My RMA Experience Details

Ok, it’s been over 24 hours since my monster came back from DSO for an RMA.  So, I thought I would give you all a progress report.  It had to go back after several months of stellar operation as it was having stability issues, random errors, stuff shutting down for unknown reasons and then dreaded BSOD.  The core temps started staying in the high 40’s to low 50’s at idle and many times hoped in and out of the 60’s.

I tried everything I could and it just got worse.  Within a couple days, nothing would work right.  So, DSO told me to box it up and ship it back.  Had to pay for ground shipping, fair enough, cant expect DSO to eat that when it’s a hardware, not poor build issue.

Got to DSO on the 9^th of April and then I waited for a couple weeks before I was informed that in fact the motherboard was no good.  I had the 680i and I did a lot of research on it.  That board is plagued with issues.  Even Nvida says it is hit or miss on getting a good board.  So, I asked DSO to upgrade me to the 780i. 

During my wait I kept patient, even when it was hard to do so, as I wanted the best rig for the money I have into it.  Alex, Duke and Jessica kept me updated with PM’s, emails and even a few phone calls.

On 05-01-08, I made a pot of coffee and tuned on my old rig to check my email.  There was two messages sent out by DSO to me the evening before (3 hour time difference so I didn’t see them until the next morning). The first was to tell me it was in final inspection and the next was to tell me it had shipped!  So, just for giggles I checked the tracking number to see the anticipated arrival date.  To my excited surprise DSO had sent it overnight air and it was on the truck for delivery to my house as I sat there reading!  Wow.  Class act there, DSO!

When UPS arrived that afternoon, I walked out to meet the truck. I watched the UPS guy roll it end to end in his truck (can you believe that?) while he said to me, “Hey, what ya got in here? Its heavy!”  I politely stopped him, just short of me punching him in the throat and said “Oh, just over a F’n five grand computer!”  He stopped rolling it. Thanks, Billy Bob.

Anyway, after signing his tablet and resisting the urge to stab that stylus into his eye, I picked up my baby and lugged her into the house.  The box was filthy, one corner was crushed in and it was damp and looked like someone had poured a soda on it.  NICE!

Well, I opened the box and it was neatly packaged and not a single ding. Whew.  I checked to be sure all the screws and such were tight, and they were.  I checked all the cards and components inside and everything was seated and tight.  I then lugged it upstairs and hooked it all up and fired it up. 

Zooom!  She booted up and ran like a dream.  All the cores were in the low 30’s and everything I reloaded on here worked great! 

I have had it on for about 24 hours now.  Hammered it hard with Crysis and CoD4 at maxed out settings for hours and not even a burp.  Not a single error, hiccup or any other issue.  NOTHING! And it runs cooler now than it did when I first got it!

So, while my RMA did take a long time and cost me a few bucks, I can tell you I am nothing but happy with the experience. I shudder to think if this was an RMA with one of the other makers where I would be right now. 

One more reason I am glad I bought from DSO. 

Thank you all there at DSO, very much!