XFX Silently Strips New Radeon Cards of 'Double Lifetime Warranty'
One of the big draws to buying an XFX brand videocard is the modder friendly warranty that lets users swap heatsinks and overclock ther GPUs without voiding the so-called 'Double Lifetime Warranty,' which is marketing speak for a lifetime guarantee that's transferable to a second owner (provided you registere your card within 30 days of purchase). Now we're hearing that this awesome backing won't apply to AMD's new Radeon HD 7000 series.
Hardware Canucks claims it received reports of XFX including "Warranty Void if Removed" stickers over the top of screws holding the heatsink in place, seemingly indicating the cards are no longer modder friendly. According to Hardware Canucks, you can ignore the warning if you live in the U.S., but not in other parts of the world.
More troubling are the revised warranty terms, which ditches the Double Lifetime Warranty in favor of a two-year guarantee. It's a little confusing, but here's XFX's stance:
Regarding our revised warranty policy:
1) XFX will transition to a Two-Year Limited Warranty for all new XFX Radeon HD 7000 series models. The standard two-year limited warranty is on par or better than warranties offered by other brands in the industry. While we have had an increasingly small percentage of warranty related occurrences after the two-year mark, we have eliminated the extension and transferable options for these models. Simplifying the operational requirements will allow XFX to commit our resources on developing and manufacturing the highest caliber and best selection of graphics cards available.
2) For the new XFX Radeon HD 7000 series Double D models, we will continue to provide an option to extend as these products are geared for our top-tiered enthusiasts and XFX will continue to offer this benefit on our top products.
3) Most importantly, all XFX Radeon HD 6000, 5000, and 4000 series models also offer the two-year limited warranty as standard, and will continue to be supported by the optional Double Lifetime Limited Warranty (with registration within 30 days of purchase). Restrictions and limitations may apply and specific details are available on our website.
The landscape is changing, folks, and XFX went from havng arguably the best warranty terms in the business to being an also-ran, especially after BFG went out of business.
EVGA and VisionTek also have true lifetime warranty options, though theirs aren't transferable either.
VETTAHEAD