Nvidia life span?

Another question.. Is anyone else in need of a card waiting to upgrade to
Vista? Or are people sticking with XP (or whatever) since most of what I
hear about Vista is bad? Any input appreciated..

Depends on the manufacturer. BFG Nvidia cards come with a lifetime
warranty. I've seen one post where they replaced the card with the next
model up for a guy after several years as his model was no longer being
manufactured.

Most of what you read on newsgroups is the bad. Your post for example. Not
often people will post positive stuff. Vista is here. DX10 is with it. In
time XP will be win2K or win98.

Nvidia makes the only DX10 card right now... the 8800. BFG site is here...
http://www.bfgtech.com/8800GTS_640_PCIe.html

My last three video cards... GForce3 (or was it a 2)?, ATI 9700Pro, and ATI
X800XT-PE *all* had their fans start to go bad after about two years. The
GForce fan completely died but the card still ran without the fan without
any ill effects. I doubt I could get away with that with today's card;
especially my current 8800GTX which seems to run *very* hot, even at idle
(60C).

Define lifetime. In my country a lifetime warranty by law is 25 years.
Funnily enough, manufacturers like BFG don't offer lifetime warranties here.

This week, I lost a fan on what I think was an old GeForce MX400Ti. It
was probably in service for six years, four of which were in a college
student's computer (very hostile environment, lota dirt). It still
worked just fine for general use even after the fan failed.

My suggestion for any card is to get the best fanless video card
possible. If the performance level needed requires a video card for
which fanless models aren't available, get one with a LONG warranty.

[...]

I think it does matter. Can you really see BFG or any other manufacturer
agreeing to repair or upgrade my video card in 25 years time? So when you
say BFG has the "best warranty in the business" how can you be sure that's
true where I am?

I wont get any of the DX10 goodness with the 6600GT, but it plays all my DX9
and OpenGL games just as well if not better then it did in XP, so I'll put
off a video card purchase until I can get a new proc/mb with pcie, and a
DX10 card.

Maybe for Christmas. :)

Kurt

It would be rare indeed for someone to claim warranty on say a 20 year old
card let alone a 25 year old card and I'm sure BFG knows that. The card
would long be retired in most cases.

What, exactly is preventing you from using an after market fan as a
replacement?

I've been adding fans to "Fanless" models for years. Total cost is
about $3.00, from any number of sources.

Aftermarket models are readily available from reliable manufacturers
(especially for Nvidia), usually w/ increased cooling performance.

A $25.00 investment on a $200 Video card is worth the investment, IMHO.

--

Rev. G.G. Willikers

"Sir, I am unaware of any such activity or operation - nor would
I be disposed to discuss such an operation if it did in
fact exist, sir."

With the development on new technology, its doubtful that a manufacturer
would still be supporting 20 year-old standards. But who knows. It
might be in their interest to escrow a few cards just in case someone
wanted to make a warranty claim. But it would probably also be possible
for any manufacturer to claim some kind of abuse to overcome the need to
fulfill a warranty claim. (The Gigabyte method of warranty claim control)

[...]

Indeed. However, the point I am making is that in my country BFG does not
offer a "lifetime warranty" because they know it has a legal definition that
stops them (or any other manufacturer) from playing silly buggers. Here
their warranty on video cards is for 1 year (eg,
http://www.pluscorp.com.au/Product.asp?CategoryID=394&WebsiteID=2&ProdID=8486).

This retailer specifies a lifetime warranty:
http://www.pcquest.com.au/Site/Product.asp?ProdID=5283
As does this one:
http://www.tekcorp.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=812
And this one:
http://www.sltech.com.au/eshop/product_info.php?products_id=1729
As well as this one:
http://www.computeralliance.com.au/parts.aspx?qryPart=7132

IMHO BFG doesn't have to fear your country's 25-year law. After several
years of ownship, it will be simply uneconomical to ship a card back to BFG
in Illinois, USA.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."

news:4609b6a6$0$7393$5a62...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...

> Are you sure Pluscorp isn't providing false information? BFG doesn't

Unfortunately, many of these sites simply cut and paste information without
apparently looking at it. The idea of a 25 year warranty on a video card is
ridiculous. I've seen other manufacturers change their warranties for
Australia and it makes more sense for BFG to do the same. But it's worth
confirming. I've sent an email to BFG.

[...]

Their Australian distributor would never get away with that. They have to
provide support here.

It'll be interesting to see what the company says. Keep in mind BFG is not
alone in this. Other companies like eVGA, Visiontek, Corsair, and Crucial
all offer lifetime warranties. Are their policies known to be different in
Australia?

Crucial spells out separate terms of sale for different regions. Yet the
lifetime warranty is common to all regions:
http://www.crucial.com/company/termsofsale.asp

In North America, typically the customer sends RMAs directly to the
manufacturer. The retailer sometimes handles the return if it's a good
retailer. In all likelihood the retailer may go out of business before
manufacturer does. I don't believe BFG has an office in Australia.

I'm not going to hunt them all down. I do know eVGA's warranty in Europe is
5 years, for example, so regional warranty variation does happen. I just
wonder if these companies actually do their homework on things like this and
realise that by law if I return my "IDE Geforce 1" card under warranty
they're liable.

The importer or local distributor is liable in that case. However, the
retailer is by law (Trade Practices Act) generally the first point of call.
Apple ran foul of that provision here during the Great iPod Debacle when
they tried to force consumers with faulty iPods to deal only and directly
with them. The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) gave
Apple Australia a right royal kick up the rear on that one. It's also
illegal for retailers or manufacturers to try to put in restrictions like
the item must be returned in the original packaging, etc, where the returned
item meets either the TPA's statutory conditions or statutory warranty
provisions.

I think that may not be as easy a question to answer because there are as
many people that upgrade their cards as experience failures, maybe more.

I have had many Nvidia products none of which have failed. This PC was
custom built in Mar 02. Came with a Asus Visiontek GeFore Ti4600 that
started to choke at the end of 05. I sold the card in 06 and bought a
vanilla 6800 so that Oblivion would run. This card will serve me well until
Vista SP1, the nextgen Core2Duos and a new PC prob at the end of the year.

I think Vista will be fine with a bit of refinement. Both Msoft and Nvidia
should hang their heads in shame for the poor customer service, but this is
not much different that took place with XP's first appearance. New OS's are
always accompanied by pain & torture. Now there are those who wouldn't give
up WinXP for anything. It will all work out.....

Which manufacturer... er, let me guess.... PNY ? XFX ?

You want a new card ? Wait for the near-imminent Dx10-capable
mainstream. Fully XP/Dx9 compatible also and likely better performance
for the price even at the launch prices.

John Lewis

You are making this sound like a huge liability. If you return your
Geforce1, they can replace it with a dirt-cheap Geforce 5200 or 6200 as an
"equal or better" substitute. I'd risk saying that, statistically, only a
tiny fraction of users return their cards after a few years due to simple
economics of shipping. The companies that offer lifetime warranties can
accommodate that tiny fraction.

Keep in mind there is no BFG Australia. You may find yourself in a case
where BFG USA is willing to give you a warranty replacement, but your
retailer refuses to handle the return. The retailer can *never* be relied
upon to handle a warranty return after 30 days or so, no matter how many
compliants you file with the various bureaus and commissions.

I've actually never seen a manufacturer mandate that a warranty return be
made in the original packaging. Be sure you make a distinction between a
simple return for refund and a warranty return for repair/replacement.

--

Rev. G.G. Willikers
(Founder, Custodian & Janitor of the Shrine of HOoMSJ)