A Swiss owner of the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4090 OG OC Edition graphics card received a full refund of 1569 francs after sending it to the warranty service and learning that the card had been disposed of. The graphics card was purchased in September 2023, and problems began later: a black screen appeared under load with ray tracing. The issue manifested during gaming with ray tracing: the system would reboot, and an error LiveKernelEvent 141 appeared in the log. The owner responded by creating a warranty claim on August 27. Bureaucracy completed the picture: instead of repair or replacement, as he initially chose, the service center confirmed receipt of the graphics card on August 31, and on September 8 issued a credit note for the full amount and closed the case.
Diagnosis conducted by the owner showed that the temperature on the graphics card chip reached 112°C, while the core temperature was only 68°C, indicating possible degradation of the thermal interface. A decision on repair was not made, as the service center indicated that the device was no longer recoverable: "The defect was so serious that the product was no longer repairable." Moreover, Swiss legislation, similar to EU legislation, prescribes a two-year warranty, and any additional conditions can be written in a less burdensome form for the seller.
Unfortunately, such a situation is not unique. For example, in a similar case, activist Louis Rossmann obtained compensation from Samsung at market price, but this requires significant effort and the ability to engage in legal battles. The economics of the situation are also bleak: the price of the chip and memory for the RTX 4090 has increased in the market, and many refurbished cards are already worth more than at the time of purchase. Thus, a profitable scheme is emerging – to dispose of faulty cards, refund the buyer the amount based on the old receipt, and not explain where the hardware has gone.