Warranty: Lifetime v. Set Length

Lifetime warranty v. Set Length Warranty

  • Lifetime Warranty is MANDITORY for me.

    Votes: 45 40.5%

  • Set Length warranty just fine for me.

    Votes: 55 49.5%

  • Dont need it, I get new tech the INSTANT it launches!

    Votes: 11 9.9%
  • Total voters
    111
E

ebeattie

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Messages
441
Hi all. So Ive been kicking a few video card choices around since completion of my new system. Of all the choices available, many AIB partners offer Full lifetime warranties. The rest have the normal set length warranties.

Given the numerous horror stories of lifetime warranty service gone wrong, in addition to the positive experiences found around the net, how do you feel about lifetime warranties?

In the Green camp we have BFG and EVGA offering lifetime warranties, while in the Red camp, XFX and Visiontek offer lifetime (as of this writing, it is still very unclear whether BFG will be offering ATI cards).

The rest of the AIB's offer set length warranties of varying length, usually lasting what is likely the card's relevant service life. Seeing as how video cards generally get replaced in systems every few years, does this give the AIB's with set length warranties any advantage when buyers are considering a brand to buy?

I personally still have my old BFG 6800 GT AGP in a backup-backup system. Seeing as how it has a lifetime warranty, I doubt I would use it if it ever broke. My trusty 8800 GTX will soon get the boot back to my old system once I have a new GPU to take over its duties. The 8800 GTX, in my personal opinion, is one of the rare cards that have performed exceptionally well over a 3 year+ service length, and with the right CPU/mobo/ram can STILL perform with relevance. When it is retired though, I doubt I will ever use it with any regularity. So how does its lifetime warranty benefit me?

I can see where the resale of a card CAN be made easier on the part of the user looking for a good deal on a used card. Certainly used video cards are a LARGE portion of sales here at the [H]'s for sale/trade forum.

So what say you? Where do you stand on Video Card warranties?
 
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I've only used my warranty on my 8800gt, and probably never will again. Haven't used warranties much in general...
 
I don't really care about the warranty length too much. 3 years is the most I really need. Quick service trumps warranty length IMO.
 
I agree with 450, good customer service is more important than length. After 2-3 years your card is old tech, and most likely would be dead by then if it were going to quit.

I waited all day on the 12th for a pair of vanilla EVGA 480's, only to find out their posting of them coming in stock at Newegg on the 12th was erroneous. I watched both the Asus and Gigabyte 480's get put up on Newegg and sell out minutes later. I could literally have bought 4 of each brand if they didn't look to closely at the order. Instead EVGA didn't come in stock, and since I didn't feel like playing the dancing game, I picked up a pair of PNY 480's from TigerDirect. I really, really, really, hope I don't have problems with these cards. I know I will be kicking myself for not waiting on EVGA if something bad happens.
 
each time you ship a card back to the manufacturer it costs you money...but then again sometimes they won't have your card in stock and "upgrade" you to a more "updated" card. 8800GTS to a 9800GTX for example
 
The neat thing about the lifetime warranty is that if the company doesn't have the card anymore they replace it with a newer one you can just ride that card for life haha you will be behind the curve, but seriously the lifetime thing makes it easy to SELL when you want to upgrade.
 
Set length of 3 years or more is fine for my uses. Though I may not care much about it due to rarely ever having a card fail on me.

The only two I can remember was a 7800GT that only just died last week in one of my old computers, and a Voodoo 5 - 5500 that kicked last year in my legacy box. Both cards had served well for years.
 
I like the idea of a lifetime warranty though in reality I've never used a GPU more than two years. Now what I LOVE is XFX's double lifetime transferable warranty, adds to the resale value of the card.
 
Blake_Thornhill said:
The neat thing about the lifetime warranty is that if the company doesn't have the card anymore they replace it with a newer one you can just ride that card for life haha you will be behind the curve, but seriously the lifetime thing makes it easy to SELL when you want to upgrade.
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But most lifetime warranties aren't transferable, thus my like of XFX's double lifetime warranty.
 
How do they define "lifetime"?
Being the Devil's lawyer one could argue that the lifetime is over when the card dies on you, be it in one day or fifteen years after the purchase. The warranty is therefore only live and kicking for exactly as long as you don't have to use it. :D

I've never had to invoke any warranty, so for me it's not a big deal.

Cheers
Olle
 
3-5 year is plenty and I prefer a set time-frame like that.

I've seen people burned with "lifetime warranty" from companies like PNY where it is the "lifetime" of the product, which is a very vague and subjective time-frame.

BFG, eVGA, and XFX win out mainly because its not only life-time, they have a great rep for honoring their warranty, but the key is responsive and active in the community USA BASED SUPPORT.
 
Lifetime warranties have the hidden incentive of you having a higher chance of recieving a better card than you sent in if you wait long enough until stocks of lower end cards are exhausted.

Tons of stories of people being sent in big upgrades over their original parts. However, given the time frame, those parts won't be competitive current models anyway but still, you get faster parts which will have higher resale value and therefore you are able to get more money back.
 
Olle P said:
How do they define "lifetime"?
Being the Devil's lawyer one could argue that the lifetime is over when the card dies on you, be it in one day or fifteen years after the purchase. The warranty is therefore only live and kicking for exactly as long as you don't have to use it. :D

I've never had to invoke any warranty, so for me it's not a big deal.

Cheers
Olle
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Some lifetime warranties (I think PNY) are only available for the shelf-life of the product or something like that. With HIS, the warranty degrades to 50% of the product's current market value or something like that as well according to horror stories I've read.

Of note is XFX's double lifetime which a lot of people don't seem to get. It isn't that you can only RMA your card twice. Every card you get back also has the double lifetime warranty if it was originally in that bracket (some cards aren't). Double Lifetime allows you to pass on the lifetime warranty to a second owner of the card if you sell it by giving them a registration number.
 
I keep myself updated all the time so set length is my ideal, just in case of a faulty hardware
 
Lifetime warranty is nice but not essential for me. If the price is around the same as the competitors obviously I'd choose the one with lifetime warranty. I do tend to buy from EVGA just because my good experience with their service. Plus I do like the optional extras like Advanced RMA, being able to have a new card before sending yours in sounds awesome to me.
 
I've never kept a video card for more than 3 years, rarely more than 2 years and haven't actually had a graphics card die on my yet before its lifespan. This probably has to do with good cooling + full sized tower and never throwing the cards into a mini-tower with clogged fans, etc. My Silvertone TJ-07 for example has 8 fans not including cpu fan, psu fan or gpu fan. Several intake fans, several exhaust fans and it really helps.

In addition, I tend to keep my office-door open where I game a lot and place a fan near the door that blows-out hot air from the room into the hallway/living room and have air conditioning. Both seem to help keep my room relatively cool through the majority of the day.
 
lifetime but only if its a reasonabe cost and proven warranty

PNY is "lifetime" costs Canadian 50-100$ every time you need to warranty a card with shipping and poor return labelling so we end up paying taxes and brokerage fees on an rma every time.

so if its good lifetime for an additional 20-30$ on a 400$+ card sure, but one something under 200$... idc
 
those warranties are returning to bite card makers as regards the 8800 series and the solder failures. I think 3 years is plenty, really after that your entire system is likely to be obsolete in multiple ways. yeah, it will still play old and current games ok, new ones not so much. thus the new registration requirements to get 3 years, else you get 1.
 
It's kinda funny. I have had less trouble with limited warranties than lifetimes. So
e of the worst companies I have worked with for ANY product have been lifetime warranty board partners.
 
When it comes down to it, quality of service is what matters to me. I'd much rather have great service and a 1-2 year warranty than a lifetime warranty and crappy service. I don't keep my cards normally for over a year and I've noticed most problems will arise within the first couple weeks or months of ownership.
 
heatlesssun said:
I like the idea of a lifetime warranty though in reality I've never used a GPU more than two years. Now what I LOVE is XFX's double lifetime transferable warranty, adds to the resale value of the card.
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Same here. I always seem to go after hardware with lifetime warranties, despite never needing to use one (yet). I love the XFX transferrable warranty though. It adds resale value and eases the buyer's mind when you sell it. I'd much rather have my own lifetime warranty on a used card than take the seller's word for it that it works and they registered it properly and they'll help me out if there's ever an issue.
 
InvisiBill said:
Same here. I always seem to go after hardware with lifetime warranties, despite never needing to use one (yet). I love the XFX transferrable warranty though. It adds resale value and eases the buyer's mind when you sell it. I'd much rather have my own lifetime warranty on a used card than take the seller's word for it that it works and they registered it properly and they'll help me out if there's ever an issue.
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Their warranty sounds good on paper, but wait til you have to deal with them. One of the worst companies I can think of (for any product) in terms of customer service. I can give you a 4x lifetime warranty if you like... but then be a real dickhead when it dies and you try and rma it.
 
I mostly shop by price and reputation with the warranty being in 3rd or 4th place as far as importance

I tend to void my warranties pretty quickly on video cards, so anything longer than 30 days is usually wasted on me...
 
length of warranty never really meant much to me. Late last year I picked up an EVGA refurbed GTX 260 for $140 shipped. The cost of a non-refurbed identical card was in the rage of $190-$225. I had an issue with the buzzing card and EVGA replaced it no questions asked and when the new one buzzed they lengthened the refurb warranty for me until I figured out what was causing it from the original 90 days until I told them "I'm a dipshit and my crappy PSU was dipping too low in the 12V rail." Considering that a used GTX 260 is still pulling $140 today, the extra cost of the warranty doesn't seem like it would have been worth it.
 
Yeah Ive been seeing alot of grief from the XFX camp recently. BFG is great with their cards and whatnot. I guess when it comes down to it, a warranty period of the usable service life of the card with great support works, unless BFG does indeed go red which I hope they do.

Anyone have to RMA any ASUS cards? if so how was the experience?
 
usually i buy stuff based on the lifetime warranty just because it usually means the support will be there if i ever need it.. but i rarely take advantage of it.. if my card dies i just throw it in the closet and buy a new one unless its a high end card which i usually never own anyways..
 
Where I'm from there's no such thing as lifetime warranty, even from XFX. So I'd settle for the more reputable quality brands...
 
yimingwuzere said:
Where I'm from there's no such thing as lifetime warranty, even from XFX. So I'd settle for the more reputable quality brands...
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yep thats the down fall of living outside the US which i find stupid.. if your going to sell shit world wide why not have the same services.. but then again you can also blame it on some of the countries and their stupid laws..
 
Like most [H] I don't tend to keep things long enough for warranty length to come into play.
 
lloose said:
Their warranty sounds good on paper, but wait til you have to deal with them. One of the worst companies I can think of (for any product) in terms of customer service. I can give you a 4x lifetime warranty if you like... but then be a real dickhead when it dies and you try and rma it.
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I've heard that XFX isn't the easiest to deal with. However, I've heard that EVGA is one of the best, and I had a hell of a time getting a simple rebate issue (I ordered a 280, merchant substituted a 285 without updating the invoice, $20 MIR available on both models) straightened out with them. BFG is another one that people seem to love, and I've heard that their CS has recently gone downhill too.

I'm one of those people who submits tons of rebates and never has any problems. I document everything and follow the instructions to the letter. Hopefully if I ever do need an RMA from any "good" brand, things will go as smoothly as possible. Honestly, I sort of expect complete ineptitude from every company, and I'm pleasantly surprised when someone is able to do their job as expected without action on my part.
 
Is there some sort of website or list that rates companies on how good their customer service is? I suppose googling "Is _________ warranty good?" will net you some results, but it would be nice to just have one site to refer to when buying new parts.
 
I had an Asus 7600GS that died on me after a few weeks. I returned it to Direction.com where I bought it, but they sent me back a 7300GS instead! A Slower card! When I called in and complained they said that they did sent me back a 7600GS, but they are lying! I have the 7300GS Right here and I can freaking tell the difference.
 
More important than the length of the warranty is the quality of the service. After three years a video card loses much of its value, so it really isn't a big deal to have a longer warranty. The big issue is a lot of the companies selling video cards have warranties that are worthless. If someone offered as good of warranty service as EVGA/BFG/XFX with a fixed warranty of at least three years, I wouldn't have a problem going with them.
 
Either one would be fine with me really. It just depends on price on the card at the time. Some people upgrade every few years, some don't. The warranty works great for everyone. Some people even forget to register their card within 30 days to bump the warranty to lifetime.
 
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