Hello everyone. I'm at my wit's end and I had seen a similar thread (about the same RMA service place no less!) so I thought maybe this could possibly help. This will be a bit of a long tale, my apologies beforehand.
I have an RTX 3080 TUF 10 GB card. It's the non-OC version that isn't made anymore. Serial number of L8YVCM057464CR3
The card was working quite brilliantly up until this winter when I started to experience black screen crashes, where the PC and the game would still be running, but the screen would go black and the card would ramp up to 100 percent fan speed until I reset the computer. I'd know the game itself would still be running due to still getting sound input. I first suspected the computer itself, but testing my friend's 3080 TUF in my computer, the PC was completely fine. The card was the issue.
Compared to my friend's GPU, my temps were a little bit higher, I suspected perhaps that was the issue so I gave it to the official ASUS RMA service close by me in Istanbul, Turkey.
I intended to re-paste it myself, but doing so would void the guarantee, so I instead just gave it to the RMA. I'm talking like, a hotspot difference of 20 degrees with the main temps. That was it.
The name of the RMA service is SMS INFOCOMM Teknoloji Servis LTD. ŞTİ.
A limited liability company that works in the name of Asus as their official RMA service in Turkey.
My service number for this first RMA was TRB8N40094
A week later I received a message that my card was repaired and was ready to be taken. They told me they had replaced the pads and paste. They gave me the card in bubble-wrap, I went back home, and to my horror...
That is quite literally 1 minute after I got the card out of the bubble wrap at home. Look at that PCB and how ridiculously bent it is at the end. I could not believe it.
This is BEFORE I gave the card to the RMA service. Yes, the card is sagging but that is only because I removed the sag holder before taking the card out, the card was always used with a sag holder (and sagging cannot bend the PCB anyway.), and in another picture you see it with the holder too.
The card was perfectly straight until the RMA damaged it.
Deciding to test the card and get some pictures before I gave it back to the RMA, I booted the computer up and ran some games and benches..
A brilliant hot spot temperature of 107 degrees. The card had thermally throttled itself to 220 watts and it was running on absolute maximum RPM in fans (3000 rpm!!!) despite a main core temperature of 67, due to the ridiculous hotspot temperature and very low power usage. Even a main temp of 67 is ridiculous considering the max fan speed and 200 watts of usage. I am assuming the bent PCB caused terrible mounting pressure and inequality.
For those doubting my words, here is what this 330 watt power limit card normally looks like at max usage, courtesy of my friend's 3080 TUF.
Obviously I went back to the RMA. They immediately refused any sort of responsibility. I called in the technician who had "repaired" my card. He refused to come, but another technician came in. The guy did not know what a hotspot temperature even was. He simply said to me "your card runs so we just gave it to you".
I left the card with them and asked for a new card. They said I should ask ASUS headquarters, so I called them, they asked for my bill of purchase, I e-mailed it to them. The RMA service said that they would "repair" my card while waiting for HQ's instructions, and simply made another RMA service call.
The service number of this second RMA was TRB8N40747
I received another text that the repair was done so I went to get my card. This time I refused to take the card and said that I wanted to see it running first.
My request for a card swap was refused. For a card they themselves damaged.
I was taken into the building where they do the repairs...almost all of the technicians except the one I talked to were teens. 18-19. I can see how my card got damaged.
They ran 3dmark on the card. PCB was still bent. I saw that it was ramping up the fans to max speed again despite a main temp of 70. Normally, this card never goes above mid 60's and never reaches max rpm at max usage. Just look at that screenshot of a normal 3080 I posted up top. I explained this to the technician.
He just said that they can't know what is optimal performance for each model of card and that they just acted according to what the asus diagnostic tool said. Which apparently gave an error that said "fan/thermal" to them. So they replaced the fans and called it a day.
No matter how much I explained that a fan swap was useless, and that they weren't showing enough metrics, and that mounting was probably the issue due to the hotspot, he didn't budge. He told me to get the card home and test it again and if it doesn't work out, apparently they would message ASUS international to ask for what to do.
So I brought the card home and voila..
To their credit the card wasn't thermally throttling at least, but a hotspot difference of nearly 40 degrees, very high temps, and always max on fan speed is absolutely unusable. You cannot run ANY game without the fans ramping up to 3000 RPM because the hotspot is always at 100 plus degrees no matter the watt usage.
Again, compare these to the normal temps of an optimal 3080 of a friend's that I posted up there.
Oh and my beloved card is still bent to all hell.
I delivered the card back to the RMA the exact same day, and this final service number is TRB8N41353.
The card is still there in service as far as I know.
I intend to take them to court if ASUS cannot help me. I am absolutely crestfallen that a quality brand like ASUS would ever team up with these people to service their cards, to so openly damage them and to claim no responsibility. I love ASUS cards but this RMA experience has absolutely ruined my trust.
Also, the card's serial number is registered into somebody else's name in ASUS' site as I bought the card from them 1 month after their purchase. I still have the bill of purchase from them, it is no issue.
For the love of god, someone please offer advice. I do not know if I should attempt to repaste and repad the card myself after I take it back, because the PCB might be bent too far for it to ever mount properly again. I also feel wronged, why should I have to repair something the literal RMA service damaged?
Edit: I would also like to mention as a final note that mine isn't the only card they damaged. On Turkish reviewing sites, SMS INFOCOMM has many, MANY complaints regarding bent and otherwise damaged cards.
I have an RTX 3080 TUF 10 GB card. It's the non-OC version that isn't made anymore. Serial number of L8YVCM057464CR3
The card was working quite brilliantly up until this winter when I started to experience black screen crashes, where the PC and the game would still be running, but the screen would go black and the card would ramp up to 100 percent fan speed until I reset the computer. I'd know the game itself would still be running due to still getting sound input. I first suspected the computer itself, but testing my friend's 3080 TUF in my computer, the PC was completely fine. The card was the issue.
Compared to my friend's GPU, my temps were a little bit higher, I suspected perhaps that was the issue so I gave it to the official ASUS RMA service close by me in Istanbul, Turkey.
I intended to re-paste it myself, but doing so would void the guarantee, so I instead just gave it to the RMA. I'm talking like, a hotspot difference of 20 degrees with the main temps. That was it.
The name of the RMA service is SMS INFOCOMM Teknoloji Servis LTD. ŞTİ.
A limited liability company that works in the name of Asus as their official RMA service in Turkey.
My service number for this first RMA was TRB8N40094
A week later I received a message that my card was repaired and was ready to be taken. They told me they had replaced the pads and paste. They gave me the card in bubble-wrap, I went back home, and to my horror...
That is quite literally 1 minute after I got the card out of the bubble wrap at home. Look at that PCB and how ridiculously bent it is at the end. I could not believe it.
This is BEFORE I gave the card to the RMA service. Yes, the card is sagging but that is only because I removed the sag holder before taking the card out, the card was always used with a sag holder (and sagging cannot bend the PCB anyway.), and in another picture you see it with the holder too.
The card was perfectly straight until the RMA damaged it.
Deciding to test the card and get some pictures before I gave it back to the RMA, I booted the computer up and ran some games and benches..
A brilliant hot spot temperature of 107 degrees. The card had thermally throttled itself to 220 watts and it was running on absolute maximum RPM in fans (3000 rpm!!!) despite a main core temperature of 67, due to the ridiculous hotspot temperature and very low power usage. Even a main temp of 67 is ridiculous considering the max fan speed and 200 watts of usage. I am assuming the bent PCB caused terrible mounting pressure and inequality.
For those doubting my words, here is what this 330 watt power limit card normally looks like at max usage, courtesy of my friend's 3080 TUF.
Obviously I went back to the RMA. They immediately refused any sort of responsibility. I called in the technician who had "repaired" my card. He refused to come, but another technician came in. The guy did not know what a hotspot temperature even was. He simply said to me "your card runs so we just gave it to you".
I left the card with them and asked for a new card. They said I should ask ASUS headquarters, so I called them, they asked for my bill of purchase, I e-mailed it to them. The RMA service said that they would "repair" my card while waiting for HQ's instructions, and simply made another RMA service call.
The service number of this second RMA was TRB8N40747
I received another text that the repair was done so I went to get my card. This time I refused to take the card and said that I wanted to see it running first.
My request for a card swap was refused. For a card they themselves damaged.
I was taken into the building where they do the repairs...almost all of the technicians except the one I talked to were teens. 18-19. I can see how my card got damaged.
They ran 3dmark on the card. PCB was still bent. I saw that it was ramping up the fans to max speed again despite a main temp of 70. Normally, this card never goes above mid 60's and never reaches max rpm at max usage. Just look at that screenshot of a normal 3080 I posted up top. I explained this to the technician.
He just said that they can't know what is optimal performance for each model of card and that they just acted according to what the asus diagnostic tool said. Which apparently gave an error that said "fan/thermal" to them. So they replaced the fans and called it a day.
No matter how much I explained that a fan swap was useless, and that they weren't showing enough metrics, and that mounting was probably the issue due to the hotspot, he didn't budge. He told me to get the card home and test it again and if it doesn't work out, apparently they would message ASUS international to ask for what to do.
So I brought the card home and voila..
To their credit the card wasn't thermally throttling at least, but a hotspot difference of nearly 40 degrees, very high temps, and always max on fan speed is absolutely unusable. You cannot run ANY game without the fans ramping up to 3000 RPM because the hotspot is always at 100 plus degrees no matter the watt usage.
Again, compare these to the normal temps of an optimal 3080 of a friend's that I posted up there.
Oh and my beloved card is still bent to all hell.
I delivered the card back to the RMA the exact same day, and this final service number is TRB8N41353.
The card is still there in service as far as I know.
I intend to take them to court if ASUS cannot help me. I am absolutely crestfallen that a quality brand like ASUS would ever team up with these people to service their cards, to so openly damage them and to claim no responsibility. I love ASUS cards but this RMA experience has absolutely ruined my trust.
Also, the card's serial number is registered into somebody else's name in ASUS' site as I bought the card from them 1 month after their purchase. I still have the bill of purchase from them, it is no issue.
For the love of god, someone please offer advice. I do not know if I should attempt to repaste and repad the card myself after I take it back, because the PCB might be bent too far for it to ever mount properly again. I also feel wronged, why should I have to repair something the literal RMA service damaged?
Edit: I would also like to mention as a final note that mine isn't the only card they damaged. On Turkish reviewing sites, SMS INFOCOMM has many, MANY complaints regarding bent and otherwise damaged cards.
