eBay Argument with RTX 3090 Seller

[James720p]

The pads are dense enough that tightening screws to a "comfortable" amount might not produce good contact.  Tightening beyond "comfortable" will bend the board.  I have never done this but that is my understanding.

[Yoshi Moshi]

Why not just buy the pad (very cheap) and replace it yourself?

The amount of time and money spent on shipping it back to the seller, you could have just replaced the pad yourself for far less frustration and cost.

What do you expect from a used item? It's not going to run like it's brand new, especially after two years.

 

Maybe the seller had it on water, and returned to the stock cooler. The original thermal pads are a near one time use item. Hair and stuff will get on them, dust etc, if he left them exposed, or got crushed etc.. So maybe they are not the original thermal pads, but not sure that it really matters.

[Neggy-Z]

5 hours ago, NastyFlytrap said:

Are you suggesting that the thermal pads can push against the screws hard enough to greate bad die contact?

Yes.

Using even slightly thicker pads will almost always cause mounting pressure issues, thermal pads can only compress so far.

 

5 hours ago, NastyFlytrap said:

Surely if we compare the forces of [thermally conductive gum] and [screws], the fasteners win

Sure, go for it, enjoy your cracked piece of silicon or warped pcb.

[James720p]

15 hours ago, Yoshi Moshi said:

What do you expect from a used item? It's not going to run like it's brand new, especially after two years.

I have a 230 watt 1080 TI that is 5 years old.  Thermals as good as day one?  Probably not.  But it's well fine.  It's only 230 watts not 300+ watts but it has a considerably smaller heatsink too.

 

Something that requires work to be useable should be disclosed.  You really think it is okay for one person to get a 3090 they can start using right away (even if thermals aren't as good as day one), while another person gets a 3090 that requires research about pad thickness for a particular model, money for parts, time, and risk of damaging the product during repair so that they can just start using it?  Even though the sales listings were identical?

 

Of course not

 

I sent the seller a message before requesting a refund to see how he would respond.  If he was reasonable I would have asked for a partial refund for pads and tried to fix it myself.  But he was completely crazy so I just requested a full refund