Should I RMA my P5B Deluxe?

Got all my stuff for my first build. Up to now I was just prepping my case. Removed everything from my previous system and gave it a good cleaning. So tonight I started in earnest. Mounted my new fans, bay devices, hard drives, PSU & and tamed the wires. That was about as far as I was really going tonight.

But I did take the P5B out of its box to inspect it and noticed it looks like it's been used? At first I noticed what looked like some smudges on the back side right behind the CPU socket. On closer inspection I see it's actually scuffed with some scratches. It's not minor either. The scuff marks and scratches cover a good 20 square inches or so. If I was excitable I would call them gouges ... So I look a little closer and it's very obvious this board had a heatsink backing plate mounted to it. I can see four clear square 'impressions' next to the four heatsink mounting holes. Something was sitting there long enough to leave those marks.

Do they test these things at the factory by mounting a CPU? And if they did wouldn't they just use a push pin HSF? Also wouldn't they take care not to damage the board?

I'm not a nit-picker (at least I don't think I am) but I do expect to get what I pay for. Would I be going overboard if I RMA'd the board because of this? I paid for a new ASUS P5B Deluxe Retail, not used or open box. My inclination is to get on the phone to NewEgg and set up an RMA.

Is it standard practice for mobo manufacturers to recycle RMA'd boards and turn them around, selling them as new? Especially one with obvious wear and tear on it?

They would sell factory-repaired units as refurbs not new-in-box. Contact Newegg and see what's up.

From the sound of it, it appears like you got open box motherboard. Newegg sells open box items. If you paid retail price for it you could contact newegg and tell them what you got. Usually open box p5b dlx is sold for $50 less than retail one. That's if the motherboard works of course and if you would like to keep it. Otherwise you could rma it.

I got mine p5b dlx open box but that's what added to shopping cart for $$ less from retail version

It would prolly be faster to just RMA it through ASUS after ESDing it on the TV.

So who is paying for the shipping to asus?

Don't know what the outcome of this ever was...but Newegg is GREAT on RMA's and often times u will have the replacement in just a few days. Hope things worked out well.

So what was the outcome of this situation? Did you RMA it or keep it?


If it was me and I had purchased it as new, I would have definitely returned it to newegg. They are really great about RMA's and stuff....I'm sure a replacement would come quickly.

I suggest you use advance RMA with asus, because everytime i use normal RMA they sent me used boards.