When we spoke to ATI about the warranty changes they explained that it was done for a number of reasons. After studying the average "return rate over time" charts it was discovered that nearly 90% of all video card returns were done in the first 60 days. This means that consumers very seldom used their warranty on the second and third years per the old warranty plan. Since ATI’s warranty plan covers production cards for three years a large inventory of cards has to be kept on hand for warranty work. This inventory is nothing more than a money pit for ATI, as the cards lose value each and every day. ATI is a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq stock market (ATYT) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ATY), so by reducing money losing inventory ATI stands to possibly gain on paper for investors starting next year when the first of the one year warranty cards come to a close. We also asked ATI about the timing of the warranty reduction as it came when the stock was near it's 52 week low, but ATI said that the change was planned months in advance and that the two events are nothing more than a coincidence. ______________________ Source & Read More @ Legit Reviews
If they can statistically prove that this will lower consumer prices on future cards, then I'm all for it. If not, they're being slimy.
Ok, well BFG offers a lifetime warranty on their Nvidia cards. (I own one) and I am sure that they thought of the same thing so, say, 3 years down the line your card dies. They are not gonna have a 6600GT OC on hand so they will give you a mid range card of the current line. I am sure that the actual cost of the card is a drop in the bucket as they won't be "giving away" a million cards. I will be staying away from ATI. Most of the problems I have had with an ATI card, or any other piece of hardware, have happened just past the 1 year mark. And trust me. I have had more than one ATI card. I have owned, the original ATI Radeon 64MB, Radeon 7500, Radeon 9000Pro, and 2x 9800 Pro's. How many have I returned due to a problem? None, because I could not afford to not have a video card at all while I waited 2 weeks for it to come back from Canada. I usually just (eventually) saved up for the current mid-range card and swapped it out. I have been pleased with Nvida. The reduction in ATI's warranty is one more reason I will not buy their products anymore. I will stick with what works. I trust a company more that can stand behind their product with 24x7 phone support and a lifetime warranty.
seems every nvidia company is jumping on lifetime warrenty...ati is saidly going in the other direction ?????? Well I guess I will just stick with Nvidia. I have an xfx card and it has DUAL Life time warrenty!!! ha ha ha I used to be a big ATI fan, but man they have been just going down hill...fast.
I've always bought Retail ATI cards just for their 3 year warranty. Maybe its time to start looking at the 7800's
I got a PNY 6800gt which also has life time warranty, but life time usually means the life time of the product on the market, which isn't that long either as new videocards come out every half year- year
I'm a little dissapointed. I had myself a five year storewarranty on my 9700Pro and at three years old the vram crapped out. So I took it back, and taking it back was very difficult. Mostly because they changed their warranty. Back when I bought the card I spent an extra $120 on a used card simply because it was used and a signifigant investment. I gave this company $700 bucks and they treated me like scum simply because my card happened to die two years within the warranty. I should have taken it back this year right before it would have been up and got myself a x800 if I was trying to screw them. Unfortunatly their policy has changed so I'm no longer interested in dealing with them. So, I think manufacturer warranty is very important. Mostly because in store warranty can not be relied upon.
just get warrenty with compusa or bestbuy, if u want more then a 1yr warrenty. or go with visiontek. you dont got to drop ati cards because of ati. remember other companies does life time warrenty with ati cards. like some one says visiontek. if i was ATI too i'd do the same thing. since most people be returning them because they get bad overclockers or they messed it up while there was ocing. so blame the people that RMA them when there was the ones who messed it up, not ATI.
You say "you dont got to drop ati cards because of ati", but whose fault is it if it's not ATI's??? They (ATI) lowered the warranty and it may cause other companies to offer a lesser warranty as well. You say that most people are returning them because of bad OC? Where is your written proof of this??? I never OC any of my hardware and I have still had things fail so saying that it's our (consumers) fault is not always going to be the case.:sigh: Post some proof that "most" of the returns are from bad OC or user created issues.
This sucks. I bought an X800XL "knowing" that all ATI cards have a 3 year manu. warranty. I guess I should look to see if I have a crappy 1 year warranty or if I got it before they made the change.
Its a good explaination, though I doubt its the only reason. It probably has more to do with their lackluster financial statements as of late than it does with inventory costs (the two go hand in hand i guess (see FASB Interpritation 45 for details)). I feel bad if any of you got burned by this, though if you ordered your card before the announcement, you have pretty good fodder to get your replacement if need be (and you have proper documentation). It seems the worst thing about this is the timing of it all. Jesus, what were they thinking?
Well I was just going to ask you the same thing, is there really any need for you to go into every ATI thread and express your contempt on one level or another, its getting old. You are getting as bad as Neon now.
Ok maybe I should have clarified that, he is neon in reverse (with much shorter posts). im not the first to say it
the card MFG's can offer what ever warreties they want ati is just one of many sources for the cards. Keep in mind they are manifactured by saphire Can you guys not fathom how much money thuer loseing by setting on old stock? giveing new 9800's from 9500 rma's thier looseing thier arse! Not only are they giveing them a beter xard that user not going to turn arond and upgrade so its a double loss. keep in mind I still have an early origional and full funtional radeon 64MB ddr from 2000 and it still works as it should. So warrenty only realy matters if you have a problem. Or have overclocked you card, volt modeded, lefts the fan fill with dust, shocked it with ESD, fed it improper voltage from a psu, take good care of your stuff it will take good care of you! Also the wise man sell his stuff and upgrades at lest once a year, so there went my worry about warrenty completely
