Which hd 4850 to choose based on Tech Support?

[hamitaltintop22]

Hello everyone.
I know this question is kind of old, but I kept on hearing conflicting things.
I want to know which ati distributer/manufacturer has the best tech support and rma support. This is a very important factor in deciding what hd 4850 to get. I don't want to know about which company makes the best hs and the stuff like that. I just want to know about the tech and rma support.

I guess everyone can tell this will be my first ati card.

Keep hearing that Sapphire is the best and that it is also the worst. So which is it in terms of tech and rma support?

Sapphire
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770

Asus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121272

Gigabyte
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125238

All have relatively the same pricem. The asus is overclocked but lets ignore that fact. All have dual-slot coolers. But which one has the best tech support? I guess I could go with visiontek, msi or his if they really are worth it in terms of tech support and rma support.

 

[apache_lives]

Hello everyone.
I know this question is kind of old, but I kept on hearing conflicting things.
I want to know which ati distributer/manufacturer has the best tech support and rma support. This is a very important factor in deciding what hd 4850 to get. I don't want to know about which company makes the best hs and the stuff like that. I just want to know about the tech and rma support.

I guess everyone can tell this will be my first ati card.

Keep hearing that Sapphire is the best and that it is also the worst. So which is it in terms of tech and rma support?

Sapphire
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770

Asus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121272

Gigabyte
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125238

All have relatively the same pricem. The asus is overclocked but lets ignore that fact. All have dual-slot coolers. But which one has the best tech support? I guess I could go with visiontek, msi or his if they really are worth it in terms of tech support and rma support.

MSI? your kidding right? blarrgg

ASUS usually comes with decent warrantys (2+ years is usually standard), not sure bout RMA etc tho.

 

[col-p-todd]

I would go with Asus or Sapphire only. I have a Asus 4k series in one pc and a Sapphire in the other.

XFX might be the best brand of them all but they are nvidia only

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Sapphire's tech support and business practices are reported to be exceptionally poor. I went with HIS for my first ATI card and I tried out the customer support, they seem pretty good. If only XFX made ATI cards...

 

[hamitaltintop22]

I didn't list the msi hd 4850 with the after market cooler because it is at a higher price point with probably one of the best coolers for the hd 4850s. The 2nd best would probably be the HIS iceq4 which also is at a higher price point.

The_Blood_Raven, I remember reading your post on a similar topic like this. The odd thing about it was that in the posts people came to the conclusion that sapphire was bad at support, but it was ranked #1 in the polls (which for some reason it almost always is). People are saying Asus but what about gigabyte (are they only good with mobos).

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Ya I started a thread about it, I'll try to find the link. Sapphire was #1 because it is the most popular ATI brand. however, a few people including Badge, who knows his stuff, provided proof of Sapphire's wrong doing. Thanks to that thread I decided to stay away from Sapphire.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

found it:

Sapphire has an office (inside) their corporate office that handles their rebates. The company has an "F" rating with the BBB regarding honoring their advertised rebates. I would recommend not buying from Sapphire because of this.

http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=100035461

Any company that can provide such mediocre support is a company that I want to avoid. Others might be different, but that is my opinion.

 

[hamitaltintop22]

So Sapphire has bad tech support and bad rebate. So out of the two left, Asus and Gigabyte, which one is better at tech support and rebates?

 

[Tollan]

Ive had no problems with Sapphire tech support.Guess Ive been lucky. I can say DONT go with HIS Ive had nothing but problems with them. Best tech support i find is on forums like this. I found www.tigerdirect.com is real good at helping with problems and if you need to return the card there good with that.