You can follow this saga by visiting any of the 6 or so websites where he has already posted this rant.
I find it humorous that he tried to call XFX out about trying to help him out instead of being satisfied that they resolved the issue (when his retailer clearly didn't). It could be somebody with an agenda, though there are times when people get so pissed about something that there's nothing you can do to make them happy. Most likely his retailer was extremely effective in shifting the blame instead of fixing his problem.
good! Bait and switch is deplorable and must be blown to its appropriately severe proportions.
OCZ backpedelled on their bait and switch, XFX will too or I never buy from them again.
Thumbs down for XFX, they may have lost my future potential business. That leaves the AMD board partner selection looking pretty lowly.
That's a pretty broad brush you are painting with there...even if we just wanted to make generalized characterizations of XFX we still need to recognize that we don't actually know all that much here.
Why was theer a switch on 6970s in the first place? I though 6970 stock was 880MHz and the 6990 was downclocked 6970 gpu x 2. So the 6990s switch simply unlocked it to a 6970 speed/voltage.
This is the picture (pcb only) of the card the guy received.
As you can see there is no AMD logo on the PCI-E connector (or whatever is the correct designation).
This one is a reference design and you can see the AMD logo.
amd logo means nothing. powercolor is using the same design as the xfx card. nobody knows the whole story, but from first appearances it seems like it is a design from amd. as to why xfx didn't change the model number more than just adding v. 1.1 is probably something xfx should've done.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6950_PCS_Plus_Plus/3.html
PowerColor has built upon this and offers their HD 6950 PCS++ with a custom cooler, custom PCB and a BIOS preinstalled that lets you complete the unlocking progress by the flick of a little switch. With a price increase of $15 over the reference design cards, the price increase of the PowerColor HD 6950 PCS ++ over the HD 6950 reference design does not seem too bad either.
Currently, cards are based on Voltera DrMOS components. AMD could not build new card on TI DrMOS due to shortage of the latter, which was said to be the main reason for several delays of the actual Radeon HD 6900 series announcement. Therefore, new PCBs might have those TI DrMOS chips after all.
so it's a coincidence? sapphire, powercolor, and xfx magically created the same design?
no, what happened is each engineer at each company read the other engineer's mind. but which engineer created the first custom design?
January 16 2011 - Nearly a month ago AMD has presented second generation of DX11-compatible discrete graphics cards targeted at high-end segment – AMD HD Radeon 6900-series – HD 6970 and HD 6950. Both models are based on Cayman die.
Though there are some differences in SP and TMU numbers as well as stock core/memory clocks between these models, this can be easily fixed by HD 6950 BIOS mod (read more here). Shortly after it was discovered AMD has published the following comment:
A number of news sites have reported on an apparent vBIOS flash that effectively turns an AMD Radeon HD 6950 into an HD 6970. While we do include two discrete BIOS ROMS and a BIOS switch for the purpose of trying new BIOS when they are made available, AMD does not endorse the use of the unsupported vBIOS’ on the AMD Radeon HD 6950 as this may lead to unstable performance and/or subsequent failure of the product which is not covered under warranty.
Moreover, AMD takes action to prevent this from happening and prepares a revised version of Radeon HD 6900 series graphic card PCB. As it was explained, new PCB will have different VRM and power elements.
Currently, cards are based on Voltera DrMOS components. AMD could not build new card on TI DrMOS due to shortage of the latter, which was said to be the main reason for several delays of the actual Radeon HD 6900 series announcement. Therefore, new PCBs might have those TI DrMOS chips after all. However, we think, the main reason of PCB upgrade is to block the opportunity to unlock performance config of HD 6950 to get fully operating HD 6970 card.
Thumbs down for XFX, they may have lost my future potential business. That leaves the AMD board partner selection looking pretty lowly.
considering BFG went under and eVGA avoided fermi, XFX pulling this crap leaves both AMD and nVidia offering lacking.
considering BFG went under and eVGA avoided fermi, XFX pulling this crap leaves both AMD and nVidia offering lacking.
You mean XFX avoided Fermi I take it......
Good pointIf that is what he meant, then his point doesn't have a point.
ah, my mistake...But yes. XFX did not go the Fermi way. eVGA went full on.
Good point
ah, my mistake...
i guess the only decent player on either team is now eVGA.
Let me see. AMD clearly stated they will not be responsible on OC, yet the releases reference card has a switch to do exactly that.
AMD is not at fault as they do not sell video cards.
XFX stands out and stated that they will provide warranty on the use of that switch. All credit goes to AMD.
AMD video card owners won't complain, but AIB manufacturers do. So AMD provide a work around, but revisioning their reference board and the BOM that is used to build it.
Now XFX uses the new design from AMD, and they are now at fault? The provider supply different goods, what can AIB manufacturer do? The old design is obsoleted.
As to the AMD logo, do you guys remember that AMD doesn't produce video cards?
It will be more interesting when people starts to RMA their old card and get a new one.
There is nothing illegal going on. That switch is not supported by AMD, the one who design the board. In fact, their shouldn't be a switch to begin with. If they do support OC, then they simply use the OC bios as the bios on reference card.
Keep in mind that just because the card looks different doesn't mean they are now using cheap parts. They always use parts that are up for the task or they will face sea of RMAs. However, by removing the switch, assuming the ability to OC, some parts may be an overkill. In other words, those you don't OC their card or have waterblocks won't lose anything. The new revision still runs at the same stock clock and voltage as resulting in the same performance.
The reminding question isn't about the switch, but whether the card can be OC as if it is using BIOS2. If it can't, then fanboys who believes they are once self proclaim enthusiast and overclocker can cry on streets as their dream has just got shattered.
As to XFX, they still provide warranties on cards with the switch, but if they receive it back via RMA, then they simply return it with one that doesn't have the switch. Hey, that is way better to tell customers that their card as passed its double lifetime warranty right?
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying AMD is at fault, as all they did is to provide an easy way to OC. Users however believes that they are eligible of RMA their card due to it being killed through OC is a joke. Again, customers are always right, so bye bye switch.
And yes, we can all go back to several years ago where OC video card requires soldiering.
Let me see. AMD clearly stated they will not be responsible on OC, yet the releases reference card has a switch to do exactly that.
AMD is not at fault as they do not sell video cards.
XFX stands out and stated that they will provide warranty on the use of that switch. All credit goes to AMD.
AMD video card owners won't complain, but AIB manufacturers do. So AMD provide a work around, but revisioning their reference board and the BOM that is used to build it.
Now XFX uses the new design from AMD, and they are now at fault? The provider supply different goods, what can AIB manufacturer do? The old design is obsoleted.
As to the AMD logo, do you guys remember that AMD doesn't produce video cards?
It will be more interesting when people starts to RMA their old card and get a new one.
There is nothing illegal going on. That switch is not supported by AMD, the one who design the board. In fact, their shouldn't be a switch to begin with. If they do support OC, then they simply use the OC bios as the bios on reference card.
Keep in mind that just because the card looks different doesn't mean they are now using cheap parts. They always use parts that are up for the task or they will face sea of RMAs. However, by removing the switch, assuming the ability to OC, some parts may be an overkill. In other words, those you don't OC their card or have waterblocks won't lose anything. The new revision still runs at the same stock clock and voltage as resulting in the same performance.
The reminding question isn't about the switch, but whether the card can be OC as if it is using BIOS2. If it can't, then fanboys who believes they are once self proclaim enthusiast and overclocker can cry on streets as their dream has just got shattered.
As to XFX, they still provide warranties on cards with the switch, but if they receive it back via RMA, then they simply return it with one that doesn't have the switch. Hey, that is way better to tell customers that their card as passed its double lifetime warranty right?
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying AMD is at fault, as all they did is to provide an easy way to OC. Users however believes that they are eligible of RMA their card due to it being killed through OC is a joke. Again, customers are always right, so bye bye switch.
And yes, we can all go back to several years ago where OC video card requires soldiering.