rob was here.

I haven't been online very much the past few days. This is because the fan on my videocard stopped working, causing my videocard to overheat and not work right. So my computer has been perpetually in "off mode". As per usual in my life, when a product breaks, I shoot straight for the manufacturer in a desperate plea to get free stuff. So far my batting average is 0.0, but I'm hopeful this time around.

Here's the email I sent MSI's canada contact:

Hello There! I purchased a MSI video card about 2 years ago. It's a RX9800 Pro 128MB-DDR videocard, model number 8956-050. Overall, the card performed very very well for the past 2 years, and I'm very pleased with the quality of MSI.

Unfortunately, yesterday marked the end of the video card's mighty reign, as I found the graphics on the screen became "messed up", as the kids say. After a close inspection of the inside of my computer, I noticed the graphics card was exceptionally hot, and furthermore, the cooling fan on the GPU's heatsink was not spinning. I turned the computer off immediately. Now, I'm sure the graphic board itself operates fine, because if I turn the computer back on for just a few seconds with the graphics card cooled down, it operates fine.

Thus, I've come to the conclusion that I need a replacement fan. After scouring the internet and local shops for a simple fan to sit on the 9800's heatsink, I've come to the conclusion that it's not something as easy as I thought to track down. Which leads me to why I'm writing this. As the manufacturer, you're the most likely source on Earth to have some of these fans available. I think you can see where I'm going with this;

I would be very grateful if MSI would sell or send me a DC-fan for this videocard. Without the fan, this powerful videocard is just a paperwight, and I'm just unable to source a replacement fan anywhere else! It would be such a shame for this wonderful product to be put on a junk shelf due to a malfunctioning GPU fan. It would also be terribly disheartening for me to have to go look for a new videocard just because a fan gave out! I don't neat a heatsink replacement or anything. Just a simple little fan to get it back on it's feet. I attached a picture to this report indicating exactly which part of the videocard requires replacing. If a deal can be arranged for me to purchase a fan directly from MSI, please contact me back at (edit: my email address) and perhaps we can work out some details :)

Even better, if there are any, umm, "spare fans" lying about the place, and one just happened to be sent to me, my address is, *ahem*: (edit: my snail mail address)

Any response to this would be greatly appreciated! :)

Kindly, Rob

Now we wait. I'll post the response if and when I get one.