Gigabyte Warranty on 3090 with Aftermarket Thermal Pads?

mikegray · March 23, 2021

I'd appreciate some input here:

Let's say I have this, umm, friend who lives in Switzerland (just like me!) He owns a very early model RTX 3090 GAMING OC 24G - got back when all you had to do to get one was place an order and wait a couple weeks. Here are the issues:

Gigabyte 3000 series cards have some of the worst thermal pads in the business, so my friend opened his up and replaced the thermal pads with quality aftermarket pads, which made a HUGE, POSITIVE difference in VRAM cooling performance. No problems whatsoever connected to this replacement.
HOWEVER: The earliest models in this 3090/3080 production run have an established problem with 8-pin power connectors - the pins can get bent very, very easily - or slide back into the connectors, leading to power loss. (Google "gigabyte 3090 loose pin") Gigabyte has recognized the problem and replaces/repairs any cards with this problem. (Later models have a better connector.)
My, umm, friend has run into this problem, and nearly had a heart attack when the card suddenly stopped powering up after unplugging then re-plugging the connectors. The fix was easy: Open up the card, push out the pins again and straighten them with a screw driver.
However, if he ever decides to sell the card, he'd obviously like to get it fixed/replaced!
The original pads are gone - so there's no way to put the original crap back in.

So ... is Gigabyte going to play ball, or will they see that the thermal pads have been replaced and refuse to respect the guarantee? (And does this maybe depend on the country/region??)

Analog · March 23, 2021

Did the card have a warranty void if removed sticker on any of the screws. If it did and this is sticker is now damaged, that can potentially be a problem. While in the US there is the right to repair in the EU it very much depends on the local laws of each state as well. From personal experience, I can say that after slightly modifying a graphics card which later died due to completely unrelated issues just before the warranty expired I had a very hard time to get MSI to replace it. Technically they didn't replace it, the reseller did. MSI refused to cover the card.

mikegray · March 23, 2021

31 minutes ago, Analog said:

Did the card have a warranty void if removed sticker on any of the screws. If it did and this is sticker is now damaged, that can potentially be a problem.

You know, I - err, he - didn't see any such sticker.