XFX 7970 cooler problem

[CrimInalA]

I opened my XFX 7970 since I was getting artifacts very quickly . Not on 925mhz core , but i underclocked vgpu and made a custom fan profile so it would get hotter than 70?C . Else it would get unstable and sometimes show artifacting . Also any augmentation in core voltage would artifact .
So I guessed it was time to look at the paste to see if it still was ok-ish .
Upon my suprise i found a dent in the GPU heatsink positioned almost in the middle of the GPU . The dent is so big i can place a paperclip in it .

Right now the cooler is off and i don't have an idea what to do with this . Lapping,sanding,extra paste .. i feel they're not going to fix this issue .

What would you guys do ?

Preview :

All other pictures here : http://www.skybed.be/temp/xtremesystems/7970dent/
http://www.skybed.be/temp/xtremesystems/7970dent/RIMG0015.JPG

[STEvil]

i'd buy a 3rd party cooler..

[CrimInalA]

Due to the cooling block having a hole in it , it seems like it burned into the GPU :

http://www.skybed.be/temp/xtremesystems/7970dent/RIMG0026.JPG



I've bought this reference design cooler especially so it can exhaust heat . I have not seen third party coolers that do this .
For the time being i've modded my own heatsink/cooler on it , but this is just temporary as i can't close my case anymore now (my watercooling rad is mounted in the sidepanel) .


http://www.skybed.be/temp/xtremesystems/7970dent/RIMG0032.JPG


Where can i get such a reference design cooler ?
Do you guys think I can ask XFX to replace not the card itself but this bad reference cooler ? The card is still under warranty but since i've opened it to see what's wrong , i guess this is more or less a grey area ?

[kromosto]

imo send all the card to rma you can't know if it harmed gpu or not.

[CrimInalA]

Well I guess if XFX has the balls to put such a cooler on a 7970 , I need to have the balls to open a ticket for it and provide them the screenshots :shocked:

[STEvil]

Does it work without errors with the modded cooler? Is that an HR-03/R600? I tried one on my 7970 but the diamond on the bottom didnt seem big enough to cover the GPU correctly..

[CrimInalA]

Does it work without errors with the modded cooler? Is that an HR-03/R600? I tried one on my 7970 but the diamond on the bottom didnt seem big enough to cover the GPU correctly..

STEvil , kudos for spotting an HR-03/R600 in the wild . You're spot on . Yes it works without errors . Just VRM temps are high since they are naked now . GPU idle temps are 10?C lower compared to the stock 7970 cooler . Keep in mind that im using a 120mm low speed papst on it .
It keeps 1025/1375 during heaven under 70?C , while the stock cooler needed 40-48% fan speed to do that .
When i replace it again i will see how much of the gpu it actually covered . But at least it's better than a cooler with a hole in the middle !! :shrug:

[STEvil]

Might have to look at trying to get mine to fit again.. what voltage are you using for 1025?

[CrimInalA]

I'm using underclocked 1,063v in afterburner for 1025 gpu , around 1,018 under load .

[CrimInalA]

I've just received a response from XFX saying that i need to send the card in for repair with my reseller . And that it will take a few weeks . Curious :)

[CrimInalA]

STEvil , I took the HR03 off and so I saw it made perfect contact with the core .
I used a papst F2 GLL 1100 rpm on it , so almost passive cooled you can say ^^
With a good fan the HR03 will do a very good job i'm sure .

[STEvil]

I tried my hr-03, it couldnt hold my card under 85c loaded at all stock settings (1.256v, 1100mhz) with the case side on..

[CrimInalA]

I assume you used a good fan and made sure the contact was good . Maybe your chip is high leakage and produces a lot more heat than mine . For 1075mhz core i need 1,085 only .

[Ket]

I'd really need to see a pic without the paperclip end in the dent but if the dent is as deep as it seems the only viable "fix" is to fill it with TIM unless you can be bothered to make all the adjustments so after a lapping the cooler still fits snugly on the GPU. Stuff like this is why I always dismount heatsinks and coolers when I buy new stuff to make sure nothing has messed up during the manufacturing process, surprisingly, I've found foul-ups during the manufacturing process have become quite a bit more frequent especially over the last 2-3 years. I would definitely send those pics to XFX though just to see what garbage excuses they use, then of course post them here :D

[OldChap]

You could buy a small sample of Indium from ebay and "solder" it into the hole. A quick lapping after will make flat as it is so soft. http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Rocks-Fossils-Minerals-/3213/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=indium

With the melting point being low you should be able to get the IHS hot enough locally without getting to the temps used by standard soldering techniques.

Not sure how one would flux such a repair though, or even if such is necessary

[DefStar]

I have a PowerColor reference 7950 heat-sink and fan. It only makes contact with the core, not to the ram like yours...but I'm positive it would fit. PM me if u want it.

[CrimInalA]

Defstar , that is a very nice gesture . I appreciate that , but i should be getting a repaired card back from XFX . They already have it for 1 month ! :(

[Ket]

What did XFX say when you showed them the pics of their crappy HSF construction? I wouldn't put it past them to say that dent is a "feature" :p:

[CrazyNutz]

you could fill the void in with some solder (using a torch) then lap it. However Id be really concerned about the pop mark on the gpu core. Heating and cooling cycles could make it worse/expand over time.

[CrimInalA]

So I'm still waiting for RMA .
My shop has sent the card to their distributor . Distributor waited 3 weeks before they finally sent it to XFX warehouse in europe . Now it is in the process of being sent from XFX warehouse in EU to their warehouse in Hong Kong . All this happened in the past 5 weeks . I'm guessing the card will take at least another month to get it back , maybe even unrepaired who knows .
Can't say I'm happy with this !

[CrimInalA]

Still nothing (waiting almost 7 weeks without a videocard) .
Not so happy with XFX RMA .

[CrimInalA]

Xtremely unhappy with XFX RMA . It basically comes down to : They haven't replaced anything , then lost my card and now think the RMA is OK for me .
So after months of waiting and being in contact with so many different parties i'm now without any videocard .

They fail big time in 3 regions , but they still think failure of the RMA it's not their responsibility :

1-XFX quality failure on coolblock as wel as the videocard endproduct which forced me to open an RMA request .

2- XFX denied my direct RMA request of 19/4/13 and directed me to shop Z knowing that this would slow down the RMA considerably . Also maximizing failure rate by adding 3 extra parties to the chain . (A , W , Z)

3-XFX has NOT repaired/replaced the faulty product but instead paid money to another party . A hardware product would be my property as it can be identified by serial number , but money is the property of the one you give it to . This has been the choice of XFX . In other words : XFX unwillingly lost my property and somehow thinks this makes me happy (?) .

What happened is , XFX instead of fixing or sending a replacement product have paid money to A (wholesale) to replace my card . A in their turn paid money to W (wholesale) . W paid money to Z . Z went bankrupt . Customer gets .. nothing as there is no replacement product to be found anywhere .
This is now ongoing for almost 6 months , crazy .

[CrimInalA]

I've asked the helpdesk guy to show my case to his manager . I believe he has never done that .
Does anyone here know where I can contact someone from XFX that is responsible for handling these kind of complaints ?

[alpha0ne]

So you will be rushing out to buy another XFX video card to replace the one lost ????

Maybe its a new sales strategy by XFX to boost sales :rolleyes:

[CrimInalA]

So you will be rushing out to buy another XFX video card to replace the one lost ????

Maybe its a new sales strategy by XFX to boost sales :rolleyes:


I am still talking to XFX about this case , but they are indeed not looking at all to have satisfied customers .. . I've told them the way they treat customers is hurting their business , but they still say they handle all RMA's like this and they think nothing is wrong with it .
I've been asking for a responsible to contact me , but I'm not being contacted at all . So not sure if the casetaker (Wade) actually is escalating this really .

Put this up against for example Swiftech RMA service (which is su-perb. Not trough retailers , constructive , fast , customer minded) , and I don't get how XFX can still be in business .
AMD should really stop shipping XFX more GPU's .

[kromosto]

I am still talking to XFX about this case , but they are indeed not looking at all to have satisfied customers .. . I've told them the way they treat customers is hurting their business , but they still say they handle all RMA's like this and they think nothing is wrong with it .
I've been asking for a responsible to contact me , but I'm not being contacted at all . So not sure if the casetaker (Wade) actually is escalating this really .

Put this up against for example Swiftech RMA service (which is su-perb. Not trough retailers , constructive , fast , customer minded) , and I don't get how XFX can still be in business .
AMD should really stop shipping XFX more GPU's .

you can always try to find email of ceo or another high level manager and mail to them directly. it worked for me many times.

[CrimInalA]

you can always try to find email of ceo or another high level manager and mail to them directly. it worked for me many times.


kromosto , after your post I have started looking intensively for someone to email this to and I think I have found the name of the Vice president of XFX Europe . I'm guessing his email , and hope my email will arrive .

Sometimes companies just don't care though . I have a topic in the nvidia forums where I could finally reach a manager at PNY , but he was too lazy to look into it and just showed me the middle finger actually . But let's see how this XFX case turns out . We're talking about an AMD product here , right ?! :)

[madmaxx]

Contact the Better Business Bureau in your area and file a complaint, or any local consumer protection service for that matter.

Had similar issue with Asus but in regards to a sound card. They no longer make/market/sell those products. I lost about $600 in the deal but Asus wont ever see another penny from my pocket! Bunch of lying ass thieves who could care less about their customers and are wholely intent on marketing their hyped products to the masses. At inflated prices. Regardless if they are fully functional or not.

Fok you Asus & your s#1t staff! "Did you try updating the driver?" LoL FaQ Asus. Update your business, it aint the 80's anymore and greed is NOT good. No matter what Mr.Gecko said. :o

/mini rant

[DefStar]

Wow, Asus lost my RMAd motherboard and they just sent me a brand-new one...THE RIGHT THING TO DO in this circumstance. It's not your fault it was faulty and it's not your fault they lost it.... Don't deal with XFX anymore...they make the worst non-reference AMD cards and even their reference ones seem to be hit and miss. And their warranty service has no integrity, they tried to be what EVGA is to Nvidia with big warranty promises and then realized..."oh crap, we can't warranty all these cards if we are cutting corners in Q.C. and half of them are coming back defective..." .

XFX is an embarrassment to AMD and should be dropped from the team!

[st0ned]

There is a European directive that should have been transferred to Belgian law a long time ago that states that you are entitled to have your money refunded after 1 month has passed after you delivered the goods at your retailer.

[KiSUAN]

kromosto , after your post I have started looking intensively for someone to email this to and I think I have found the name of the Vice president of XFX Europe . I'm guessing his email , and hope my email will arrive .

Sometimes companies just don't care though . I have a topic in the nvidia forums where I could finally reach a manager at PNY , but he was too lazy to look into it and just showed me the middle finger actually . But let's see how this XFX case turns out . We're talking about an AMD product here , right ?! :)
It's a pity my company doesn't work anymore directly with XFX, if not I could get the email you needed in a second. Anyway, from what you say I suppose you are talking about Marnie Sutton, I think you could have more luck trying to contact Marc Goldluecke that is the manager for your region, I couldn't find his email, you could try to guess it as well, but I can tell you can easily find it in skype and try to contact through there.

[STEvil]

Wow, Asus lost my RMAd motherboard and they just sent me a brand-new one...THE RIGHT THING TO DO in this circumstance. It's not your fault it was faulty and it's not your fault they lost it.... Don't deal with XFX anymore...they make the worst non-reference AMD cards and even their reference ones seem to be hit and miss. And their warranty service has no integrity, they tried to be what EVGA is to Nvidia with big warranty promises and then realized..."oh crap, we can't warranty all these cards if we are cutting corners in Q.C. and half of them are coming back defective..." .

XFX is an embarrassment to AMD and should be dropped from the team!

Sounds like you got lucky.

I'm sitting on over $1000 of dead Asus HW currently.

[CrimInalA]

Thank you all for helping .


There is a European directive that should have been transferred to Belgian law a long time ago that states that you are entitled to have your money refunded after 1 month has passed after you delivered the goods at your retailer.

That is true , but the company has to be in business for that and they are bankrupt .


It's a pity my company doesn't work anymore directly with XFX, if not I could get the email you needed in a second. Anyway, from what you say I suppose you are talking about Marnie Sutton, I think you could have more luck trying to contact Marc Goldluecke that is the manager for your region, I couldn't find his email, you could try to guess it as well, but I can tell you can easily find it in skype and try to contact through there.

Yes it was Marnie Sutton I've sent the email to . I might try Marc Goldluecke and see .. .

[kromosto]

kromosto , after your post I have started looking intensively for someone to email this to and I think I have found the name of the Vice president of XFX Europe . I'm guessing his email , and hope my email will arrive .

Sometimes companies just don't care though . I have a topic in the nvidia forums where I could finally reach a manager at PNY , but he was too lazy to look into it and just showed me the middle finger actually . But let's see how this XFX case turns out . We're talking about an AMD product here , right ?! :)

Good luck!!! From my experiences i discovered that we are having issues with companies because the people we can connect doesn't have the authorization for solving our little and easy problems. They can only solve problems which are defined to them, they don't/can't use initiative. And because they don't carry this problems to the higher level persons that have enough authorization some times we can't solve our problem or it took very very long time to solve.

There are some examples like the pny guy you described. Hopefully XFX guy won't be the same.

[KiSUAN]

Yes it was Marnie Sutton I've sent the email to . I might try Marc Goldluecke and see .. .

Also, I don't know the domain you are using to guess, the correct one is "@xfxforce.com"

[CrimInalA]

Also, I don't know the domain you are using to guess, the correct one is "@xfxforce.com"

Can't find his xfxforce address anywhere . I've sent the mail to his gmx and goldluecke.com account .

[DefStar]

I did get lucky, the board had two broken pins which they would have never supported.

[CrimInalA]

I've got a reply :


Please understand the following:
-Our customer is shop Y, not shop X
-We have no power of who handles what, everybody has their own T?s + C?s and we cannot be made reliable for each bankruptcy.
-You have a contract with shop X , so this is the one you should have been turning to. We cannot support each customer damaged by them, as we totally fulfilled our duties towards our customer ?Shop Y.

However, as you put so much effort and time into keeping this issue up I can offer you a 6850 + some gamecodes as a good will solution, but this is the very best we can do here.

Please let me know if you do want this card and if yes, where to ship it to.



Thx + BR

I thought I was their customer ?!
They seem to forget they explicitely denied my direct RMA request and redirected me to shop X . I just followed their instructions , so the complete RMA process is their responsibility .
Then , a 6850 huh <--> 7970 ?

I've sent them a polite mail back .

[kromosto]

I've got a reply :



I thought I was their customer ?!
They seem to forget they explicitely denied my direct RMA request and redirected me to shop X . I just followed their instructions , so the complete RMA process is their responsibility .
Then , a 6850 huh <--> 7970 ?

I've sent them a polite mail back .

I will not tell which brand it is (not even an electronics company) but i had a similar issue with their support too as yours. If i put their mails on the internet they will be on a very bad position but the problem is they even can't realize how stupid their answers are. They tried to bargain with you OMG. They shouldn't let these kind of people reply to customers at the first hand.

Maybe it is late but my advice is never be polite, of course never be rude too but never stop pointing how unlogical their comments are.

And i am sorry but i can't speak for others but they lost me as a customer too.

[CrimInalA]

I like to inform people about how companies behave . This way people can make better choices buying products , and put harm companies that are not customer friendly or even put them out of business .

I even have a small section on my website where i put positive and negative companies that I encounter (a few of them) . It's a work in progress though (http://clark.skybed.be) .



This is the mail i sent them back . Whether it's too polite or not , I let everyone decide for themselves .
I'm not really looking to get a video card back from them per se . Just want to let them think over their actions .


I have to thank you both for your quick response and your concern .

Please understand the following :
- In the end Shop Y is not your customer , I am spending my money on your products .
- I have followed the RMA instructions of XFX to the letter as I always do . If this is the way XFX has set up their RMA business (going trough retailers and denying direct RMA’s) , then XFX is responsible for their RMA proces .
- Being an IT manager myself , I have done my fair share of RMA requests . Swiftech , Apple , Gainward (to name a few consumer products like XFX) etc. are all accepting direct RMA and I have never had any trouble with them . Always as fast , constructive , to the point , customer friendly as possible .



Now let’s be honest , I’m a gamer and while I appreciate the effort the 6850 is not a videocard that is meant for gaming at all . It is completely out of the league of the 7970 which I have sent back . I still have an XFX 6950 around (as I said earlier I’m buying XFX topcards for years) , but even that is too slow for my gaming (27” monitor 2560 resolution) .
What I would appreciate instead is that XFX returns my faulty 7970 card (with the broken cooler) , so I can buy a cooler and replace it myself and hopefully have a working card again that I can put to use .

[i found nemo]

they will milk this for another 3 months. jerks.

[kromosto]

nice answer :up: it contains everything that should make them ashamed of themselves but i am not sure if the person who sent you the email can understand this.

[CrimInalA]

Great news from Vera Derksen on behalf of Marc Goldluecke .


Please send your request to: info@xfxshop.co.uk


Mit freundlichen Gr??en,
Best Regards,



Great .. :rofl:, but it gets even better :


don't get me wrong here, but the issue is legaly on YOUR side. If you go for a XFX authorized reseller you will not have the issue that he titts up.
Take the chance to get our good will.

No other brand will probably offer this in your case.


Brgs Marc


So I look up the XFX authorized resellers in both Belgium and The Netherlands :

http://www.skybed.be/temp/XFX/xfx_reseller_be.jpg

http://www.skybed.be/temp/XFX/xfx_reseller_nl.jpg





For people not knowing ,
Vera Derksen is Sales Account Executive Central Europe .
Marc Goldluecke is Regional Sales Manager Central Europe .

:shocked:

[i found nemo]

pffttt " No other brand will probably offer this in your case."

no other brand would have had this issue to begin with!

[STEvil]

so, any resolution yet?

[CrimInalA]

pffttt " No other brand will probably offer this in your case."

no other brand would have had this issue to begin with!

Exactly what i was thinking too haha . Altough i did not tell that to them as it would get me into an endless discussion .


so, any resolution yet?

Hello , I wanted to wait with new updates till everything is finalized . At the moment , it more or less is .

After I've sent the screenshots showing there is no official XFX authorized reseller around , cracking down his statement of saying "you would not have these problems if you would have bought from an XFX authorized reseller" to both Marc and Vera but also to Marnie (CEO) .


I’m not sure if I understand this correctly . I’m not a native English speaker as I live in Belgium , however I try my best .

Are you stating that XFX does not recommend anyone buying the product in a normal shop as I did , but from an XFX autohorized reseller instead ? I have not heard anything like this before from any other company (both professionally and personally) so this is new to me . Can you make this clear for any future purchases I need to make . In case XFX comes up with a decent replacement and is able to keep me as a loyal customer that is .
How do I recognize such a reseller ? It seems none exist in Belgium . Also none in The Netherlands . I took screenshots of the white space that comes up and attached them below .
Are your products not meant for Belgium customers ?

Also , Marc , what is info@xfxshop.co.uk ? To me it seems like just a general email address , yet Vera thinks they can do something for me ? If they can relocate my RMA’d card for me , It would be logical that you contact them and keep me in copy of the progress . As said before , I would be even “happy” to try and fix the cooler of this card myself .



After that I did not get any response from any of the parties . Complete silence . Then without any mail saying "we're passing the case to another person/department" , or "yes sorry we don't have any resellers in Belgium so my statement was not valid" , I get an email from info@xfxshop.co.uk . The mail they got from someone within XFX seemed to not have the half assed reply from Marc , and also not my reply showing there are no dealers in my country . Someone must have felt stupid there maybe .
The reply I got from xfxshop :


Good morning

The XFX team in Central Europe do not have access to RMA replacement products and so have passed this case on to us.

Whilst I can see how frustrated you are; please understand that XFX sells its products to Etailers and distributors at a discounted price in order for them to provide local sales & support. In the event of a bankruptcy we really cannot be held responsible. The title of goods and warranty is passed onto the direct customer from XFX. XFX in turn fully supports their direct customers with warranty and technical support. We expect them to pass on this support to consumers.

XFX SHOP is the only direct sale window to consumers. Consumers buy from us and we do therefore support direct. This is why you have been forwarded here.

In a gesture of goodwill, although we did not sell you the product, we can offer you the following options for replacement.

1. We can send you a 7970
2. We can offer you a credit of ?220.00 with free shipping to purchase anything from www.xfxshop.co.uk

In both cases we would require the faulty card to be sent back to us so we can repair it. They don't even seem to know they already have my card for 8 months !

I look forward to your reply

Regards
XFX SHOP UK

And again it's my fault that they put a broken cooler on the card , did not send a replacement card but gave money to another party and so on .. . Ah well .
So I checked there website , which has only old type of cards it seems . Fex they dont have 7990,7870,R9 series,R7 260(X),black editions,boost editions,reference cooler designs .. very very limited .
I have asked him a few questions regarding who passed the case to him , what the difference is between them and a normal reseller .. . I only got an answer to 25% of my questions every time , and the guy I communicated with was very unpunctual . I've asked 3 times who was responsible for "fixing" the case , never got an answer . So eventually I just took a 7850 and a 7770 and did not bother any further communicating with this person , or trying to make them see the whole process could have handled a lot better in many stages of the RMA .

What I did get out of it is :
- I have to pay for international RMA shipping and RMA handling goes trough xfxshop.co.uk (not like Swiftech or apple for example where they send a courier to pick up your broken goods)
- I do not get any better service buying from an authorized reseller compared to a normal reseller (what Marc said was a lie)
- I do not get an invoice of the replacement cards
- I only get 1 year warranty on the cards


In the end they still are convinced they are not the ones to blame for anything . The case could not be handled anything better at any stage during the 8 month period and they just want to get rid of me cause i'm a pain in the butt .


Conclusion : While I've drawn my conclusion , I think people on this forum are educated enough to make their own conclusion . Not only about this particular case , but about their RMA proces , about the quality of their products and about XFX as a company .


I all wish to thank you for your interest , your help and your support .

[STEvil]

:(.

[MaddMuppet]

Wow, just wow. This has certainly opened my eyes. I think I will stay away from XFX products in the future. Cannot believe they treated you like this.

[alpha0ne]

After reading your posts CrimInalA re XFX I have come to the conclusion that the best thing that could happen for all concerned would be for XFX to die a well deserved death.............sooner being better than later

XFX seem to have flooded the market here in AU recently with cards from 7850 to R290x models, I was 'lucky' enough to buy the top of the range XFX 7970 DD for the very cheeep price of $330 (which included delivery) last year but from day one its had issues with screen flicker that seems unfixable (yes, I know my way around hardware/software)

I only bought the XFX card to satisfy my 'pooter addiction and in reality have no need these days for such a powerfull card so luckily it will have an easy life running @ default/idle but it pains me to think of all the ppl buying cards from such a disreputable company/brand

[cowie]

Your way too nice CrimInalA I would have burned that bridge and never looked back