aren't stressed. Even if they are, it'll last before my next upgrade nearly certainly because I am insane and it takes roughly 3-5 years for the caps to go haywire even in high stress... They're just the worst solid caps they could've chose IMO. But better than electrolytics I suppose.
Just reporting in everyone! Thanks for reading and glad the conclusion didn't have me pulling too much hair out!
Their engineering verified the card had a bad solder joint that was feeding voltage back into another circuit where it wasn't supposed to go. There are apparently safeguards against short bursts of voltage above the norm in said circuit, but they quickly burned up under a continuous load and the card completely failed then (when I noticed the black screen I am guessing), dumping voltage in the process back into the PCIe socket (I'm guessing they used a protection diode but the voltage was too much, but that's just guesswork). They pretty much blamed the whole thing on one very ugly solder joint.
That's what they told me, anyways.
After they established fault, they were much more willing to talk refund. They agreed to issue me an EVGA.com store credit for the value of the VGA card and the mobo I had to replace. Once given receipts, I have one hell of a big coupon code... Nearly $750....
Yep, they honored the gigabyte mobos receipt price, even though it's gone WAY down since I bought it fresh on the z170 launch.I know, cash would be better than store credit, but I was told it was "against policy to issue check refunds over $300.00." I did not pursue it further even though I sensed a bit of BS there, as I'm happy to go on a component spending spree in the future at EVGA. I just hope my next card won't burn up my PCIe slots... but I think that's pretty rare.
PS: I love my EVGA z170 FTW. It overclocks my CPU to 4.5Ghz using a much lower voltage than my old gigabyte board (1.25v vs 1.35v), I guess power delivery (and thus, vdroop) is better.
My only complaint with it is from my brief electronics stint, and that tells me that those Apaq Solid capacitors they use are timebombs if stressed (literally, they explode like little grenades). Fortunately, all the reviews seem to think the circuit design is solid, so I'm hoping they aren't stressed. Even if they are, it'll last before my next upgrade nearly certainly because I am insane and it takes roughly 3-5 years for the caps to go haywire even in high stress... They're just the worst solid caps they could've chose IMO. But better than electrolytics I suppose.
Just reporting in everyone! Thanks for reading and glad the conclusion didn't have me pulling too much hair out!
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