Does applying new thermal paste void a GPU’s warranty?

[GamerBlake]

I have an EVGA 2080 Ti XC2 Ultra and over the last 6 months or so I’ve been noticing the idle & load temps have slowly been increasing over time. At first I figured “It’s Summer, it must be due to higher room temps”, but this week I noticed the temps were still higher at night even when it was cold in my room.
 

When I first got this GPU under full load with fans at 100% it never went above 79C but now it gets up to 84-85C under full load.

 

 

TLDR: Will replacing my GPU’s thermal paste void my warranty? I still have 3 years on it.

[Guest]

EVGA is super chill about that.

I've done it on a card I RMA'd for other reasons.

(Warranty void if removed stickers are unenforceable in the US, but that doesn't stop a company from unfairly giving you a hard time.)

[CommanderAlex]

I'm pretty sure this depends on the manufacturer of the graphics card but some will allow it as long as you do not damage something in the process, then they would void your warranty... others (such as MSI I believe) place "WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED" stickers on the screw heads of the bracket that surrounds the GPU but they have no backing in the United States due to Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. 

[GamerBlake]

5 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

EVGA is super chill about that.

I've done it on a card I RMA'd for other reasons.

(Warranty void if removed stickers are unenforceable in the US, but that doesn't stop a company from unfairly giving you a hard time.)

Awesome thanks! Sounds like I made a good choice in going with EVGA for my GPU. Only picked them because of their previous excellent customer service with a totally unrelated CLC 280 AIO purchase.  

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, GamerBlake said:

Awesome thanks! Sounds like I made a good choice in going with EVGA for my GPU. Only picked them because of their previous excellent customer service with a totally unrelated CLC 280 AIO purchase.  

Indeed. They're one of the good ones.

Spoiler

 

Even if sometimes they make silly design choices.

 

[GamerBlake]

2 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

Indeed. They're one of the good ones.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Even if sometimes they make silly design choices.

 

How about Corsair? I’ve bought their products but never have had to deal with their customer service (which is why I buy their products! ) so I’m just wondering if you happen to know their reputation?

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, GamerBlake said:

How about Corsair? I’ve bought their products but never have had to deal with their customer service (which is why I buy their products! ) so I’m just wondering if you happen to know their reputation?

Never had to use them for an RMA despite owning a ton of their products. I have had questions though and support was prompt and knowledgeable. Including them having a very responsive social media team. They pop up every now and then on this forum as well.

 

[GamerBlake]

9 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

Never had to use them for an RMA despite owning a ton of their products. I have had questions though and support was prompt and knowledgeable. Including them having a very responsive social media team. They pop up every now and then on this forum as well.

 

Ah ok well that’s good to know! Yeah EVGA is really the only one I hear a lot about when it comes to good customer service. With me I bought a 280mm AIO and I accidentally damaged the cable that plugs into the mobo and I asked if they would SELL me another one. Then they sent me one, no charge, expedited mail. I was impressed! So when it came to a $1299 GPU I decided to go with them. That cable they sent me probably cost them less than $0.25. Yet it earned them a lifetime customer.  If only more of these companies understood good customer service leads to repeat customers. A lot of the CS reps don’t have much power so all they can offer is repair, replace, refund.

[Guest]

Just now, GamerBlake said:

Ah ok well that’s good to know! Yeah EVGA is really the only one I hear a lot about when it comes to good customer service. With me I bought a 280mm AIO and I accidentally damaged the cable that plugs into the mobo and they sent me another one, no charge, expedited mail. I was impressed! So when it came to a $1299 GPU I decided to go with them. If only more of these companies understood good customer service leads to repeat customers. A lot of the CS reps don’t have much power so all they can offer is repair, replace, refund.

Yeah, at some point it becomes a matter of size and you no longer have the ability to treat your $300 customer like your $3000 customer.

EVGA has very focused product lines, where someone like Asus is literally everywhere doing everything with a much larger scales of operations.

That's when it shifts to the consumer to do their homework. Do you want every option under the sun at the expense of support, or do you go with a limited range of products with more focus on the customer. Can't fault anyone for which direction they choose.

[GamerBlake]

4 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

Yeah, at some point it becomes a matter of size and you no longer have the ability to treat your $300 customer like your $3000 customer.

EVGA has very focused product lines, where someone like Asus is literally everywhere doing everything with a much larger scales of operations.

That's when it shifts to the consumer to do their homework. Do you want every option under the sun at the expense of support, or do you go with a limited range of products with more focus on the customer. Can't fault anyone for which direction they choose.

Oh wow do they really treat customers differently based on how much they spend? I assume they could look at how many products you have registered but I didn’t know they treated customers differently based on expense.

 

Hopefully now EVGA will be really nice to me.  

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, GamerBlake said:

Oh wow do they really treat customers differently based on how much they spend? I assume they could look at how many products you have registered but I didn’t know they treated customers differently based on expense.

 

Hopefully now EVGA will be really nice to me.  

Not in so many words, but you definitely have a different support dept/tier for lines of different classes.

That is to be expected.

[CommanderAlex]

20 minutes ago, GamerBlake said:

Ah ok well that’s good to know! Yeah EVGA is really the only one I hear a lot about when it comes to good customer service. With me I bought a 280mm AIO and I accidentally damaged the cable that plugs into the mobo and I asked if they would SELL me another one. Then they sent me one, no charge, expedited mail. I was impressed! So when it came to a $1299 GPU I decided to go with them. That cable they sent me probably cost them less than $0.25. Yet it earned them a lifetime customer.  If only more of these companies understood good customer service leads to repeat customers. A lot of the CS reps don’t have much power so all they can offer is repair, replace, refund.

I have a similar story with Logitech that kept me as a returning customer.

I have a Logitech G513 Carbon with the G Romer Blue keys and one of the two feet that kick out broke where they attach to the keyboard. I attempted to fix it with super glue and hot glue and nothing ever worked. I contacted Logitech Support about the issue and sent them a photo of the item that was broken and they replied that they could not replace the feet alone and sent a brand new G513 Carbon to me in the mail. I could not believe it over something as stupid as the feet and I still have that keyboard tucked away. 

 

On Amazon Prime Day, I bought the G502 SE as a replacement for my current G502 after the middle button became very sensitive to input and the scroll wheel would click every time I scroll up and down the screen (disabled through software so I'm good for now). 

[airborne spoon]

If you're in the USA, have at it and see if it helps your temps. The warranty void sticker means nothing, and just because i can anytime i've RMA'd a GPU i made sure i had already removed it or id make an extra point to hit it with a screwdriver to break the seal just for the LOL's. The manufacturer can give you shit about it all day but they can't do anything about it and have to honor their warranty.

[GamerBlake]

16 minutes ago, airborne spoon said:

If you're in the USA, have at it and see if it helps your temps. The warranty void sticker means nothing, and just because i can anytime i've RMA'd a GPU i made sure i had already removed it or id make an extra point to hit it with a screwdriver to break the seal just for the LOL's. The manufacturer can give you shit about it all day but they can't do anything about it and have to honor their warranty.

Mine is an EVGA XC2 Ultra 2080 Ti and I just checked and it does indeed have a “Warranty Void If Removed” sticker on the top left of the backplate. Are you sure they have to honor it?

[GamerBlake]

2 hours ago, CommanderAlex said:

I'm pretty sure this depends on the manufacturer of the graphics card but some will allow it as long as you do not damage something in the process, then they would void your warranty... others (such as MSI I believe) place "WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED" stickers on the screw heads of the bracket that surrounds the GPU but they have no backing in the United States due to Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. 

But the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act says the following:

 

“may not exclude or limit consequential damages for a breach of any written or implied warranty on the product, unless the exclusion or limitation conspicuously appears on the face of the warranty;..”

 

“Unless the exclusion or limitation conspicuously appears on the face of the warranty.”

 

Isn’t that what the sticker is?

[CommanderAlex]

1 hour ago, GamerBlake said:

But the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act says the following:

 

“may not exclude or limit consequential damages for a breach of any written or implied warranty on the product, unless the exclusion or limitation conspicuously appears on the face of the warranty;..”

 

“Unless the exclusion or limitation conspicuously appears on the face of the warranty.”

 

Isn’t that what the sticker is?

Not really because they are declaring that this product has a warranty and that they have to honor that warranty and then they tell you that if you break this seal, you're warranty is void and that is deception as you thought that the product had a warranty but in fact, there was none.

[airborne spoon]

8 hours ago, GamerBlake said:

Mine is an EVGA XC2 Ultra 2080 Ti and I just checked and it does indeed have a “Warranty Void If Removed” sticker on the top left of the backplate. Are you sure they have to honor it?

check out the magnuson-moss warranty act

 

also there is a ton of articles like this one

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/ftc-warranty-stickers-illegal/

[G9XFTW]

Cough* some ASUS cards. *Cough* just use some pliers to unscrew the warranty sticker applied screw.

[PineyCreek]

13 hours ago, GamerBlake said:

Awesome thanks! Sounds like I made a good choice in going with EVGA for my GPU. Only picked them because of their previous excellent customer service with a totally unrelated CLC 280 AIO purchase.  

Agreed.  They're my favorite too.  Went to them after BFG went under and refuse to do any other GPU brand since...partially influenced by past warranty/customer service experiences with ASUS and Gigabyte.

[GamerBlake]

On 10/24/2020 at 1:09 AM, PineyCreek said:

Agreed.  They're my favorite too.  Went to them after BFG went under and refuse to do any other GPU brand since...partially influenced by past warranty/customer service experiences with ASUS and Gigabyte.

BFG!!!! That’s it!!! Thank you!!

 

For months I was trying to think of what my first ever GPU was. I remember buying it at Fries for about $200 when I was about 12. I could never remember the name but you finally reminded me it was BFG!

 

Now I wish I could remember what model it was.