Why NOT to buy XFX

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za_bullet

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Quick story as a cautionary tale of which brands to buy or not buy. Bought 2x XFX GTS 250 from a large supplier in Cape Town for an SLI rig. Installed them less than 24 hours after receiving them. After about 4 minutes the machine hung and the one card burst into flame (I'm not kidding). I pulled the card. Power up on 1 card. No problems. Switch power cable (see if the PSU is blowing components) and all works fine with 1 card.

Return the card to supplier and told it will not be replaced because its "User Damaged". Buy a 3rd card. Install in same slot and same power connector and works perfectly. Complain to supplier and XFX, but still get the response that there will be no refund. So I take the hit, but thought I should let everyone know what XFX's policy is.

For those with morbid facinations here are some pictures.

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That sucks man. I have had an XFX motherboard that is still running great for me after a few years. I can understand that every now and then you get a dud part, but they should have taken the hit, not you. And even though you are out that much money, in the end, the bigger loss will be theirs because they will lose more business than they would have if they had just replaced the card for you. How likely is it that you would have abused the card in the first 24 hours? Did they even take it in for testing or analysis?
 
Well if XFX SA categorically stated they will not replace... or did that message come via the supplier rather than directly from them?
 
Had my own bad experience with XFX so I avoid them.

I bought a Geforce 7800GT, it was a "limited edition" type thing that just had a fancy looking cooler with lights, no actual special functionality. It also came pre-overclocked like all XFX 7800GTs.
From what I could see on the forum, just about every single one of these limited edition cards had serious problems. They were not stable at the manufacturer settings, they would cause PCs to randomly shut down in demanding games.
People were able to solve this by either underclocking or increasing voltage.

Also, they ran much hotter than the standard versions of the 7800GTs despite XFX shipping their standard 7800GTs at the same clock speeds. And the fan was stuck at 100% making it loud (why it was still hotter than the standard one is a mystery to me).

XFX never seemed to acknowledge the problem, replacing 'faulty' limited editions with ones that had the same problem.

Personally I managed to swap mine with a standard one, which ran cooler and achieved much higher clock speeds than the limited edition could handle.
 
Grimspoon said:
Nothing wrong with XFX, they make awesome products.
Click to expand...

I'm not knocking their products per se....but I'm pretty convinced that their product was faulty (I generally categorise "new items bursting into flames" as a manufacturers issue) and not to replace it is a slap in the face.

zb.
 
That's hectic!

Sorry that this happened, but as previously suggested, I would definitely take it further with XFX head office.
 
za_bullet said:
I'm not knocking their products per se....but I'm pretty convinced that their product was faulty (I generally categorise "new items bursting into flames" as a manufacturers issue) and not to replace it is a slap in the face.

zb.
Click to expand...

Yeah... kick up a stink with the head office. Point them to this thread. Let them call the supplier and give them hell.
 
kayvee said:
Well if XFX SA categorically stated they will not replace... or did that message come via the supplier rather than directly from them?
Click to expand...

This is the reply from XFX to the supplier

Hi Nicole,

Base on your photo provide,

We feel sorry that we can not accept the warranty claim for this card , because of the PCB damage and in non-repairable state .

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks!

Best Regards,
Alex Cheung
PINE Technology Holdings Limited
Email: [email protected]
HK Tel: 2362 3557
Click to expand...
 
Do you have a cheapo PSU? If the cards have 6-pin PCIe power requirements, did you plug them in, and did you use a 2xMolex to PCIe 6pin converter?
 
Hmm, I also had a bad experience with XFX videocard a couple of years ago - fortunately the supplier stood behind me and swapped the card out for a another brand.

Maybe unfair, but I've avoided the brand since
 
Hmm, I also had a bad experience with XFX videocard a couple of years ago - fortunately the supplier stood behind me and swapped the card out for a another brand.

Maybe unfair, but I've avoided the brand since
 
za_bullet said:
This is the reply from XFX to the supplier
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's not good.

At face value it appears that the capacitor exploded and burst into flame, as you put it. It probably forms part of the onboard power supply, and may just have been a case if infant failure of the capacitor. That said it could be been something else upstream in the onboard PSU that caused it. Replacing the cap may sort it.

But it's BS to get a response saying they will not accept back as the PCB is damaged..... WTF. I'd kick up a big stinky poo.
 
kayvee said:
At face value it appears that the capacitor exploded and burst into flame, as you put it. It probably forms part of the onboard power supply, and may just have been a case if infant failure of the capacitor. That said it could be been something else upstream in the onboard PSU that caused it. Replacing the cap may sort it.
Click to expand...

I'd agree, but there is more damage....looks like at least 1 IC was hit and burning on the PCB....considering its a multilayer PCB I'd expect it to be toast and not a simple cap replacement.

zb.
 
In your third photo (it's not very clear), is that water marks on the underside of the board? Bottom left?
 
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