A Hefty Price Tag for a “Surface Irregularity”
Owning a flagship graphics card can come with unexpected and extreme costs, as one ASUS customer recently discovered. After their high-end RTX 5090 ASTRAL GPU began causing system crashes, they submitted it for a warranty repair, only to have the claim denied. ASUS cited a minuscule crack on the PCB near the PCIe connector as “customer-induced damage” and presented a shocking solution: pay $4,661 CAD for a full replacement—a sum that exceeds the card’s original retail price.
The customer, who provided pre-shipment photos showing no visible damage, argues the hairline fracture is a result of the card’s own massive weight stressing a fragile part of the board, not mishandling. After escalating the case, ASUS offered a 50% discount on the replacement fee, but that still leaves the customer on the hook for over $2,300 to fix a card that failed under normal use.
The Root of the Problem: 3 Kilograms Hanging by a Thread
This case highlights a growing physical design problem in modern PC hardware. The ASUS RTX 5090 ASTRAL is a behemoth, weighing over 3 kilograms (6.6 lbs). Most of this weight is supported solely by the PCIe slot and a small tab on the PCB that engages with the case’s retention latch.
ASUS Asking for $4661 to repair RTX 5090 ASTRAL due to “surface irregularity”
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Despite the customer using the included support bracket and never moving the PC, a crack appeared in this highly stressed area. This has led to accusations of a design flaw, where the immense weight of these premium coolers may be exceeding the structural integrity of the circuit board they’re attached to, a risk not covered by most warranties.
A Pattern of Problematic RMA Practices
This incident adds to a growing list of complaints about ASUS’s warranty service. The company has faced recent criticism for rejecting claims on other products, like motherboards and the ROG Ally handheld, for minor cosmetic issues. These practices previously forced ASUS to publicly promise improvements to its RMA process.
Also, Read
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- NVIDIA Rumored to Shift Memory Sourcing to Partners, Squeezing Smaller GPU Brands
The situation also underscores a larger issue in the electronics industry: the lack of viable repair options. As highlighted by the customer, independent repair shops have demonstrated that such PCB cracks are often fixable for a fraction of the cost of a full replacement. However, manufacturers typically opt for total board swaps, leaving consumers with astronomical bills or worthless, broken hardware.
Source: Reddit