In October 2005 I had purchased a refurbished 6600GT agp card from Aopen. 2 days back the card is dead. After much thinking I decided to go in for a fx 5200. This is because I dont want to spend Rs.9000(almost 200$) on another agp card. Both the hardware guys I spoke to suggested that I should not spend anything more on my computer now, because it is all phased out technology. I was wondering if you guys know the most comon reason why vedio cards blow up. I used to not play much games at all, hardly 2 hours a day with 30mins at a stretch max.
One guy I spoke to said that my card blew up because I used it on a 300W power supply. Another guy said that if I purchased another 6600GT and used it on my 300W psu, then my 300W psu would blow up i a few months. Another said that I wore out my power supply by leaving my computer on all night to download stuff, and yet another said that vedio cards/computer can last years leaving them on for 24 7 365. I would have continued to use my onboard S3 graphics chip, but I work in photoshop a lot and the S3 takes 3 seconds just to alt+tab on my computer. Anyway, my days of high-end gaming are over.
I am going to continue to leave my computer on all night and use it for photoshop a lot during the day. If you guys have any tips/sugestions so as not to blow up anything more in my computer let me know.
It's probably a faulty card, what exactly happeded? The fan failing us usually the main reson, but that is often after a fair few weeks. Also, I vaguely remember something about different AGP voltages, but that was years ago!
Tell us about this PSU. There are 300W units that are excellent, there are 500W units that suck...it's the quality of the components inside the unit that matters, not necessarily the wattage rating. Just like anything else, there are good & bad manufacturers...& wattage isn't the only factor.
But your card is less than a year old so even if you can't return it to the place of purchase, all you have to do is return it to the manufacturer. Gather up all the info, contact the manufacturer via e-mail, explain your problem & request an RMA. And use your head when you describe the problem...do NOT tell them you bought the card as refurbed & do NOT tell them that you suspect your 300W PSU is to blame. All you need to tell them is the make/model, when you purchased it, & the fact that it doesn't work. They may send a followup e-mail asking for more info, like what PSU you're using...at that point, let your conscience be your guide. If you're running a crappy Powmax PSU, you might "accidentally" type Enermax ;-)
Hi, Thanks for your understanding. I had thought that maybe I would have been criticized a bit for first buying a refurbished product, and second for blowing it up. I will be honest to you guys... I hate to admit it, but I think I might have blow up the card myself. I had read a lot about overclocking and how it could be the cheapest way to get more out of your components. I had consulted this forum too, and most were off the opinion that overclocking can be safe if done properly. I think I messed up there,I overclocked my gpu from 500Mhz to about 550Mhz and my memory from 900Mhz to about 1100Mhz and ran it that way for about a week. I hate to admit it, but I think I ruined it there. However, it worked flawlessly for 6 months after that, until it died 2 days ago. I guess I just wasnt ready enough to handle a powerful card after having a fx 5200 for some years before that.
I have been honest to you guys, but I dont mind saying all the lies I need to to Aopen if they can help me. I have already applied for their RMA by entering the serial no and part no on my card on their website. They said they will provide me a password using which I will be able to track my complaint, but I have not received the complainet yet.
I have spoken to many people and almost all of them have varied opinions. Some say my gpu will blow up my psu, others say my 300W (low powered) psu will blow up my gpu. But all the hardware chaps I spoke to were of the opinion that I should not buy another 6600GT, rather go in for a pcie card when I upgrade my system.
I have take a fews pics of my psu with my webcam, I hope they are suitable enough for you to find out whatever you need to about it.
http://sarosh.8m.com/gt/ If the links dont work let me know.
There are bunch of symbols on the psu and I have no idea what is its name. If any of you want any more details I can read it and tell them too you. Howewver, I would like to say in my opinion that I have a very good personal relationship with all my hardware chap and I dont think they would sell me any cheap parts at all. I am pretty sure this psu is a good quality one, or definitely not a low quality one. It has worked flawlessly for me till date. (3.5 years).
I don't see how you can do high end gaming wih a P4 2.53 and a 6600GT.... Anyways like the post above, if you bought it for less than a year, there is a high chance you can RMA back to Aopen and they get you a new card... But they won't accept your RMA, then I would go to ebay and look for a L-shaped radeon 9500 for less than $40 and softmod it into a 9700 and then overclock to 9700pro levels...
TMP-Man
Asus P5P800-SE P4 506 @ 4100Mhz 1.525v Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 2000RPM FAN + AS5 1GB Corsair 2-3-3-5 DDR400 40GB 5400RPM/120GB 7200RPM HD Radoen 9500 mod 9700 @ 375/600 CHS+RHS
"I think I messed up there,I overclocked my gpu from 500Mhz to about 550Mhz and my memory from 900Mhz to about 1100Mhz and ran it that way for about a week."
There's your reason for the card to blown, especially during these hot summer days...
TMP-Man
Asus P5P800-SE P4 506 @ 4100Mhz 1.525v Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 2000RPM FAN + AS5 1GB Corsair 2-3-3-5 DDR400 40GB 5400RPM/120GB 7200RPM HD Radoen 9500 mod 9700 @ 375/600 CHS+RHS
It may not really have been "high end" gaming but I really enjoyed that card compared to my fx 5200. I had the best gaming experience with that card, now I am back to fx 5200 again, and that too I had to buy a new fx5200 because I sold off my older fx5200 because I th ought I would never need it again.
Your pics are horrible. I can't make out the wattage/amperage ratings on the label, but there's little doubt that you have a no-name PSU. The fact that it's "only" 300W isn't as important as the fact that it's a cheap piece of sh!t. But now that you've told the truth about overclocking, it would seem THAT is what caused the card's demise. The power supply is probably THE most important component in a system & your's *may* have been a contributing factor in the card's sudden death, but ultimately, YOU are the real killer...lol
I know dude, I feel really bad about it. I had got a card I could have used for years, and I blew it up. I dont know when I am going to get a good card again. I guess it will only happen when I update my system again. Sorry about the pics, but those are actually the best 3 I could take with my webcam. If you still want to see the psu live on the cam let me know anytime. And you are right, there is no name on it.
About the overclocking, I had actually tried to find out here in the forum. There are many who have successfully overclocked their grapics cards. I was new to all this and when I saw that my card was working fine after being overclocked I let it be like that for a week or two. Then I read some more and decided to turn it off.
Anyway, I spoke to three hardware guys and they all are quite firm about me not buying a new agp card.
You don't have to get a new one...RMA your "old" one & it will be replaced. It may take a month or more, but you'll be "high end" gaming again.
The thing about overclocking video cards (at least as far as I'm concerned) is to only do it when you game. You don't need your card screaming at 550MHz/1100MHz when you're surfing online...you could actually underclock if you wanted. My last couple of cards have been ATI based & I overclock with ATiTool. What's nice about it is you can set up various overclock (or underclock) profiles & load the profile you need, when you need it.
And don't feel bad about buying refurbed. A lot of us in these forums do it. I've gotten several video cards & motherboards that way. I had a refurbed Asus Ti4200 go bad after almost a year...I contacted Asus, RMA'd it, & they replaced it with a Ti4800SE. I'm still using it in my backup machine.
As for the AGP issue...sure PCI-e is the new standard, but to upgrade to it will require a new board, CPU, & power supply...so it definitely won't be cheap. It will be more like a rebuild that an upgrade. I know you're not from the US & hardware isn't as easy to come by, but couldn't you have done better than an FX5200? Then again, if you do it right, you'll eventually be getting your 6600GT back ;-)
Jam, I hope what you say comes true. I hope Aopen will help me out. I have not heard anything from them yet. Last time I checked my complaint was in the "duplication phase".
Some of my friends tell me that there is a guy in Mumbai who might be able to repair it. He has even repaired old p1 motherboards and stuff. If it is a matter of a capacitor gone bust, they say he can repair it for me easily. However, if the chip itself has gone dead, I dont know how he might be able to help me out.
Today I took my card and my computer cabinet to my hardware guy. I thought I would be able to check my card on one of his motherboards, but he said he didnt have any agp motherboards there. However, when he put his agp card in my m/b everything worked fine. We tried this a couple of times and then he too concluded that my agp card is gone dead. This lead to a few questions in my mind: 1) I currently have a 160GB seagate hard disk of IDE/ATA Ultra DMA mode 5 type. I have got tones of songs, data, and game backup on this hard disk. I would like to continue to store data, songs and games on this harddisk till I decide to buy a new card. However, I was thinking that may be 5 years from now I wont even find a m/b that will connect to this HD. For how many years in the future do you think I can expect to buy new motherboads with support for such hard disks? 2) What about the cd/dvd drives of the future? Will they still support reading of ordinary 700MB cd rom drives? 3) Finally, I think my 1GB of DDR ram will be pretty useless few years down the line, will motherboards still supoort 266/333Mhz ram for the next 5 years? Note: I am using the long time frame of 5 years to get an idea of the worst case scenerio. I may be changing my system before that too. Do you think I should continue to download/backup games, songs, vedios on my harddisk in the hope that I might be able to play them on my new computer a few years down the line?
Buying hardware online via credit card is definitely more convieent and cheaper too. But hardware here is not very difficult to find at all. One of my hardware guys said he could order an xfx 6600GT agp card for me in 3 days if I wanted to. The thing is that almost all these hardware chaps are my friends and they sort of resent the idea of me spening big bucks on vedio cards. They dont consider vedio cards worth the money. India is quite a big market for hardware, and almost anything can be made available here. However, I decided to buy a fx 5200 because I wanted to spend as less as possible on a vedio card. This will actually be my 5th vedio card now, but the 6600GT was the best by far and thats why I wanted it to last me for a long time. Infact, I had decided to use my computer for a few months with the onboard s3 graphics chip, but photoshop was very slow on that, I could not work efficienlty on photoshop, even moving text boxes around was slower. I brought this fx5200 just to work comfortably in photoshop.
Deciding on what hardware to buy and how much to spend on hardware has always been an extremely tough decision for me.
When I went to check my agp card to my hardware chaps shop tdoay he said he didnt have an agp m/b to test in on. What are the chances that when I upgrade my system and I take my h/d to my hardware chap to transfer the date to my new hard disk he will tell me that he does not have a m/b that he can connect my h/d to? Does that mean that all the family pics/b'day vedios, games, programs, etc I have been storing for so many years will be gone? I atleast hope the new hd/blue ray dvd roms that come out will support the reading of regular old 700MB cds.
Thanks for your good wishes jam, I really hope Aopen help me out, not heard anything from them yet, I only have a complaint no. but I cant access it unless the send me the password by email.
Why would you take your card to "some guy" if it's under warranty? Give AOpen some time, I'm sure you're not the only person contacting them...lol!
I told you months ago that I don't trust your hardware guy. Obviously I don't know him, but it seems like he's been steering you wrong. You took his advice over ours last time, now he seems to be doing a flip-flop.
"What are the chances that when I upgrade my system and I take my h/d to my hardware chap to transfer the date to my new hard disk he will tell me that he does not have a m/b that he can connect my h/d to?"
I doubt that's gonna happen. The IDE/ATA interface is gonna be a round for a while yet. But I'm surprised that you wouldn't do that yourself? Aren't you backing up your "family pics/b'day vedios" on CD-R or CD-RW disks?
You asked about 5 yrs into the future. All I can say is to look 5 yrs into the past & see what was in use then compared to what's in use now. Then look at the changes going on today...PCI-e is the new video standard, DRR2 is about to become the RAM standard, dual-core CPUs are becoming common & quad-core are due in 2007, SATA1 & SATA2 are taking over as the HDD interface, etc.
Hey my dude jam, Your wishes paid off. Aopen send me an email and said that I could send them the party even if the warrenty was expired. This is what they said:
Your issue now is at R&D DEBUGGING phase. .... However, if your card is out of warranty you can still ask your reseller for repair or you can send it directly to us.
I have already sent the card by XPS courier service and paid them extra to pack it up properly. I hope now that Aopen will have some good news, and not just return the card without doing anything. What do you think are my chances of getting out of fx5200 and getting back to 6600GT?
Im sorry jam, i messed up big time again. I already shipped it and they didnt give me an "Rma" number. All I had was a complaint no which I sent along with a letter. I typed out all the details, such as my address, phone no. I explained the problem and said that my computer was working fine and then I included my aopen membership login and complaint no. and I printed this all out and sent it with the card. I hope I have not messed up again.
Good day and thank you for supporting our product.
We would like you to send your card to your reseller for them to give you first hand support and for you to enjoy the warranty services. However, if your card is out of warranty you can still ask your reseller for repair or you can send it directly to us. Please follow the link below to contact AOpen support near to your location. Should you have other concerns, please let us know.
http://global.aopen.com.tw/company/contact/
At Your Service, Sandrey AOpen Technical Support Division June 16, 2006
**************************************** Thanks for your mail. To help us check in here, can you please provide us more details about your query on what request you want us to follow-up? If you want to follow-up an open issue in Dr.Open, can you tell us the submitted ID number? In case you want to follow-up a case to RMA, did you sent the product to RMA via your reseller? If you submit the product to AOpen RMA directly, can you tell us your location?
We are looking ahead for your updates. May you have a nice day! ***************************************
I dont think I have done a mistake by sending it to rma, but please tell me I didnt mess up.
Sorry, but it does sound like you messed up. Do you know what RMA means?
Return Merchandise Authorization
I thought I explained it all in response #2 but I guess I didn't get into enough detail. Usually several e-mails have to be sent back & forth before the manufacturer finally agrees to repair or replace the item, then issues an RMA number. At that point they explain exactly how to package the product & where to ship it. And they normally request that the RMA number be written on the face of the package.
You definitely jumped the gun. All you can do now is contact them again & explain what you did. I have no idea how they'll handle the situation.
If you send the box to Aopen w/o an RMA # and you send to the wrong department, chance for you to get it back would be slim.... Usually for RMA process, you will be need to enter the serial number of the product on the manufacture's support/RMA link to check whether the product is still under warranty. If it is, then you can set up a RMA directly from the website and you can write in what happen to your card and does it work in a known working computer bla bla bla... Then you follow their instruction will submit all your returning information, then they will send you an RMA # to your email address and you will have to follow direction in terms of packaging and shipping. They usually recommand you to have a confirmation deliery or tracking # so if the package is lost somewhere, you can still track it down. You will need to write the RMA # on the package as well... etc...
If you did not go through these steps above, chance for you to get the replacement card will be slim. Furthermore, whether they will ship the package back to you if you send to the wrong department w/o RMA # will be unknown... Hopefully that is the "detailed" version of RMA process...
TMP-Man
Asus P5P800-SE P4 506 @ 4100Mhz 1.525v Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 2000RPM FAN + AS5 1GB Corsair 2-3-3-5 DDR400 40GB 5400RPM/120GB 7200RPM HD Radoen 9500 mod 9700 @ 375/600 CHS+RHS
Hi Dudes, Thanks for your concerns dudes. This was my first time ever sending any part to abroad, and honestly I did it because Jam was pretty confident I would get a replacement. Or else I was prepared to say goodbye to that card for ever. I am sending you the latest response I have received from them. May be I am wrong again, but they dont sound as though I have done anthing wrong. Here is their latest response:
We will inform you as soon as we have updates regarding your issue. For now we would like to thank you for your patience and cooperation. Should you have other concerns, please let us know.
At Your Service, Sandrey AOpen Technical Support Division June 17, 2006
----Original Message---- From: Sarosh (6/16/2006 8:06:04 PM) Dear Sir, Thank you for accepting my card for repair. I have sent the card to your Taipie Taiwan headoffice today by XPS courier (Air WAy Bill No. 916001403360). Please let me know when it reaches you, if possible. I hope everything will work out for me and that I will be able to use the card again without problems. Thanks very much, your help is very appreciated. Sarosh. ***************************************
Atleast they have not said that I have done anything wrong. I checked the status of my package on the courier website, and its current status is "Forwarded to MUMBAI".
I will know on the website when the package id delivered to them in Taiwan. I guess I should wait till then. What should I do after that?
Do any of you know what "Held at hub" means. I sent the part by courier, this is the latest stutus. ********************** TAIWAN 17 Jun 2006 Held at hub (Regulatory Paperwork Required) *****************
I hope this is not an indication of some problem and that the procedure will resume on monday.
That is why you are supposed to wait until they issue the Return Authorization & send complete shipping instructions. Apparently something is wrong with the way you shipped it (paperwork is missing?) & the package is on hold.
Do you think its a lost cause now? I will, ofcorse, keep you informed. But what do you think might happen next?
Do you think I should buy an xfx 6600GT for 9300Rs (207$) with 3 years warrenty in the hope that my 300W power supply will hold out for atleast 2 more years? In anycase, the same hardware chap who can get me the card said he can also sell me a 400W power supply for less then 20$. The company name is "intex". What do you think of intex power supply, even if they are not the best, are they good enough to last me 2 more years.
I have no current means of ordering parts from USA any more, and I think it is best to buy parts locally where I can get a warrenty.
I don't trust your "hardware chap" one bit. I've told you that several times before & this is just another example of why. He shouldn't be recommending $20 400W PSUs, let alone selling them! Find yourself another hardware chap. And spare me the stories about how well he's taken care of you in the past...he hasn't! All he's done is taken care of himself. I bet when you walk into his shop all he sees is a huge dollar sign (I mean, Rupee)...LOL!
The PSU is THE most important component in your system. You can have the greatest board, CPU, video card, etc, but if your PSU is crap, your entire system is crap...plus there's the risk of frying components. You shouldn't be paying less than $50 US for a PSU & it should be from a reputable manufacturer (Antec, Enermax, Fortron, Silverstone, Sparkle, Thermaltake, to name some of the "good ones"). It should also conform to the latest ATX12V 2.x spec.
Don't go jumping the gun again & buying another video card. Try to get the mess straightened out with AOpen 1st. Give it some time...it normally takes weeks for the RMA process, but considering you've gone about it all wrong, it will probably take much longer. E-mail them again...explain that you "accidentally" shipped the card before being issued an RMA number & tell them the exact address you shipped it to. Hopefully they'll be able to locate the package & do what has to be done.
Maybe you should have read the AOpen policy:
Packaging Requirements
1. A valid AOpen RMA number must be clearly marked on the outside of all returned packages. 2. Every shipment must attach approved RMA Request Form as packing list and the returned goods must match with the attached packing list. 3. Returned products must be packaged properly to avoid any shipping damages. Any damage or loss of returned goods during transportation shall be the sole responsibility of the shipper. 4. Returned motherboards must include original BIOS, CACHE RAM (module) or VRM. Motherboards with missing parts will be returned to customers as NTF with freight collect. 5. Regular RMA items must not be returned with any accessories (no CPU, fan, etc). AOpen will not return nor bear responsibility for any accessories shipped along with returned products. However, DOA products must be returned with all original packaging and accessories. 6. RMA Tag is required for every returned motherboard. 7. AOpen RMA number is valid for 30 days from the date of RMA number issued.
I already sent them an email yesterday just as you suggested in your latest reply. I told them that I made a hurry in shipping and asked them to check into the status "held at hub". Here is their latest response:
From: Sandrey (6/19/2006 11:19:29 AM) Hi! Sarosh,
We will inform you as soon as we have it onhand. For the mean time we would like to ask your patience and cooperation. Should you have other concerns, please let us know.
At Your Service, Sandrey AOpen Technical Support Division June 19, 2006
I hope there is still some chance for me Jam. Atleast upto now they have not said that I have done anything wrong. What do you think the "hub" is? Is it the courier office or the aopen office? My only councern is that the courier company might decide to return the part to India or discard the part if Aopen refuse to collect it for a lot more days.
As for the powersupply and my hardware dudes, may be you are right, but when I think of it I get the feeling that my hardware dudes have been fair to me. My 300W power supply is 3 and a half years old now. He had given me the power supply with a P4 1.7GHz willamate and 20GB hd and 256MB ram. I am sure that getting a 300W psu in 2002 for a P4 1.7GHz would be a good deal. I dont think my hardware chap would have thought that I would add in a 6600GT in 2006. Besides, I see the requirements of some 6600GT and some of them say "recommended 300W or higher". Also, I am not talking about shady shops being run in some Gully. My hardware chaps are of good repute and well respected in their localities. Please tell me what you think about this. As far my computer knowledge goes, I think 400W+ psu were non existant in 2001-2002. So my hardware chap gave me the best thing back then, a 300W psu. I checked the bill and he has charged me Rs1600/- for the whole cabinet (including the psu). He has not sold me the psu seperately and has billed me for the entire cabinet. The date on the bill is 24/july/02. The power supply has worked flawlessly till, date and continues to do so even today. I started with 256MB ram and 20GB HD in 2002 and am now on 1GB ram and 160GB 7200RPM on the same power supply, and its still goign strong 4 years down the line, so I guess its quality is already determined by its 4 years of trouble free working. As for the 6600GT, I dont think my hardware chap could have imagined in 2002 that I would be plugging in a high power vedio card in 2006. If you still think he has done someting wrong, let me know. I am going to phone him up sometime soon to talk to him about the current models of m/bs available. (Im not buying anything, dont worry, lol).
The second hardware chap I talked to said that if I want to buy a card I should better go in a 500W power supply for long term stabiliy. He said a good quality one would cost me about 5000Rs (over 100$) and so that is not really an affordable buy for me.
The third guy who sells the 400W power supply is more a retailer and usually sells the cheapest, however his knowledge is also limited, and he admits it. When talking about the ordering the new 6600GT he stated clearly that "you cannot just buy the card by asking us about the power requirements, we cant take responsibility for that". Also while asking him about the quality of the 20$ 400W psu he said "some get spoilt and returned to us and we send the to warrenty and get the repaired". And he even showed me a couple of them lying in his shop ready to be sent back to the manufacturer for repair.
Also, when my card was new I was encouraged by almost everyone to upgrade from my 300W psu. I could have gone out and purchased this 20$ 400W psu any day I wanted, but I was obviously aware that this is a low quality part selling for a cheap price. And my hardware chap too didnt claim that this was a good piece, he didnt mis guide me at all.
All he's done is taken care of himself. I bet when you walk into his shop all he sees is a huge dollar sign (I mean, Rupee)...LOL!
That was a nice one jam, ha. But I am actually talking about 3 hardware chaps, and I consult with all three of them. One of them is a retailer who sells the 20$ intext 400W psu. The other ones have said that a good quality psu wil cost me about 5000Rs. Ha, and I never pay money upfront, I bring the part home, run it a few days, and then go pay my hardware chap. I did this with my 160GB hd, additional ram, cd writer and even monitor. I never pay any money at the shop, only if the part works fine for a week do I go and complete the payment with him.
WOW you can do that?! holy s--- i wish i could take a 7900GTX home for a spin, LOL maybe 2x for a quick SLI try. Also how do you do that? do you just walk out saying im taking these for a try cat, and he goes yeh mannnnn, dont loose it.
They are all my friend as they were my fathers friends when my father was a professore in the university. They know my family and have visited us with their wifes and kids, as have us. I have no doubts in my mind that none of these hardware guys is trying to cheat me or rob me, they hage all all been honest to me.
In any case, he has given me a power supply that has worked flawlessly for me for 4 years now, do I still have reason to say that he has not been fair to me? Also, I thought the vedio card blew up because I overcloked it and ran it for about 2 weeks. There was no issues of the card with power. Is there anyway to know whether my card has blown up because of the overclocking or because of my 300W power supply?
Oh no, sorry jam. I really do appreciate your help. But if you give me a reason why you say my hardware chaps are not good then I can agree with you. He gave me a 300W power supply which works fine now too even after 4 years. Is there anything I can really blame him for? I guess a 300W power supply in 2002 was a good deal. Please dont misunderstand me, I realy do appreciate all the time you take to reply and I learn a lot from you. With appreciation. Sarosh.
It was probably fine when you got it, fine for your 1.7 Willamette, fine for your 2.53 Northwood, but let's be realistic..it's a cheap, no-name power supply..AND it's 4 years old..even the best components fail after a time..some last a long time, others not so long. if it was me, i'd suck it up and order a decent psu, you don't have to spend $100, but spend at least $50 man..don't waste your money on a junk 400w either, as you'll probably be worse off than you are now..your hardware guys may not be intentionally trying to con you, but if they aren't, then they aren't the most knowledgable people and you should still be looking to somene else for advice (these forums, for example)..i've read a lot of your posts..you come here, ask for advice, then tell us why your hardware guy disagrees, and do it anyway..it's frustrating because you're throwing your money away..
ultimately you'll do what you want, but my suggestion is this: order a decent psu online from one of the companies jam listed, contact the carrier you shipped with and get your 6600gt back, wait for an RMA number from AOpen, and do the RMA right..
I do take Jam's advice. If it was not for Jam's advice I would have upgraded from a 1.7GHz willamate to another 2.0GHz willamate. I didnt know the difference back then.
Also, jam said "some 300W psus are better than some 400W psus." I knew that buying a 400W psu for this low price would only mean that it was going to be of a low quality, and so I didnt. Also, the aopen specifications sheet mentions "recommended 300W or higher power supply". Buying anything online is not easy for me, I tried creating an account on www.newegg.com but they didnt even have India listed in their options there. I have always followed Jam's advice wherever possible.
I dont have tons of money to throw away, and my computer runs fine for photoshop, gaminig is just my passtime. 2.53Ghz, 1GB ram and 160GB hd and an fx5200 is more than enough for photoshop, why should i throw away what works fine for me dude. I dont understand some peoples obession for new technology when the old technology suffices.
Just to give you another example of my luck with hardware, the courier guys phoned me up today and called me to their office because the card is still held at bombay custums. I filled out another form today and signed it and they say it will reach taiwan on monday. I agree that I tend to mess up most things. And also I do apperciate all the posts here and I learn a hell of a lot from you guys. Thanks.
"Just to give you another example of my luck with hardware"
It's got nothing to do with your luck with hardware. I told you WAY back in the thread that these things take time, but you grew impatient & shipped the card before even knowing what you were supposed to do. You didn't follow the proper procedure for returning the card & now you're suffering the consequences.
What you should have done was ask that the card be returned to you from Bombay customs...then you could complete the RMA process with AOpen, gotten your RMA number, packaged the card correctly (as per their instructions) & shipped it to the proper address. Jump back to response #27 & read the RMA policy.
Did you complete the RMA process? were you ever issued an RMA number? or didn't you bother following thru?
I agree I hurried the matter up, it was my fault. The card is still in mumbai, they phoned me up from mumbai today morning, they called me to their Panjim officer yesterday night, I have no idea what all the fuss is about. I appreciate your advice jam, and I have learnt everything about warrenty and RMA and all that from this experience, although this experience is going very bad.
I dont mean to contradict you in anyway at all, but if you read one of my earlier posts above I said something like "my days of high end gaming are over". What I meant was I had given up hope on the vedio card and didtn expect to play any latest games for some time. However, after reading some positive opinions here I contacted Aopen and they said "you can send it to us directly" and that is exactly what I did. In their email they didnt say anything about rma or they didnt even tell me to wait, they said I could send it right away. But I should have read all the instructions properly, I agree I hurried it up and messed up. The bombay custums is crazy, I dont know what is their problem. I thought getting electronics/computer parts into India was a pain, now I know that even send computer parts out of India is a bigger pain. The card reached bombay on the 16th, and is still being held there. Aopen havent given me any negetive feedback yet. All they have said is "we will inform you when we have the card on hand". Thanks a lot jam, although I messed up this time, I have learnt from this experience. Regards, Sarosh.
