Reference Sapphire R9 290X how to submit a RMA??

Hey Guys,

My troubles continue I tore down my gaming computer for cleaning and adding some additional parts. When I put it back together, I cracked the CPU block.



I had picked up 2 reference R9 290X (why pay more for one with a good fan when I'm going to water cool it) one of the cards was by XFX using Elpida memory. The second R9 290X was by Sapphire using Hynix memory. When I first put the video cards in, (back in Dec) I was going to have the Sapphire card on top. Unfortunately I ended up putting the XFX on top, so this time around I made sure that the Sapphire card was on top. I did a few bench runs and then I started getting BLACK screens. I thought it was the driver, or MSI AB, or a program at start up. This morning I installed 14.12 drivers and everything was normal for a while. Then my computer just shut down on it's own and I got a whiff of a burnt part. I could not find the source and the smell had gone away. I turn back on my computer and just happened to be looking at the back of the Sapphire card when a shot of flame quickly came and went. I drained the loop and pulled the card. I'm back running with the XFX as the only card.



I tried to submit a RMA at Sapphire but the card is not registered You now have to have some funky paper that comes with your card, to be able to just register it. No paper - No service

Dam that sux Maybe the person you bought it from can help? Possibly they may have the sales receipt which might help the RMA?

Nebulous said:

Dam that sux Maybe the person you bought it from can help? Possibly they may have the sales receipt which might help the RMA?

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I'm hoping that Sapphire is not as big of %%%% as Asus is when it comes to requesting an RMA

I e-mailed EK about the CPU block. I got informed that they would send me a replacement top for free, I just had to pay for shipping

Sapphire is actually pretty cool to work with. You just need to get a hold of someone and not do the email tag back and forth. I have had different types of issues with Sapphire and they have always replaced my parts whether they were 2nd hand or not. It was about a week turnaround for the new part to arrive at my house. XFX is the absolute worst of them all. I will never deal nor buy another XFX anything again. This is also personal experience and everyone has their own opinion on it. Just giving you my 2 cents.

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MaddMutt if you need the contact info that I have for sapphire I can do some digging for you and get it. I am taking off for the weekend here in a little bit but will be back Sunday night.

MaddMutt said:

I'm hoping that Sapphire is not as big of %%%% as Asus is when it comes to requesting an RMA

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Are you saying this from personal experience or commenting from that Asus motherboard thread without ever using their RMA service?

Bishoff said:

Are you saying this from personal experience or commenting from that Asus motherboard thread without ever using their RMA service?

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This is from my own personnel experience when I had RMA'ed a motherboard to them to fix. For 2 weeks the Customer Service Rep over e-mail told me that my board was being fixed. Then after the 2nd week that they had my board, I was told that the Burnt VRM chip (under a heatsink) was outside of the warrenty. I was told to either send them $150 for a new board or do nothing and get my old one back. When I got my old one back, they had kept the VRM/NB heatsink.

To ed_biii : I will gladly take any help that I can get. Thank you for taking the time to look for that information

MaddMutt said:

This is from my own personnel experience when I had RMA'ed a motherboard to them to fix. For 2 weeks the Customer Service Rep over e-mail told me that my board was being fixed. Then after the 2nd week that they had my board, I was told that the Burnt VRM chip (under a heatsink) was outside of the warrenty. I was told to either send them $150 for a new board or do nothing and get my old one back. When I got my old one back, they had kept the VRM/NB heatsink.

To ed_biii : I will gladly take any help that I can get. Thank you for taking the time to look for that information

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Par for the course with ASUS. Had nothing but bad experiences with their service myself.

To hopefully close this thread
After talking with EK (e-mails) about the cracked water block and that the new Supremacy Evo parts are not compatible with the older model. They replied that the screws were the same for both models and that they will send me a new top for free. I was informed that I would have to pay for shipping <$10 2weeks <$20 3-5 days. Very nice Customer Service

After talking with Sapphire (e-mails) about the burnt part on the card and not having the paper to properly register it. I was informed that "By the Serial Number on the card" the video card was still under warranty. Since I did not have the funky paper and that EBAY is not an authorized dealer. They informed me that I would have to pay $30 processing fee for a RMA to fix my card. I payed $300 for the card and received no paperwork with it. $30 USD to fix or replace the Sapphire R9 290X is a small price to pay. Very nice Customer Service

Niiice!! Hope you get it fixed and returned quickly!

Glad you found it was easy. It just takes going to Sapphire website and seting up the RMA, not rocket science and glad you managed to do it.