Search for the mysterious manufacturer of my ATI 4870

[Vovv]

About five months ago, I bought a AMD ATI RAEDON 4870 512M at Micro Center. http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0292287 After three months of usage it broke down, well...I didn't buy the protection warranty from Micro Center since I didn't think getting a RMA for this card is like living hell.

It comes with one year protective warranty, so one day I decided to sit down and make some calls to AMD ATI since it looks like they are the manufacturer of this card. After calling customer service I was greeted by a representative and after fifteen minutes he told me ATI is not the manufacturer of this card, but instead this is a OEM device, And instead I was given a list of companies I should call for support. And the list goes like : Diamond, VisionTek, Sapphire, MSI, ASUS, I even went on and tried PowerColor. No luck. On the box it clearly states "Built by ATI" that means ATI is the manufacturer, but not third party. I made another call to Micro Center, they told me they have information that states ATI is the Warranty Provider. So...now I'm stuck with this dead card and AMD ATI refusing to admit this is their card.

Product Number is 102B5070110
ATI RADEON HD 4870 512M

Who is the mysterious manufacturer of this card? And if it is ATI....what should I do?

 

[Ultra_kolya]

Palit

 

[Luger]

IMHO, ATi has given you the runaround. That part is current at Microcenter, and is definitely listed as being built by "AMD (ATI RadeonTM Graphics Division)".

It may well be built using the same reference board as used by HIS, Diamond, MSI, Powercolor and Sapphire (and the same cooling fan, probably - you can see the pictures on Newegg's website), but it is an ATi piece sold as an ATi piece, and should be directly supported by ATi.

Give 'em heck, is what I say! Ask for next level support when you call, and give them the link you did us as proof. I don't think Microcenter has mislisted the card - I have one locally, and they have the 1Gig version there, identified as an AMD product. Do you still have the box?

You spent way too much to let AMD blow you off. Good luck!

Edit: Oops! Looks like Microcenter really *is* careless about labelling. The rebate form for the 1Gig version of your card is supposed to be sent to:

Diamond Multimedia / ATI
Rebate Dept.
8860 Corbin Ave., No. 392
Northridge, CA 91324-3309

The part numbers on the MC website for the 512MB and 1GB cards are very different (but the boxes look identical...), so this is not 100% conclusive. You should push Microcenter harder, and get them to qualify their supplier of your card.

Part of the wackness of this is that ATi show Microcenter as a supplier of the 1Gig 4870 built by them (check their site!). And, they don't show themselves building a 512Mb card. Maybe they did, and stopped - I didn't check that far...

Anyway, once again...

Good luck!

 

[Sabresite]

I have the same card. Its a VisionTek Radeon HD 4870. The card has a LIFETIME warranty. GO AND GET IT REPLACED ASAP! Mine melted... and I am having them replace it.