Acer Veriton N External Graphics Card Module

Apr 23, 2018
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I'm looking for a part number or details of where to purchase an external graphics card module for the Acer Veriton N nettop series as advertised on their UK site. This is either a complete graphics solution that includes the accompanying black module that houses the card or its just the housing to that a card can be purchased and used with the Veriton N. the site dos not make this clear and no support agent can assist.

Here is the current on-going ordeal with Acer over this enquiry:

13th April 2018
Incident: 180413-001980
Chat By (Ramon) (13/04/2018 12:00)

Jon - Hello, where can I purchase the AMD (Radeon R7 340 2GB VRAM) external graphics expansion module for the Acer Veriton N N4640G (product number DT.VNHEK.019) as advertised on the Acer UK site? The links provided below demonstrate the use of the module when advertising the Veriton N expansion features:

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series/veritonn
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series-design/veritonn
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series-features/veritonn

The module connects to the right hand side of the unit and allows for a low profile card to be added to the PCI-e expansion slot.

Thank you.

Ramon - You can try our spare parts sales line 0330 058 1711
Call closed.

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Spare parts sales line could not help.

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13th April 2018
Upgrade options [Incident: 180413-002110]
Response By Email (Yewda) (13/04/2018 16:12)

Jon - Where can I purchase the PCI-e AMD Radeon R7 340 (2GB VRAM) graphics expansion module for the Acer Veriton N N4640G? Its an external module that connects to the 1x PCI Express X16 expansion slot on the side of the Nettop. The module houses a low profile graphics card and
expands the dimensions of the Veriton N case to allow for a card to be securely fitted to the main logic board. This can clearly be viewed on the below page:

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series-design/veritonn

I have already purchased an Acer Veriton N N4640G (Part Number: DT.VNHEK.019).
The component that I would like to purchase is an external graphics expansion module. The specs
for the Veriton N show that there is a graphics option for an AMD Radeon R7 340 (2GB VRAM)
card.

Yedwa - Thank you for contacting Acer, Regarding your enquiry can you please try to check with

PC World.

Regards

Yedwa Mathonsi
Support Technician
Agent ID 302

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13th April 2018
Upgrade options [Incident: 180413-002110]
Response By Email (Yewda) (13/04/2018 16:50)

Jon - This is not helpful at all. Acer should know who its suppliers are, should be able to direct me to a retailer who stocks this product, or should be able to offer its own products through its own online store. I feel like you have not even attempted to source where this can be purchased and that the advice given is lacking. You are Acer support so please support me and resolve my query as I feel that I'm being misled and passed on. Can Acer support not enquire as to who stocks this on behalf of a customer?

Yedwa - Thank you for contacting Acer, Regarding your enquiry AMD is not the Acer product as
stated can you please go to PC World you going to get the graphics card sorry for any inconvenience.

Regards
Yedwa Mathonsi
Support Technician
Agent ID 302

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PC World had no idea why this advice was given and questioned why Acer could not assist in tracking down a retailer who supplied that product.

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17th April 2018
ESC1640 [Incident: 180417-001271]
Response By Email (Jacob) (17/04/2018 10:08)

Thank you for your contact regarding the AMD Radeon R7 340 graphics module. Having looked into your enquiry, unfortunately I cannot find any U.K retailers that supply an Acer Veriton unit, with an AMD Radeon R7 340 graphics module included.

As we have thousands of re-sellers globally, it is impossible to track which ones sell each type of product. Quite often the suppliers for these re-sellers will order custom units made to a specific quantity, and then distribute them to the re-sellers who ordered them. Therefore as we only provide units to the distributor, we cannot possibly know where they are headed.

That said, you can of course purchase a model, and have a compatible graphics card fitted, however please be aware that any damage caused by the fitting of the component or the component itself, will not be covered under warranty. I'm sorry we cannot help further with your query, however I thank you again for your contact.

Kind regards

Jacob Hallett
Support Technician
Acer UK Escalations

Response to email -

Jon - Thank you for your reply. What I am asking for is not a custom order. I am not looking to
purchase a Veriton N with a card attached. I have already purchased an Acer Veriton N unit and
what I am asking for is how to purchase the additional graphics module that attaches to the
Veriton and allows for a PCI-e low profile card to be used as advertised in various pictures on your site.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series/veritonn
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series-design/veritonn
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series-features/veritonn

I'm just looking to purchase the graphics module as an after-sales solution from your online store or known third party reseller. I was surprised to see that the upgrade is advertised on the website but offered no link to purchase it directly from the manufacturer. Could you please confirm whether the add-ons and accessories for the Veriton N are available?

If it isn't available directly from your website, online store, or from any known retail outlet, then how can I purchase this product? How can it be impossible to track who you sell your products to? I'm finding this difficult to understand that Acer supply goods to distributors and then have no way to track which retailers/authorised resellers stock and sell your products. Are there any distribution centres across the UK that have supplied retailers with this external graphics add-on module that you can forward me on to?

Is there no way for Acer to source its own product for a customer? In the interest of customer service could somebody please source this product internally or through a sales partner or
appropriate retail channel for me? I have no idea where to turn to if Acer cannot provide me
with a current product that's still advertised on their main UK site. It doesn't fill me with confidence if my new Acer PC cannot be supported or supplied with after market kit within it's 12 month warranty.

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18th April 2018
ESC1640 [Incident: 180417-001271]
Response By Email (Jacob) (18/04/2018 12:11)

Hi Jonathan,

The AMD Radeon R7 340, isn't manufactured by ourselves. It's actually an AMD product and not an Acer one. Acer have never sold any graphics cards so I would advise you to get in contact with AMD to see whether they can help you with your query. I have provided a link to their website
https://www.amd.com/en

I'm sorry we are unable to help further with this query but I hope you find what you are looking for with AMD.

Kind regards

Jacob Hallett
Support Technician
Acer UK Escalations

Response to email -

Jon - Hello, AMD support have confirmed that they do not provide any graphics modules that have
been designed and manufactured by Acer for its own products. AMD do manufacture the Radeon
series graphics cards but have no dealings with Acer's black module that enables it to connect to the Veriton N. Is this module simply an attachment that allows me to put my own card into it or a full solution from Acer?

This is not an internal graphics card that I am looking to purchase as you are well aware that no graphics card can fit into the Veriton N. It is the external graphics module that is advertised on your website that I am seeking. It is clearly visible on the Veriton N web page and is listed as an optional attachment on the specification sheet for the Veriton N series. None of my questions have been answered as to how I purchase this Acer product or whether it is available to purchase. I am now even questioning whether this expansion module is just an empty case to allow for an optional card to be attached by an end-user. Could you please clarify what this module actually is as it seems clear from the features promoted on the page that it is an add-on product.

I had purchased the Acer Veriton N on the strength of it expansion options and now I'm being
told that those options are not manufactured by Acer. Just to clarify, I am looking to purchase the module that attaches to the Veriton N unit although, it is now unclear whether this is a complete graphics solution or a case to house a third party card. I feel like this is false advertising and I have purchased a product based on the website's misleading expansion options claim.

I have attached a number of pictures to the email to show you what your expansion product looks
like. Can somebody from Acer please explain what this graphics card attachment is as you have
explained that it is not an Acer product (manufactured by AMD), and why is it marketed as an
upgrade to expand the capabilities of the Veriton N on the Acer website if it doesn't exist?

Please see the attached pictures.

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18th April 2018
ESC1640 [Incident: 180417-001271]
Response By Email (Jacob) (18/04/2018 16:16)

Can you please provide the link for the Veriton N web page where you can see the optional attachment advertised?

Many thanks

Jacob Hallett
Support Technician
Acer UK Escalations

Response to email -

Jon - Hello, the links are in the pictures that I had attached to the previous emails. Are you
receiving those picture attachments? I have re-attached the pictures to the email. the links

have also been provided again below:

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series/veritonn
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series-features/veritonn
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series-design/veritonn

Here is the segment from the specifications page that lists the supported cards that can be
attached.

Specifications (Veriton N4640G-36104PW)
Expansion Slots: 1x PCIe x16 slot (optional for graphic card upgrade: NVIDIA® GeForce® Graphics GT 705, 1 GB DDR3, AMG RadeonTM R7 340, 2 GB DDR3 (supporting DVI, HDMI®), AMD RadeonTM R5 310, 2 GB DDR3 (supporting: DVI, HDMI®)

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20th April
ESC1640 [Incident: 180417-001271]
Response By Email (Jacob) (20/04/2018 12:06)

I've had a look through the links that you have sent and cannot see any link stating that we sell NVIDIA® GeForce® Graphics GT 705. Whilst the Veriton units are expandable, in order to upgrade the graphics, you would have to purchase the graphics cards yourself separately. The example provided is purely saying that these are the cards which are supported, if you decide to go ahead and upgrade. Acer do not, and have never sold these graphics cards.

Thank you again for your contact.

Kind regards

Jacob Hallett
Support Technician
Acer UK Escalations

Response to email -

Jon - Hello, it seems that the expansion options have not been advertised clearly. The feature pages that advertise the Veriton N product clearly display its expansion capabilities with that
graphics module, and when I say "module" I mean the black box and bracket that houses the card.
Not once have I mentioned that you sell an NVIDIA GT 705 card. You are clearly not reading my
questions or responses properly. I have asked if it is a solution that can be purchased and then I have asked if it a case that physically expands the dimensions of the Veriton N so as to allow a card to be fitted. The latter has not been acknowledged or explained to me and it has taken this amount of time to confirm that it is not a complete graphics card and casing solution.

I have no issue with providing my own card but I am disappointed that this advice could not have been given by the first or second support agent. I have been offered poor advice and have so far called Acer spare parts line, PC World, and AMD. Now I've been told that it is in fact not a product at all that can be purchased from Acer, but I've still had no confirmation on whether the casing can be purchased to allow for the card to be fitted to the PC. To reiterate, no graphics card can fit into the original casing of the Veriton N and the pictures clearly show an expanded module that is connected to the side of the unit that allows for a card to be fitted.

My question now is this - Are the 1, 2 and 3 litre expansion modules that are promoted on the
Veriton N pages now just empty boxes that I put my own graphics card into? No GPU manufacturer
will provide a module for an Acer product so where do I get the box that's clearly visible on those pages? It also shows an optical drive as an expansion module that fits underneath the Veriton N. Is this available to purchase or is this also a fictitious third party add-on? I just need confirmation on the purpose of the black 'graphics card' module if you're eluding to the fact that it doesn't exist. The entire Veriton N section of the Acer UK website is confusing and misleading.

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20th April
ESC1640 [Incident: 180417-001271]
Response By Email (Jacob) (20/04/2018 13:43)

The expansion modules contain things such as an additional optical drive, extra storage, and more memory.There is no graphics expansion module I'm afraid. Therefore if you want to update the graphics card, you would have to open the top of the unit via the kensington lock and fit a new one via the PCIe slot.

As these are business and not commercial units, your best bet to get the expansion modules would be via a distributor such as Exertis or Tech Data.

Many thanks

Jacob Hallett
Support Technician
Acer UK Escalations

Response to email -

Jon - Hello, the Veriton N nettop PC does not physically allow for a graphics card to be installed. Can you not see the pictures of this module from the links I have sent?I had purchased a Veriton N on the strength its expansion capabilities as advertised on your website. Those pages contain the following quotes that accompany the many images of the add-on's being connected to the Veriton N:

"Growing With Your Business
Build your desktop as you build your business with easily attachable 1-litre add-ons."

"1-Litre (L) Add-Ons
Additional 1-L add-ons providing added features like an extra optical drive, storage and memory
can be attached to the source unit."

"Five is Better Than One
Increase your viewing space and maximise productivity as you extend your desktop across as many as five monitors." - In reference to the graphics module that is connected to the Veriton N
nettop PC.

Do you have a part number or product number for the Veriton N modular housing that can be used?
Trying to explain this to a distributor is going to be difficult without a product name or
number as you seem extremely confused yourself as to what is being advertised on the Veriton N
page.

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20th April 2018
ESC1640 [Incident: 180417-001271]
Response By Email (Jacob) (20/04/2018 15:06)

I think there's been some confusion. Essentially the 1 litre add-ons are other Veriton units.
For example the Veriton unit you have, paired with another Veriton unit. This is useful if you
want more memory or ram, as the singular Veriton units can only hold that which they come with.
You can obtain part numbers via the links you have provided. If you just want to update the
graphics card, you would open your unit via the Kensington lock and simply insert the
compatible graphics card into the free PCIe port.

As these are business units, they are usually purchased via an account manager who would
typically advise them of this before purchase. I hope this provided clarity on the issue.

Many thanks

Jacob Hallett
Acer UK Escalations

Response to email -

Jon - Hello, so just to clarify, when you say that "the 1-litre add-on units are Veritons", you mean that they are other PC's added together? So these units are not optional peripherals that can be attached but are other PC's that help expand RAM? This is incorrect.Any Veriton N computer supports additional RAM. Memory and RAM are the same thing. If you mean storage space then the Veriton N can also expand this through a replacement internal HDD. The Veriton N series can support up to 16 or 32GB RAM depending on the specific model and does not require another Veriton unit attached for storage or RAM expansion. The modules advertised on the Features, Design and Overview web page tabs include an optical drive and a module that can house a low profile graphics card. I have sent a number of picture attachments with previous emails clearly showing those products and how they attach to the Veriton N nettop PC.

There has obviously been confusion as to how the graphics card is fitted as nobody can give me
a clear answer as to how this is housed. A low profile graphics card will not physically fit inside the housing of a Veriton N casing without an additional kit that will allow the casing to be physically extended as shown in the pictures on the Veriton N web page. I simply cannot insert a compatible graphics card into the free PCIe port without this module/housing that will accommodate this upgrade. This is incorrect advice and there also seems to be confusion as to what RAM and Memory is and how a Veriton N can add additional RAM or storage. This is also not what I had asked and feels like a deflection designed to confuse me. Why can my simple question not be answered? This is very poor service and your technical knowledge seems very limited. I would like this escalated and it concerns me that this necessary to get a clear answer.

No parts numbers are provided by any of the links that I have provided. This is why I am making
an enquiry with Acer support so that I can obtain these in order to order the product from an
appropriate retailer. This shouldn't have been as hard as this to clarify how an additional card is connected and what the part/product number is to purchase the appropriate kit. My enquiry is still not resolved and now I have been given incorrect information as to what the add-on's are and how they are used.

Please look at the pictures on those web pages that I have listed and see that the Veriton N is
attached to an optical drive underneath and that a low profile graphics card is attached and
secured to the PC via an additional module. This is where the confusion has started. I have
asked whether this is an external graphics module that can be purchased. After much confusion I
have eventually been told that this is not an upgrade but rather an option to attach a third party graphics card to the unit. This makes sense but the modular housing in which the card sits would still be needed in order for that card to be attached and that is what I clearly need. This black box attachment is demonstrated on the web page and can be seen as a removable attachment that is fitted to the right hand side of the Veriton N. If this is visible on the site then it has to exist. Please can you just find me the details needed to obtain that kit?

Thank you.

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23rd April 2018
ESC1640 [Incident: 180417-001271]
No response from Acer to my previous reply.

I have sent another email in response -

The product codes you referred to in your previous email is not for any of the requested add-ons but for the actual Veriton N PC models. My model is as listed below:

Veriton N4640G
DT.VNHEK.019
Windows 10 Pro
Intel® Core™ i3-6100T processor Dual-core 3.20 GHz
Intel® HD Graphics 530 with Shared Memory
4 GB, DDR4 SDRAM (expandable to 16GB)
500 GB HDD

There are 5 different configurations with different model numbers for the Veriton N range.
These are not the same as the product numbers or product codes required to identify the correct add-on that I need. The add-ons are not listed on the Models tab, only the computers are.
Veriton N computers are not add-ons and they also cannot be added to each other; especially not
to increase RAM or Memory as was suggested in your previous email.

The existence of these add-ons can be verified by simply viewing the Overview, Design and
Features pages for the Veriton N product. Have you received any of the email attachments? Can
you view any of the pictures that have been sent? Since you have confirmed that the graphics
card is not available from Acer then can you confirm what the name or part number is for the accompanying casing that houses the graphics card?

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series/veritonn

As you can see in the link, the Veriton N computer is displayed at various angles. None of the
rear ports include DVI or HDMI. If you scroll further down the page you can see that there is a
separate attachment that connects directly to the PCIe slot on the side of the Veriton N. The
optical drive is also visible as an optional attachment under the PC. None of those attachments
are standard fittings with any base model of the Veriton N when purchased. These are additional
extras and clearly do exist as an optional attachment .

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series-design/veritonn

The Design tab on the webpage shows a rear view picture of the Veriton N. Here you can see that
the low profile card has been attached using the modular graphics add-on. There is now a DVI
and HDMI port located to the left hand side of the PC. Whether or not this card is provided by
Acer isn’t important at this stage. The question now is how do I get the modular housing that
allows the card to physically fit to the side of the Veriton N PC?

The physical dimensions of the Veriton N will not allow for a graphics card to be attached
unless the accompanying module and bracket is provided. This is something that AMD do not
provide as was suggested in an earlier email. I have also contacted PC World Business as was
also suggested and I have called the Acer number for spare parts and repairs. Again, this was
suggested to me by Acer support.

This web page also states - “Growing With Your Business. Build your desktop as you build your
business with easily attachable 1-litre add-ons.”

The Veriton N PC clearly has no add-ons connected in this section. Both the optical drive and
graphics card is not visible under this section. They can be seen being added to the PC as an
optional extra if you click on the link within the photograph.

This page also states - “Five is Better Than One. Increase your viewing space and maximise
productivity as you extend your desktop across as many as five monitors.”

Under this section, the Veriton N PC has a graphics card add-on module connected and is
displayed next to 5 monitors. This strongly suggests that there is a 1-litre modular attachment
that provides the Veriton N PC with the ability to drive 5 monitors; by using an additional card this can be connected using an Acer modular design.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/professional-series-features/veritonn

Other clear views of the additional add-on modules can be found on the Features tab. None of these attachments that are featured show additional Veriton N PC's connected to each other. The
models tab must have confused you in regards to the availability of those add-ons. The add-ons
must be available to purchase or this would be false advertising.

If you cannot provide any further details as to what those add-ons are or are not then could
you find somebody at Acer to escalate this to who can explain this? There has to be an after
sales option for those add-ons. I can call Exertis or Tech Data like you have suggested but you
haven't provided any contact details for them and it still hasn't been clarified whether the
module I am asking for is an empty box that houses a third party card that I need to purchase
myself.

--------
 
Send them this picture, circle the dock.

VN_features_ksp_01_large.jpg


Most of the time the support thinks you are looking for a video card.

Tell them you want the dock as pictured, forget about trying to explain about the video card.

Looks like those are all very new products, it could be that the add on with the video card slot is not available yet.
 
Jan 24, 2020
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This sounds like a class action lawsuit could be the case; they may have promoted vaporware and then cancelled production of the product after photographing some prototypes.