RMA'ing 9800 pro to newegg, need help

[hawkeyewx]

My Sapphire 9800 pro died on me this week and I got an RMA number from Newegg. However, I had altered the card (sort of) by removing the stock heatsink/fan and installing a VGA Silencer. Just now while attempting to reinstall the stock heatsink I noticed one of the black pins needed to hold the heatsink to the card is broken (must have broke the pin while removing it in the first place). Therefore, I now cannot put the stock heatsink back on my card and now I'm afraid I can't send my card back to get it replaced. Any ideas? Would Newegg consider removing the stock heatsink altering the card?

 

[MDE]

Yep, your warranty was gone the second you removed one of the pushpins on the stock heatsink. The price paid for silence...

 

[Matthias99]

Yes, you voided your warranty. If you want silence *and* a warranty in a 9800-class card, Sapphire sells cards premodded with Zalman fanless heatpipes (their "Ultimate" line). Or you could get that new fanless Gigabyte 6800NU.

 

[wseyller]

Maybe putting that silencer on that card is the reason it died. It may of not been put on correctly or it was a bad quality heatsink/fan which I've seen a few first hand.

Try some superglue and send it back. That might sound bad and I'm sure many would disagree with that, but I guess that's really your decision. I don't know to what extend they will check over defective product, but it's possible that they will quickly dismiss the reasoning to do so to save time and labor and just give you another one. Or maybe the pin broke in shipping??

 

[skylord23]

this happened to me, my ati 9800 pro pin broke, i told them that the card starting artifacting and when i check the card i noticed the fan wasnt secured properly to i went to push the fan down and the pin broke, they gave me an rma number and sent me on my way, im waiting for a replacemtn now.

 

[hawkeyewx]

Originally posted by: wseyller
Maybe putting that silencer on that card is the reason it died. It may of not been put on correctly or it was a bad quality heatsink/fan which I've seen a few first hand.

The Silencer was installed perfectly back in June. Also, the card was rarely even stressed. I haven't played any games since late June. It started crashing a month ago.