ATI changes warranty to 1 yr

[Jimmers]

And 90% of those are not even made by the AIB selling them. The honest truth is that most of the BBATI cards are made by Sapphire. ATi is moving to a similair way as Nvidia. They do not want to have to replace cards that die five years down the road, it makes complete sense to me.

I doubt ATI is getting out of the retail market. If they were, would wouldn't they just stop selling cards with their name on it? What's the need for the slow transition?

If you do not like it, nothing is keeping you from buy an AIB's card, plan and simple, you have two options when it comes to an ATi card, ATi or AIB, with Nvidia you only have one.

Again, why does BBATI matter? You and walt make it sound like it's a good thing BBATI is around. I think whatever money ATI spends to package their own cards could be better spent.

 

[Tim]

I doubt ATI is getting out of the retail market. If they were, would wouldn't they just stop selling cards with their name on it? What's the need for the slow transition?

They would need to make ATI branded boards as long as they need handle RMAs. Ati has already left the retail marked everywhere but North America (and I think the only place who sells Ati branded cards is Ati.com). ATI had a pretty strong brand in North America and they wanted other brands to establish themself before they pulled out.

Again, why does BBATI matter? You and walt make it sound like it's a good thing BBATI is around. I think whatever money ATI spends to package their own cards could be better spent.

BBATI does not matter, the wast mayority of Ati based cards sold are not BBATI.

 

[swaaye]

The only ATI cards I can buy at local stores here in Wisconsin are ATI branded cards. Built By ATI, whether it's Sapphire or whatever. The boxes are all BBA. Circuit City, Best Buy, Walmart, etc.

 

[Big Bertha EA]

Obviously they have overclocked their R520 too aggressively to offer a 3yrs long warranty.

It seems that G70 is too much for ATi to compete with.

Brilliant...

 

[egore]

I don't see what the big deal is most electronics only have a 1 year warranty anyways. Big screen TVs that are more expensive and complicated only come with a 1 year warranty. My VISA extends manufactures warranties by one year, a two year warranty is more than enough for a video card.

 

[Sxotty]

I don't see what the big deal is most electronics only have a 1 year warranty anyways. Big screen TVs that are more expensive and complicated only come with a 1 year warranty. My VISA extends manufactures warranties by one year, a two year warranty is more than enough for a video card.

Not for me, I don't buy hard drives with a 1yr warranty either. There is no reason for a company to do it unless you product is faulty and will break, otherwise it would not save you money. Of course in this case, if they are getting out of the market then i am fine with it.

the reason TVs have short warranties is that if you bang em around you can break em.

 

[WaltC]

And that's suppozed to be a good thing? What's the good side of buying a BBATI card? I've always heard that the quality from AIB's was better than ATI's.

To some people, yes, that's a "good" thing. Having owned both ATi and AIB-partner ATi-based boards my experience has been to notice no difference in quality.

Is it supposed to be a "good thing" that people are unable to buy a BBnVidia card direct from nV? Not sure what your point is...

I didn't think anyone was saying that. A reduction in warrenty, without comparing to AIB's, isn't a good thing, IMO.

That is what TR did, however--which is why I pointed it out...

I think it has more to do with ATI getting out of the direct sales business (which they could do at any time, and just honor the remaining 3 yr warrenties). However, if AIB's begin to follow suit, then I'd worry.

Huh?... I said nothing about ATi "getting out" of the business of supplying its AIB partners... Also, ATi is honoring its existing 3-5 year warranties on sales pre-dating a month ago. The warranties provided by the AIB partners are provided by them and not ATi, just as the warranties provided by XFX and BFG are their own and not provided by nVidia.

 

[WaltC]

If ATI want to withdraw from direct sales, there are other desirable ways. For instance, they can stop stuffing CompUSA with their old graphics cards and just sell through their website. Yet, they don't seem too willing to lose that shelf space.

Last time I checked the shelf-space at CompUSA is owned by CompUSA and not ATi... CompUSA, therefore, stuffs its own shelves with whatever it wishes... What you buy at CompUSA is the property of CompUSA which has been purchased from ATi by CompUSA before CompUSA sells it.

You're the only person who brings NV in this thread. (what a surprise.)

Not true, certainly. My remarks were in response to a piece published by Tech-Report which talked about ATi warranties and compared them to current nVidia AIB-partner warranties while making no mention of the fact that ATi AIB partners were offering the same kinds of warranties as nVidia's AIB partners are offering.

http://techreport.com/ja.zz?comments=8842

ATI should extend their warranty to 10-year standard. Sure.

???

P.S. Oh and I'm thankful to God for I can buy ATI cards directly from them.

That's good. Personally, as long as the quality is maintained by ATi AIB partners, I don't really care...

 

[Sxotty]

I have had crappy ATI cards that were blurry on the vga.

I have a 21" trinitron btw. In fact my leadtek 6200 unlocked is actually clearer than my saphire 9800pro, or power color x800 pro/pe were. That is the sad truth...

 

[Skrying]

I have had crappy ATI cards that were blurry on the vga.

I have a 21" trinitron btw. In fact my leadtek 6200 unlocked is actually clearer than my saphire 9800pro, or power color x800 pro/pe were. That is the sad truth...

I've had bad and good luck with both on this. Weirdly, my X800XL in 2D is easily better looking than my 6800nu. In fact, comparing to a 6200TC card I have in a system right now at work, the 6800nu looks bad, not sure what's up with that, tried three different monitors (although all the same model) on it and got the same result. So who knows, I think this always has a bit to do with the quality of compents used on the board itself, so I'm not sure. Though I find it weird still, my 6800nu is from BFG, and the 6200TC is a Chaintech card. The X800XL is a Powercolor.

 

[Maintank]

yea and I dont think its a bad move...by ATI to do that... I have never had a video card die out before I was done with it so those dont mean a lot to me... /me nocks on wood

Usually when a company lowers their warranty period it is a sign of lower quality product about to hit the channel.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Usually when a company lowers their warranty period it is a sign of lower quality product about to hit the channel.

Are the AIBs lowering their warranties too? After all, the AIBs (for the most part) get their boards manufactured in the same fabs and to the same designs as ATI does. If AIBs are not also lowering their warrenties en masse, then what you are saying is groundless.

 

[Sxotty]

Usually when a company lowers their warranty period it is a sign of lower quality product about to hit the channel.

Are the AIBs lowering their warranties too? After all, the AIBs (for the most part) get their boards manufactured in the same fabs and to the same designs as ATI does. If AIBs are not also lowering their warrenties en masse, then what you are saying is groundless.

What he said isn't groundless. It is true, but as you stated in this situation it may not be the case. Nevertheless since we do not know the AIBs warranty status on this product yet there is no real reason to cheer 'em on. When hard drives went to 1yr warranties I think they got crappier personally and the MTBF went down. If ATI wants to get out of BBATI board business that is fine, but I think they should just get out, not screw around. It hurts their image to degrade their warranty. In addition they could just replace the cards with a saphire card or something if someone had a problem and they had quite making them.

 

[WaltC]

Usually when a company lowers their warranty period it is a sign of lower quality product about to hit the channel.

Not at all, because I think this is merely the second stage of ATi's withdrawal from the direct retail market (as I said.) ATi is reducing its retail-direct warranties so that the warranties for ATi-based AIB products (like VisionTek's) look much better by comparison, in the hopes that it can gently ease out of this sector and turn it over to its AIB partners, just as nVidia has always done. This provides a solid reason for retail customers to buy AIB instead of ATi direct, while it does not altogether remove ATi's direct retail presence at this time.

Remember that ATi's first stage in its withdrawal was to change its business model a few years ago from being the exclusive reseller of its products to the inclusion of AIB partners like VisionTek, PowerColor and Sapphire. I see this as just another phase in the desired transition to AIB partner-only sales. ATi announced such an intention back in '03 if memory serves.

 

[Cowboy X]

Not for me, I don't buy hard drives with a 1yr warranty either. There is no reason for a company to do it unless you product is faulty and will break, otherwise it would not save you money. Of course in this case, if they are getting out of the market then i am fine with it.

the reason TVs have short warranties is that if you bang em around you can break em.

And isn't it also reasonable to have a 1 yr warranty for products that people readily overclock or mod ( without leaving much traces ) .

With that said I still try to get the best warranty that I can . I no longer buy OEM processors , my new Seagate drive has a 5 yr warranty , my power supply has a 3 yr warranty and all of my ram has a lifetime warranty . So even though it may be reasonable or economically feasible for ATI to do this , I will probably no longer buy their already threadbare almost OEM retail packages if I can help it .

 

[Mintmaster]

Good thing my ATI card had a three year warranty when I bought it, because my AIW 9700 Pro just developed some screen corruption recently. I think I bought it in late 2002. Phew!

Has anyone had experience in RMAing an ATI video card? Do you need to have a reciept? Do you need to have registered the product?

 

[AlphaWolf]

Good thing my ATI card had a three year warranty when I bought it, because my AIW 9700 Pro just developed some screen corruption recently. I think I bought it in late 2002. Phew!

Has anyone had experience in RMAing an ATI video card? Do you need to have a reciept? Do you need to have registered the product?

https://apps.ati.com/rma/rma.html

 

[Cowboy X]

Here is an interview with an ATI rep about the same warranty issue :

http://www.legitreviews.com/article.php?aid=253

 

[Maintank]

Not at all, because I think this is merely the second stage of ATi's withdrawal from the direct retail market (as I said.) ATi is reducing its retail-direct warranties so that the warranties for ATi-based AIB products (like VisionTek's) look much better by comparison, in the hopes that it can gently ease out of this sector and turn it over to its AIB partners, just as nVidia has always done. This provides a solid reason for retail customers to buy AIB instead of ATi direct, while it does not altogether remove ATi's direct retail presence at this time.

Remember that ATi's first stage in its withdrawal was to change its business model a few years ago from being the exclusive reseller of its products to the inclusion of AIB partners like VisionTek, PowerColor and Sapphire. I see this as just another phase in the desired transition to AIB partner-only sales. ATi announced such an intention back in '03 if memory serves.

Withdrawl, what are they on a 13 step program?

Nice conspiracy theory but if ATI wants to get out it is silly to reduce their warranty in the hopes people dont buy their product so they can grow an inventory but allow their partners to wipe their ass with ATI's warranty.

If ATI is serious about getting out of the retail card business they would drop it cold turkey. By the amount of made by ATI cards I see on the shelves of BB, CompUSA, and other shops. I dont think ATI is moving away from retail card sales anytime soon.

Thus dropping the warranty is a bad thing for consumers and ultimately ATI.

 

[PatrickL]

In what not a problem before as ATI was not selling directly in Europe but now I guess they could face some problems with the EU commission due to that directive. No warranty can be lower than 2 years.