How is Gigabyte's support and RMA service? (need help choosing X58 mobo)

C

Citizen Snips

Limp Gawd
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I am planning to build a new i7 PC (link here if you want to see the original thread: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1402486) and am having some trouble deciding which X58 motherboard to pick. Here are the two I am stuck on:

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P
EVGA X58 SLI (model #132-BL-E758-A1)

If I were choosing a motherboard based on features alone, I would definitely go with the UD4P. There really aren't any technical features on the X58 SLI that would justify an extra $40 to me. The X58 SLI currently costs $280 after MIR, and the UD4P currently costs $240 after MIR.

What I am worried about is the level of support and RMA service offered by the two companies. I've never built a PC before, so I don't have any basis for comparison. I did a search on here, but couldn't find a thread specifically dealing with Gigabyte support experiences, so I thought I'd make one.

I spent some time browsing Gigabyte's website, and was unable to even find the terms of their warranty, RMA service, etc. Their "USA Customer Care" link has been down all day. Overall, I was not very impressed with the support section of their website. On the other hand, I had no problem browsing EVGA's support website and learning about the terms of their warranty, RMA and advance RMA service, support forums, etc.

Gigabyte boards seem to be regarded as pretty high quality overall based on my research, so maybe I would never need to worry about their level of support and/or RMA service. Nevertheless, the poor layout of their website and lack of information has me worried.

To summarize my thread, here are my two questions:

1. Does anyone here have experience dealing with Gigabyte support and/or RMA service? If so, how is it?

2. Is the EVGA board above worth a $40+ premium ($40 for the board, plus more if I want to pay for EVGA's advance RMA service) over the UD4P just for EVGA's level of support? Again, I wouldn't pay an extra $40 for any of the X58 SLI's features - this is just a question of the level of support from Gigabyte vs. EVGA.

Obviously everyone on here would probably laugh at Dell's multi-hundred dollar support policies that include house calls, accident protection, etc. but I'm wondering if EVGA's well-regarded support is worth an extra $40+ in this case.

Thoughts?
 
I just dealt with them for a mobo.

wasn't bad, only problem is they changed the website for submitting RMAs. my manual listed rma.gigabyte.us as the site, and so did the tech support in an email. one quick phone call sent me to the working site of rma.gigabyteusa.com

All in all a fairly painless experience as far as RMAs go.
 
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crawford60 said:
I just dealt with them for a mobo.

wasn't bad, only problem is they changed the website for submitting RMAs. my manual listed rma.gigabyte.us as the site, and so did the tech support in an email. one quick phone call sent me to the working site of rma.gigabyteusa.com

All in all a fairly painless experience as far as RMAs go.
Click to expand...

I tried going to rma.gigabyteusa.com and received the following error message:

"Server Error in '/' Application."

along with a bunch of debug text. :confused:
 
Sensitive topic here. Beware: you're treading dangerous waters.
 
IMO they are okay, when I owned my last gigabyte board I found out that they don't do advanced RMA, not sure how important that is to you.
 
PC_User said:
Sensitive topic here. Beware: you're treading dangerous waters.
Click to expand...

indeed.....

a board like the UD3P is good but it only costs a bit over 100 bux so it's not the end of the world for a lot of people if it breaks, but when you're talking about x58 boards which cost 2 or 3 times as much then thats when you wanna buy a board by someone who has good customer service / RMA. (I.E not Gigabyte)
 
2-3 weeks turnaround without taking into account the transit times so about 5 weeks the worst case, that is if the board is fixable. I'd go with EVGA for my next mobo or whoever does advanced RMA, can't afford to stay without a system for that long, i'll prolly end up buying a new mobo if my current UD5 fails and ebay it when it gets back.
 
Is there any mobo manufacturer besides EVGA that does offer advance RMA? I can't find any mention of it on ASUS's website, and honestly it seems like the 3 definitive highest quality mobo manufacturers are EVGA, ASUS, and Gigabyte (in no particular order).

Am I pretty much forced to go with EVGA if I want a quality mobo with good support and advance RMA options? The X58 SLI received a mediocre review here.
 
Citizen Snips said:
Is there any mobo manufacturer besides EVGA that does offer advance RMA? I can't find any mention of it on ASUS's website, and honestly it seems like the 3 definitive highest quality mobo manufacturers are EVGA, ASUS, and Gigabyte (in no particular order).

Am I pretty much forced to go with EVGA if I want a quality mobo with good support and advance RMA options? The X58 SLI received a mediocre review here.
Click to expand...

I've had the EVGA X58 briefly and i still liked the GA but i would take the EVGA just because of the warranty. Due to personal experiences i stay away from Asus.
 
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Asus does have advanced RMA at least on their motherboards. I've also owned eVGA boards and their service/support is top notch!
 
I just called last week about my 5 week old P6T, and they offered me advanced RMA, but I was able to swap it locally where I bought it.
 
I think I'm going to go with EVGA, just because they seem to have excellent support, a very active message board, and advanced RMA. There is a $30 premium for the X58 SLI versus the Gigabyte UD4P, but I think it will be worth it, given that this is my first build.
 
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