XFX support betrayed me

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630
hello there
i bought a r9 280x xfx tdbd about 2 years ago and i had artifacts problems, i opened a ticket to xfx and they were kinda friendly and they even direct contacted me through my email, but they just provided me with generic solutions like check your psu and flash this new bios..etc,and after searching the internet i found that many r9 280x cards are faulty but no seller ofc says this, heck not even xfx that i heard from others they are very nice with their support.Now regardless, i sent my card for RMA to the same shop i bought it from but after "checking" they told me my card is fine and RMA can't be applied in my case, at that point i gave up.
Now few days ago i opened another ticket to xfx after the aforementioned artifact became very annoying in a way that interfers with my game experience and to some extent i can't enjoy gaming like before because of this bug/artifact, and the same person (Wade) now w/o his lovely messages that he used to send me (my warranty has ended, what a surprise!) replied: "The card is faulty and the warranty has been ended.
I can only suggest you to find a local repair or otherwise you can consider another card.
We apologize for can't help you.
Best regards
Wade"

He suggests me to find a local repair for a faulty card? lol?
I have no hate as nowadays i don't enjoy games as before (thx xfx),i just wanted to share my experience and asking you guys about my case, but also i am kinda curious that is this legal?its kinda like scamming right?
 
Solution


Did you test the card in another system with another PSU?

You can't...
Why would you wait two years to follow up on that? You have (had) a limited warranty. Its obviously going to expire. In this case, two years is the warranty period for the R9 2xx series. On a side note, you said you sent it into the shop you bought it from, who was this? Why didnt you send it to XFX?

While them not seeing the artifacts you got is a different story (You should have included dated pictures with proof of the card and fought that), you needed to follow up on this at that point, not 2 years later.

You werent scammed, you didnt follow up in the allotted time.
 

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630

as i said i sent it to RMA as suggested by xfx with photos of the faulty card (both for artifacts and the VDDC problems), yet they just told me its fine
this is the conversation between me and xfx support's man (Wade)
Wade lau
Dear sir

Here is the latest bios I got.



Please back up the original one before you update it.

Best Regards,
Wade Lau

Me
thank you mister :)

Me
sir after flashing the new bios I'm always getting a black screen after 10-20 seconds of opening a game and i cant do anything but hard power off the pc, though this is not happening in web browser.
this issue was also there before flashing but it was rarely happening

looking forward for your advice
PS:I've used the ATIWinflash tool in the process.

Wade lau
Dear sir

As the new bios is not helped, the card should be faulty.

Please contact your seller to help you apply RMA.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Best Regards,
Wade Lau
PINE Technology Holdings Limited
Email: Wade_Lau@pinegroup.com

Me
ok i will inform my seller about this issue
thank you for your support
 
Current AMD cards are Vega. Before that was the 5xx series. Before that was the 4xx card. Before that were the 3xx. Guess what was before that? The "real" 2xx cards. The 7970/280X was before the 290/285, so even if you bought this card 2 years ago, it was VERY old when you got it. I just checked where I bought my 7950 from, and I got it 5 years ago. Warranties aren't forever usually.

Did you buy it brand new? Or some sort of open box/used card?
 

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630


yes it was new card, and at that time it was 2 years old i believe
 

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630

this one https://pcshop.ua/
If no then why xfx said that to me?
also i don't believe there is an xfx repair in my area
 

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630


ok then since they made false claims, can i do something against them now?since i guess everything is recorded on their website
 
What false claims? It clearly states their warranty information on their website, and specified US and Canada. Anything outside of that XFX says varies on region and retailer, your retailer is the one you should have had this discussion with two years ago.

There is nothing you can do, nobody made false claims and your warranty has expired anyway.
 

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630


yeah i was talking about the retailer not xfx, nontheless my retailer clearly told me my card is fine, what should i do back then? just keep giving them my card..waiting for 1 month..then again they will tell me "its fine" ?heck i even gave them photo proofs for both the artifacts+the weird power consumption of the card
 
You probably would have been better off, at that time, contacting XFX with your proof and how said retailer was handing it, and ask for them to refer you to a new retailer.
Again though, no reason to worry about it now. Youll have to get a new card to fix it.
 

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630


dude XFX told me to send it to my retailer and i told them about the result.Also i messaged xfx multiple times (during warranty period) they just give me such generic solutions everytime like flashing bios, reinstalling drivers..etc
But i just want you to realize that this time actually (after my warranty has been ended) he just directly replied that is my card faulty while he never mentioned that even tho i am pretty sure he knows this since my 1st ticket because my card serial number starts with OXY, which is faulty with their own standards, read comments #5 #6 #7 here to check it out https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/solved-flickering-crap-on-my-new-xfx-280x.208457/
If he told me from the start that my card is faulty it would be a different story for me because back then i would have a proof of concept from xfx itself, but as you can see they never mentioned that
 

DSzymborski

Curmudgeon Pursuivant
Moderator


You saw a problem two years ago. That was the timeframe to bring up the issue. As for your other theories on the issue, they don't make sense -- and in fact your link shows the exact opposite of what you say -- and it's a moot point anyway.
 

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630


seasonic focus plus platinum 650W
No i didn't check it my self as i don't have another system, but as you can see my psu is top tier so i don't think its the problem
 

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630


which theories?oh you mean the fact that xfx said models starting with OXY serial number are faulty?or the fact that my VDDC current is much lower than stock voltage?..ok
 

DSzymborski

Curmudgeon Pursuivant
Moderator


"There is a known issue with 280x's with serial numbers between P2xxxx and p5xxxx. please PM me your serial # or make a ticket at xfxsupport.com so we can quickly update this bios for you."

As for the second fact, you are out of your warranty period. A warranty means that they agree to replace the card for manufacturing defects for a specific period of time. That specific period of time is over. Nothing to see here.
 

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630

oh you mean when i sent my card for repairing during warranty and struggled for months and at the end they just told me its perfectly fine, and when i re asked them for the 1st time after the warranty period they directly responded its faulty
K
 

baha2

Reputable
Oct 12, 2016
63
0
4,630

i5 6500
asus h170m-plus

the whole voltage thingy is the source of the problem, long story short its running below stock voltage under load.
And no, changing voltage value for corevoltage doesn't affect the card at all during full load, whether over/under clock (while memory voltage seems working fine)
this is a pic during heaven benchmark: https://imgur.com/a/7lBFYdR
you can see that VDDC voltage is about 1100mv, while my stock voltage should be around 1200mv
 


Did you test the card in another system with another PSU?

You can't do anything now anyway to get it replaced under warranty so long after the original issue but at least testing in another system will verify if issue is the card or anything in your system. Needed to have worked a bit more with wherever you sent the card to to have them show how they tested the card and the results they had. Often "tests" are nothing more that sticking the card in the system and seeing if the image comes up OK, not stress tests in games or benchmarks.
 
Solution