Last month, we covered a story where a customer's $10,000 RTX Pro 6000 graphics card's PCIe component got split in half after the customer accidentally forgot to remove the card from their machine before shipping it to another location. Now, NorthridgeFix has provided an update, revealing that Nvidia is providing the customer with a replacement card, despite the customer technically breaking the original card. Additionally, Nvidia also wants the customer to return the damaged RTX Pro 6000 to them so its technical team can troubleshoot the card.
This is the second time that we have seen Nvidia replace a customer's GPU, even though the original damage was caused by user error. The first time we saw this was when a customer of an RTX 5090 Founders Edition accidentally damaged their card after attempting to install a waterblock on it (and voiding the card's warranty in the process). After NorthridgeFix published a video on the customer's 5090 FE, and complained that Nvidia did not provide replacement parts needed to fix the card, Nvidia replaced the customer's card anyway.
This latest story is an even worse tale revolving around Nvidia's $10,000 RTX Pro 6000 workstation graphics card. A customer of this card accidentally left the GPU inside their PC as they were shipping the system to another location, causing the PCIe component to snap in half. Again, NorthridgeFix complained that the card was unrepairable and that they could not source parts from Nvidia to fix it.
These two incidents reveal that Nvidia is apparently very lenient on its graphics card replacements, particularly for its OEM cards (not third-party cards from other vendors). Even if the customer is at fault for damaging their OEM Nvidia GPU, we now know that Nvidia won't rule out shipping the person a new graphics card (regardless of warranty). More encouragingly, Nvidia seems at least somewhat interested in examining the old card, possibly to check for structural weaknesses or flaws in the design.
This is great for consumers of these cards since NorthridgeFix reports that Nvidia refuses to provide replacement components for its GPUs, even though its Blackwell-based dual-fan OEM graphics cards have modularity in their design. The PCIe finger and four rear display outputs on these Blackwell cards are connected to the GPU with their own independent boards, theoretically making these components easy to fix if either component breaks. All you would have to do is replace the bad board(s) with a new one, if only Nvidia provided the parts. Though ironically, you can source the PCIe finger for these particular cards in China for just $25, but this option won't be available for everyone.
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