RMA re certified?

[kol12]

I have filed an RMA for my EVGA GTX 970 due to one of the fans making a loud flutter. I've learnt that EVGA will likely replace the card with a re certified product. Apart from the fan my only 14 month old card is otherwise performing normally. I'm concerned that it could possibly be replaced with a card that has had more parts usage than mine. I feel that this would be unfair and wouldn't reflect the value of my current card. Can anyone give some insight into what to expect from a re certified product and offer their opinion/advice on this matter?

 

[bwinzey]

Normally, refurbished/re-certified products are very heavily tested to ensure that they work as well as a brand new product. Usage probably varies but I don't think that they'd give you a card that previously had bad problems. They're probably cards whose fans failed, got the fans replaced, and are sitting there. That's just what I think happens, but I'm no expert on refurbished GPU's.

 

[Eximo]

Refurbished can mean something as simple as a return, testing the card, and re-boxing it. With EVGAs step-up program they probably do this more than most.

Fan and heatsink replacement is probably common due to damage in shipping, so those would immediately be returned, a new heatsink applied, tested, and boxed.

But physical repair of damaged cards is unlikely given that extensive testing would be required to troubleshoot and isolate a problem, obtain parts, the necessary expertise in repairing it. A lot of assembly is done by machines these days, and having someone spend hours on a card might not be cost effective after you factor in handling, triage, testing, keeping a parts supply, leasing all the equipment

 

[kol12]

Normally, refurbished/re-certified products are very heavily tested to ensure that they work as well as a brand new product. Usage probably varies but I don't think that they'd give you a card that previously had bad problems. They're probably cards whose fans failed, got the fans replaced, and are sitting there. That's just what I think happens, but I'm no expert on refurbished GPU's.

Even if it were another card that just had a failed fan there's no telling how much usage that card has had before it was sent back. Preferably I would send the card back and just have the fan replaced but because they offer the cross shipping option where they send the replacement out first I would like to take advantage of that.

 

[kol12]

Refurbished can mean something as simple as a return, testing the card, and re-boxing it. With EVGAs step-up program they probably do this more than most.

Fan and heatsink replacement is probably common due to damage in shipping, so those would immediately be returned, a new heatsink applied, tested, and boxed.

But physical repair of damaged cards is unlikely given that extensive testing would be required to troubleshoot and isolate a problem, obtain parts, the necessary expertise in repairing it. A lot of assembly is done by machines these days, and having someone spend hours on a card might not be cost effective after you factor in handling, triage, testing, keeping a parts supply, leasing all the equipment

So you think it would mainly be fan and heatsink issues that they would actually bother to repair? Still there's no telling how much use the card had before it was sent back. I can only hope that they would send something back with a comparable amount of usage.

I've expressed my concern with EVGA so will await on their reply.