Tech questions....

[BlackAdder]

Hummmm....

Question 1) I have a XFX 4870 video card... will I void the warranty by installing a aftermarket cooler ?? I can't tell on their web site... anyone have any experience with this ?

Question 2) I have two hard drives, my sata drive has vista and was the only drive plugged in when I installed it...
I have a eide drive which has windows 7 installed and that was the only one plugged in when that was installed...
What would happen if I shut down, plugged them both into the motherboard at the same time and booted up...would I have a dual boot situation or one would boot up and I would no longer be able to boot up the other OS ??

Thanks all !!

[Ototero]

No dual boot, both the boot sectors must exist on 1 drive for duel boot. The O/Ss can be anywhere.
In your situation, the bios settings will determine whether sata or pata is the 1st to boot. In either case, both drive will be visible.
I hope I'm right with all that or I'll look a right tw@t

[NeoGen]

I agree with our statsman ototero, it will be the bios setting that will determine which hard drive will boot.

About the other question I have no idea, but my conscience tells me that replacing the gpu cooler should indeed void the warranty, unless maybe if it's done specifically by the vendor's own techs? (but I don't think that would be possible...)

[plonk420]

i'd guess it'll likely void the warranty. i'd call them tho (if it's legal to record the call in your area without warning the other party, you can record it). best thing would be to get it in writing (like email) as to whether it voids warranty or not

[Gipper]

Re: vid card...

From previous experience [ Leadtek, not XFX ], the warranty is not void on the vid card if the cooler is replaced. But, for warranty claim to be made, the original cooler must be sent with the card and the board for the card can not be modified to accept the replacement cooler.

I have an old GeForce 6800 that I replaced the the cooler on just after I bought the card new. Worked fine for nearly 4 years until I replaced it just a month ago [ to another NVIDIA card that would run CUDA ].

[BlackAdder]

Thanks for the opinions on the video card...it makes sense that the stock cooler would have to be on it when returned for warranty work, because XFX offers a double lifetime warranty I didn't want to screw the possibility of warranty repairs up ..


The hard drives... yea it is logical that the drive that is first in the Bios to boot up would get the call to boot up and the other will be ignored , I didn't think of that possibility , I was thinking the Bios would see the boot sectors in both drives and either give you a choice or overwrite the oldest one with the newest one... I guess the Bios isn't that " smart " yet thank God.

Thanks all for the input !!

[BlackAdder]

Hummm... I found this on the XFX site concerning the video card warranty...

They don't cover....
- Problems that result from: (1) external causes such as accident, abuse, or problems with electrical power, (2) usage that is not in accordance with product instructions, (3) failure to follow the product instructions or failure to perform preventive maintenance; (4) products that are not in their original condition or that are not complete with all original components, or (5) problems caused by using accessories, parts, or components not supplied by XFX.

I think #4 answers my question about the aftermarket cooler and it's effects on the warranty, I guess it's OK to use one but as has been mentioned it would have to be returned with the original cooler installed before any warranty work would be performed.I'm sure they can tell if it had been removed too...

Oh well I guess I'll continue to use the ATI control panel to crank up the fan speed while folding and not worry about it

Thanks guys !!