My 9800 gtx black edition recently started producing severe artifacts. This is happening even during post and the mobo splash screen. By the time windows boots, the system is unusable. I noticed that the fan was spinning very slowly.

I contacted xfx tech support and an RMA was approved. Before boxing the card, I decided to try starting it one more time.. but this time there wasnt even a display. I tried an old 7900 gs on the board, and it worked fine.

Should I update tech support on the new development before I ship the card?

Also, since the 9800gtx BE is no longer in production, they may need to replace it with one that is. What card do you suppose they would consider to be equivalently performing?