Radeon HD 7950 Owner's Thread

[wbynum]

Points about Sapphire:

- They used to charge a $15 RMA fee, even if the card was under warranty. Not sure if they still do that or not.

- Only a 2 year, non-transferable warranty. The better companies (EVGA, Gigabyte, etc) have a 3 year warranty from the manufacturers date for non-original owners.

 

[Zargon]

I think it follows the card now for sapphire

Tapatalking on my pos thunderbolt. Sorry for teh typos!

 

[3DVagabond]

According to Sapphire's support page all RMA's are initiated through the retailer.

This reminds me of a recent post @ JonnyGuru where someone was complaining that Enermax wasn't offering acceptable customer service. Enermax's policy (in Australia) is RMA's are handled through the retailer. The poster bought his PSU from a retailer that he admitted he knew was shady (often parallel imported product, gave no after sale service) but was cheaper than from a legit retailer. Then he opened the PSU to see if there was something user serviceable inside. Even though it's plainly stated not to remove the cover or void your warranty.

After all of this, Enermax agreed to warranty the product, but it would have to be returned to Enermax, not through the Australian importer (who likely had nothing to do with this card coming into Australia). So, they gave him an RA and an address in Taiwan. Problem, $40 to ship to Taiwan. The Poster did nothing but berate Enermax for their poor customer service because it would cost him $40 to ship it to them. Bottom line, buy from a reputable retailer.

I know this is a fairly specific circumstance, but it's not always the manufacturer's fault when someone isn't happy with the support offered.

 

[sze5003]

I read the same about sapphire. But all card reviews of it seem of great of quality. I'm not sure if they still charge 15 for rma but I believe they still use a third party called Athlon inc. It's in California and usually if they have a replacement people on other forums said they will ship it to you.

Only if they don't have one in stock it would come from Taiwan. And it says in their webpage there would be an administrative fee for this special situation.

 

[Zargon]

According to Sapphire's support page all RMA's are initiated through the retailer.

This reminds me of a recent post @ JonnyGuru where someone was complaining that Enermax wasn't offering acceptable customer service. Enermax's policy (in Australia) is RMA's are handled through the retailer. The poster bought his PSU from a retailer that he admitted he knew was shady (often parallel imported product, gave no after sale service) but was cheaper than from a legit retailer. Then he opened the PSU to see if there was something user serviceable inside. Even though it's plainly stated not to remove the cover or void your warranty.

After all of this, Enermax agreed to warranty the product, but it would have to be returned to Enermax, not through the Australian importer (who likely had nothing to do with this card coming into Australia). So, they gave him an RA and an address in Taiwan. Problem, $40 to ship to Taiwan. The Poster did nothing but berate Enermax for their poor customer service because it would cost him $40 to ship it to them. Bottom line, buy from a reputable retailer.

I know this is a fairly specific circumstance, but it's not always the manufacturer's fault when someone isn't happy with the support offered.

wow thats kinda awful

 

[3DVagabond]

wow thats kinda awful

What's kinda aweful?

 

[sze5003]

The fact that the guy had to pay $40 bucks to get something serviced or exchanged within warranty period.

 

[3DVagabond]

The fact that the guy had to be $40 bucks to get something serviced or exchanged within warranty period.

It's his own fault though for buying it from a shyster instead of a reputable dealer. The unit could have been stolen, seconds, reboxed, or refurbished product. He's lucky Enermax was going to do anything for him. People always just shop for the cheapest price and don't take the service the seller provides into account. Then when they need service they complain about everyone except the guy who took their money.

 

[sze5003]

It's his own fault though for buying it from a shyster instead of a reputable dealer. The unit could have been stolen, seconds, reboxed, or refurbished product. He's lucky Enermax was going to do anything for him. People always just shop for the cheapest price and don't take the service the seller provides into account. Then when they need service they complain about everyone except the guy who took their money.

So in this case then I guess I should not buy from Saphire? I have no other option I guess when it comes to Amd cards and 7970 Ghz series if I don't want coil whine.

 

[Rvenger]

So in this case then I guess I should not buy from Saphire? I have no other option I guess when it comes to Amd cards and 7970 Ghz series if I don't want coil whine.

If the retailer will not honor your warranty, Sapphire will. I had no problems with their RMA dept. They just have a strange written policy but they have to honor their 2 year warranty regardless. Sapphire is a good company.

Buy an Asus and see what kind of customer service you get. lol

 

[sze5003]

Oh I see. I knew saphire was good just read horror stories online. Im pretty sure their warranty service has changed in a couple years now.

Besides if the card has something wrong, then it should happen within 30 days and newegg has good service always.

 

[Zargon]

The fact that the guy had to pay $40 bucks to get something serviced or exchanged within warranty period.

What's kinda aweful?

the guys attitude and having to go through a retailer are both lame

 

[Zargon]

If the retailer will not honor your warranty, Sapphire will. I had no problems with their RMA dept. They just have a strange written policy but they have to honor their 2 year warranty regardless. Sapphire is a good company.

Buy an Asus and see what kind of customer service you get. lol

Asus support is plain awful

Tapatalking on my pos thunderbolt. Sorry for teh typos!

 

[3DVagabond]

So in this case then I guess I should not buy from Saphire? I have no other option I guess when it comes to Amd cards and 7970 Ghz series if I don't want coil whine.

Sapphire doesn't sell cards to you and me. We buy them from a retailer. You need to understand the warranty policy of the manufacturer and buy from a retailer that will follow it.

If, for example, where you are Sapphire's warranty is handled by the retailer. You ask the retailer, "If I buy this from you and it fails in the warranty period, will you honor the warranty?" If he tells you no, then don't buy it from him.

I'll put it another way. If you were to buy a Sapphire card from my shop in Christchurch, NZ we would get the card from the local supplier. In this case Dove Electronics is the wholesaler for Sapphire here. If it failed, you would bring the card to me and I would take care of the RMA. I would send it to Dove, at my expense, and they'd repair/replace it and return it to me, at their expense. I would call you when the card was returned/replaced and you'd pick it up.

If you didn't live near one of our shops or couldn't be bothered to come in, you could ship the card to me. You would pay that shipping. Video card warranties are not on site warranties. I would then return it to you. I would cover the cost of that.

If you bought it from someone from the back of a van on a street corner and came into me, I would not get your card warrantied for you. If you contacted Dove, they'd refer you to the retailer you bought it from. If you contacted Sapphire, they are in Taiwan. If they were going to honor the warranty you would have to get the card to them and pay whatever other fees they have. That's how it works.

Moral of the story, buy your stuff from a reputable dealer.

 

[sze5003]

Yeh well newegg is the only place to buy from if you don't want to spend a fortune. They will give you only 30 days warranty. After that you need to go through saphire. I don't know any shops here where I live that would sell me that card.

 

[3DVagabond]

Yeh well newegg is the only place to buy from if you don't want to spend a fortune. They will give you only 30 days warranty. After that you need to go through saphire. I don't know any shops here where I live that would sell me that card.

Then find out what Sapphire's warranty policy is for cards purchased through Newegg. They could have a separate agreement with them because they are so large.

Walmart, for example, are big enough that their agreement with their suppliers is, they'll take back anything Walmart sends them for full credit, no questions asked. (Might be different on major appliances?) If they won't do that, Walmart won't buy from them. That's why if you go into Walmart with something you bought from them that's broken, they just give you a new one.

So, check with Sapphire, if you want one of their cards. Typically, in the US the manufacturer has to honor their warranties, not the retailer. it's been a few years since I've done business there though, and things might have changed.

 

[sze5003]

Thanks for the information. I wish Walmart sold cards. I spoke to a newegg CS on chat and they were not sure. They told me the email for Saphire U.S. RMA. Newegg only gives you 30 days. I'll have to check with Amazon too.

Actually I had emailed Saphire about this a month ago, never got a response lol

 

[zaydq]

Hey all, sorry for bumping the thread but heres a heaven bench at 1200/1800

and heres a link to my 3dmark11 score:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4164370

Heaven 1080P bench coming soon.

 

[RussianSensation]

Test it with 8xMSAA and Tessellation at Extreme at 1080P.

 

[zaydq]

Test it with 8xMSAA and Tessellation at Extreme at 1080P.

^ sure thing. I don't use a 1080p monitor so I'll be using my 42" 1080p television to do this tonight.

 

[Fire&Blood]

^ sure thing. I don't use a 1080p monitor so I'll be using my 42" 1080p television to do this tonight.

Here is mine for reference

 

[zaydq]

Here is mine for reference

Perfect! What clocks are you running for that score?

Also, I plan on making an Official 7950 Owners thread. Think its well needed?

 

[zaydq]

here we go!

Heaven @ 1080p with 1200 core clock and 1800 memory clock. 8x AA 16x AF and extreme tess.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I don't recall the exact clocks but higher than that, 1220 or even higher. Your setup could score ~1400.
I have a HAF X and $100 worth of fans sitting around but don't wanna insult it by putting a mATX in it, even higher 24/7 OC would be doable in a adequately cooled setup.

 

[sze5003]

Any of you sometimes realize that Heaven says you have the integrated graphics rather than the Amd/Nvidia? But the scores were too good for intel gpu? Last time I had a card, it did that and I disabled integrated graphics, cleaned all drivers out, and even disabled integrated graphics in device manager but it still often said Intel GPU unless tessalation was turned on more than normal.