Electronic fault found a year after purchase, but was there from day one.

[fkofilee]

Its fine,m finish the RMA itself as is, if they are going to replace it etc. or swap for on e that doesnt have an issue.

If it doesnt work, complain higher up, but you shouldnt need to with OC

[Terrace]

Its fine,m finish the RMA itself as is, if they are going to replace it etc. or swap for on e that doesnt have an issue.

If it doesnt work, complain higher up, but you shouldnt need to with OC

 

They just got back to me

 

 

• Thankyou for your webnote.
   
  Unfortunately due to the age of the order and the warranty being held with the manufacturer I can only offer to have them back to be tested and then sent to Sapphire once a fault has been confirmed I'm afraid.
   
  Regards,
   
  David Muni
  

[dx100uk]

that's their usual MO as I posted before

 

 

I'd go with that.

 

 

dx

[numbers666]

Sounds like a reasonable offer.

 

Both xfire and sli are a pita and some degree of jitter is expected. Have you sufficient wattage in the PSU to run both and CPU ? And other hw ?

 

I personally use ocuk and can't fault them. If there is anything they can do to help they will. After all they want the repeat.

 

Maybe post your box spec here....

[Terrace]

Sure, the family car fell apart so we haven't sent the graphics cards back on their RMA yet.

 

Case: BitFenix Ghost

Processor: Intel I7 4770K running at stock

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S

Motherboard: Asus Z87-Pro

Ram: G.Skill RipjawsX 16GB (2x8GB) 1866mhz

SSD: Sandisk 64gb as a Intel Rapid Storage Cache for my other drive

C: 2TB Segate Barracuda

Storage Drive: 2TB WD MyBook

Fraps Drive: 2xTB Segate Barracuda RAID 0

Graphics Cards: R9 290 tri-x Sapphire, R9 290 Windforce

DVD: some cheap thing

Extra Fans 5x BitFenix 120mm Spectre PRO Black

PSU: Corsair 850W RM850

 

I was going to use the Asus Auto Overclock and that's the entire reason I went with Asus and it gave me a bad overclock that crashes and it took me ages to figure out that was what was doing it as I expected that couldn't be the fault.

 

The fans in the case are setup with two on the front as intake, one under the case as intake, one on the top (but at the front) as intake and the fifth one at the very back as exhaust, I was also told to remove the PCI covers at the back below each of the graphics cards so there is more holes out the back for further exhaust. When I'm running Final Fantasy 14 with the CPU running all 4(8) cores and the Graphics on Max the CPU is at 59 - 60 degrees and the Graphics card is at 82 degrees AMD had a statement saying the card is supposed to run comfortable up to 90 degrees for a lifetime though.

 

Even if my power supply is good I've often worried about the electrics in the house, for example if you use those power plug things to get the internet around the house you get some terrible speeds in some places, and the whole house is on a single circuit, one of my plugs was tripping the shut down in the whole house recently and needed a new faceplate. whenever I mention we should get the electrics looked at though I'm told its expensive and "the TV works just fine, so it's fine"

 

I wouldn't even know how to begin testing if the outlet plug is putting out enough clean power to the PSU, but I was thinking about getting a Uninterrupted Power Supply, but I didn't see any UK versions that were cheap and had proper sine waves rather than artificial ones and I just gave up browsing through them all.

[fkofilee]

Id go with the RMA... I think its a good thing.

[Terrace]

Id go with the RMA... I think its a good thing.

 

Once the car is fixed they are going straight to the post office on the RMA

[fkofilee]

Good one

[Terrace]

Sounds like a reasonable offer.

 

Both xfire and sli are a pita and some degree of jitter is expected. Have you sufficient wattage in the PSU to run both and CPU ? And other hw ?

 

I personally use ocuk and can't fault them. If there is anything they can do to help they will. After all they want the repeat.

 

Maybe post your box spec here....

 

Now that I have 10 posts and can do links I made the whole thing up in PC Part Picker http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/HBmVzy

[Terrace]

Bad news everyone.

 

 

During part of the ongoing conversation with Overclockers UK they told me that they test in house before sending the parts to the manufacturer

and I was pleased with that as with my instructions it's real easy to see the fault.

They have had the parts for over a week and I had not heard back from them so I enquired with this email.

 

"Hello, we were really hoping to have heard back from you about our faulty R9 290's as we are completely without graphics cards.

If you could tell us where you are at with everything we would really appreciate it."

 

to which they replied back with

 

" The graphics card was sent to Sapphire on the 02/09/2015 and we have not yet had anything back from them,

we do have to allow 28 days for the manufacturer to repair/replace the item,

if they have not got back to us within that time we then intervene."

 

Again this seems fine, but obviously as it's a problem build into all R9 290 cards waiting 28 days is a waste of time,

they aren't going to suddenly fix in 28 days something that has been inherently wrong with the cards since they came out.

So in order to speed things along to the part where I get some new graphics cards instead of waiting for 28 fruitless and pointless days I send this email.

 

"In a message on the 17/082015 we were told that you have them back to be tested and then sent to sapphire once the fault was confirmed.

This being the case and the fault being something inherent to the R9 290 series of cards that is basically it.

There are no R9 290's without the problem, there isn't anything they can do to fix them and we need to start looking at what to do next.

So as per our original email we would like to start the process of exchanging the faulty R9 290 cards for a Nvidia 980ti

and we would like like to also split the difference for a second 980ti because otherwise we will be waiting around for 28 days for sapphire to do nothing."

 

Everything I say makes sense and I haven't had a problem so far,

but its customer service roulette and the next guy that replies is completely rude, obnoxious and ignorant

 

"As you can imagine we sell lots of graphics cards, and the r9 290 is no exception to this list,

there is no such "major issue" with these graphics cards I am sure if you have seen people having issues on forums they are vocal minorities.

 

People wouldnt post on forums about issues, rather than people posting that the item works as expected.

 

Once the item gets back from sapphire you will be able to sell your graphics card if you wish.

 

Regards,

 

Matt OBrien"

 

Firstly he is dismissive because he believes there are no faulty R9 290 graphics cards as everyone haven't send theirs back

but what makes him particually ignorant is that running two R9 290's on three monitors is very different

from using one R9 290 on one monitor even I myself had no problem with using it on one monitor.

 

 

Then he tells me that once I get back (in 28 days) that I then have to sell it!

I can't fathom if this person is even for real, why would I send it back to them just to have them send it back to me to sell it second hand?

 

This guy seems like a complete .. but i'm reluctant to tell him so or anyone on their complaints page at the bottom of this link

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/webnote.php just incase he is one of the management who runs the place.

suffice to say this guy has me swearing the air blue,

 

 

if they really did test it in house first like they said they were going to then this guy is even dumber than he seems!

[Conniff]

He is definately right on one thing, people don't go on forums after buying something and tell the world it's working ok, they only go on to tell the world if it's not working ok so ratio of working to not working is probably very high.

[Terrace]

I'm sure the people using one and one monitor are happy enough. but that guy seems like a complete tool. why would I send it back without a problems?

he seems to think I want to send my cards on a 7 day + 28 day holiday just to get them back and sell them second hand.

 

 

And all because he doesn't understand the problem and thinks he knows the ins and out of the graphics cards like he built it himself.

He has delcaired it has no faults (without and proof) and that's that?

 

I certainly won't be selling them second hand after this, and there certainly is a problem with them.

I'm itching to complain about this guy but i'm unsure what exactly to say that won't harm my case

[Conniff]

Then you take it to a computer shop, tell them the problem and get them to test it and write a report.

You then send that report to Overclockers and if the report had to be paid for,

then also a bill with a request that they replace the card with one that works how it is described.

They are obliged by regulation to reimburse you the cost of any testing should it prove in your favour.

[Terrace]

Then you take it to a computer shop, tell them the problem and get them to test it and write a report. You then send that report to Overclockers and if the report had to be paid for, then also a bill with a request that they replace the card with one that works how it is described.

They are obliged by regulation to reimburse you the cost of any testing should it prove in your favour.

 

Thanks, that seems like sound advice.

I'm really fuming that I lost at customer service roulette because it's a different person that gets back to you each time at overclockers on the same support ticket

. And i seem to have got the one so far.

 

 

The problem with taking it to a computer shop is that I have to find one where they will plug in two cards

and three monitors for testing which i think some of the dinky little shops in my area won't want to do.

 

 

Maybe I should try the overclockers uk complaints ticket but I know i'll say something with a bit too much rage.

[Conniff]

Then why not install it back into your pc and take the lot around to the shop. You tell them the problem and I'm sure even the smallest of repair shop will have a few monitors hanging around they can use.

[Terrace]

Then why not install it back into your pc and take the lot around to the shop. You tell them the problem and I'm sure even the smallest of repair shop will have a few monitors hanging around they can use.

 

That doesn't sound too bad, it's a shame they have sent my graphics cards on a trip around the world to the manufacturor! for up to 28 more days or so.

 

 

What I really want to know is, is it against the law for a shop who sold you faulty goods to tell you to go away

and sell them second hand because they don't feel like giving you a refund on the goods?

Edited September 11, 2015 by Terrace